Sunward is the second part of \As Above So Below/, an ongoing trilogy of interdisciplinary performance works by Fanis Sakellariou that began with Homeward (2023). Through mythic narratives, ritual structures, and immersive environments, the trilogy investigates how humans construct meaning in the face of mortality, and how these systems of meaning are transformed, challenged, and destroyed. At its core lies the relationship between the sacred and violence.
Sunward unfolds as an inverted resurrection: a dance around a black hole that becomes increasingly distorted. Three strange beings raise a scafold in the universe in order to open paradise and restore the new sun — the one whose light will burn away all evil and make everything new again.
In a barren and desolate landscape, the Blacksmith awakens the Dead to build human civilization, promising paradise and immortality as a reward. When this promise is broken, the Dead constructs the Angel – a messiah, a female body destined to be sacrificed to open the gates of paradise. The performance functions as a visual ritual, where the desire to overcome death reveals the violence embedded within the very structures created to offer redemption.
The performance examines how acts of creation and reconstruction can become intertwined with destruction. Through the image of a failed resurrection, Sunward reflects on collective grief, inherited trauma, and humanity’s recurring attempts to rebuild itself after collapse. Drawing from messianic myths, sacrificial rituals, and resurrection hymns, Sunward explores the human need to create narratives, symbols, and systems of belief that can hold collective wounds and confront the inevitability of death. It uses these narratives to question the promises they embody:
What structures do we create to endure mortality?
Can paradise exist without sacrifice?
Is violence an inseperable part of the systems we create, or is it a choice made in their name?
Combining visual performance, installation art, theatre, and live sound composition, Sunward creates an immersive universe where bodies, objects, space, and sound operate as equal dramaturgical forces. Developed through collaborative research and experimentation, the performance constructs a unified ritual environment in which multiple artistic languages converge. It invites audiences into a constantly transforming universe where meaning is created, fractured, and rebuilt.
CREATA premiered at the Prague Quadrennial for Theatre & Performance Design 2023, PQ Studio Stage, DAMU
CREATA was presented in Athens, at TZAMIA KRYSTALLA in December 2024 – February 2025
Fanis Sakellariou 