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History - Location of the Department

The Department of Performing and Digital Arts located in Nafplion was founded in 2019 and is part of the School of Fine Arts at the University of the Peloponnese. The Department focuses on contemporary art and especially on forms combining live performance of artists with digital arts. For the time being, the Department has only one Special Teaching Staff members (EEP), while the appointment of 6 Teaching and Research Staff members (DEP) elected in summer semester 2021 is still pending.

Moreover, the department has received one more Teaching and Research Staff member (DEP) seat from the university and its subject has already been defined. In cooperation with the Department of Theatre Studies, the Department launched in 2020-2021 the introduction of common courses in the curriculum, which broaden the students’ choices and support the good cooperation between the two departments. In addition, the Department has applied to the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Aff airs for the transfer of 8 secondary education staff members to the Department in Special Teaching Staff (EEP) positions.

Undergraduate and Postgraduate Studies

For the time being, the Department of Performing and Digital Arts off ers only undergraduate studies. The curricula mission is to develop knowledge in scientifi c, art and technology subjects which relate with performing arts (Performance, Dance, Theatre) as well as digital arts, with emphasis on the connection between them and their connection with various social applications, technology and education. Performance (act or installation), mainly as an innovative fi eld in arts, stands in the middle of art, theory, technology and methodology courses off ered in the Department.

The fields of art and technology applications on which the studies focus are as follows:
▶ Direction and Performance
▶ Digital performance and arts
▶ Use of soſt ware and digital art technology
▶ Dance and performance
▶ Light, sound, scenic design and new technologies (Design and Realisation)
▶ Digital material design and production (Digital Enlivenment, Virtual/Mixed Reality, Electronic Games)
▶ Digital applications in direction and acting
▶ Performance theory and social practices (e.g. theatre anthropology, activism, interactive and online theatre, feminist and queer theory, educational applications, public place, museums)
▶ Performance dramaturgy / creative writing / digital narration / digital publications

The Curriculum was designed according to the Bologna declaration and complies fully with the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). From the 2nd until the 4th year of studies, students choose one of the two informal specialisations of the Department (Performing Arts and Digital Arts). In order to gain the degree, students have to complete 38 courses, write a thesis and do an internship (at least 240 ECTS-credits).

Career Prospects

Graduates of the Department can work as artists on performing arts and designers-programmers of digital art applications in public or private institutions, such as the following specialisations, which have performing and digital arts as their subject. They can also work in the fi eld of education and/or as freelancers.

In particular, graduates can work in the following subjects:
▶ In art organisations: direction, choreography, acting, scenic design of performing applications (dance and theatre performance, interactive shows or installations in scenic and public space, fibre-optic applications, multimedia and online applications in performing arts).
▶ In social institutions: realisation of artistic social interventions through performing applications (e.g. social theatre, activism, dance and society, interactive and online theatre, performance and public space et al.)
▶ In private institutions of digital applications and art organisations: digital material production (digital enlivenment, animation, video game) – realisation of digital applications for performing arts by means of the necessary technology (soſt ware and equipment).
▶ Design and realisation of the virtual environment experience
▶ Digital applications in scenic design (design and realisation)
▶ Design of digital exhibitions, creative writing applications in digital and performing works of art, performance dramaturgy, digital publications.
▶ In educational institutions: design, planning and realisation of educational programmes on artistic digital applications in education, social/cultural institutions in Greece and abroad, as well as local administration institutions.

In addition, aſt er completing their studies, graduates have the chance to continue their studies at a postgraduate level in subjects related with performing and digital arts.

Research

1. Participation of the Department of Performing and Digital Arts and the School of Fine Arts of the University of the Peloponnese at the 16th Athens Digital Arts Festival (August-September 2020) within the framework of the following Department courses: “Scenic Design: Installation and Public Space Intervention” (postgraduate programme, Department of Theatre Studies) “Introduction in Visual Performance” (undergraduate programme, Department of Performing and Digital Arts).

2. Participation of the Department of Performing and Digital Arts in the Inter-University Postgraduate Studies programme “HAITI-GREECE 1821-2021 Journey To Freedom – Respect” in cooperation with the University of the Aegean (Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering). The programme aims to realise an exhibition at the Ecclesiastical Museum of Spetses (August 2021). On behalf of the Department of Performing and Digital Arts. The Department of Performing and Digital Arts contributes to the exhibition through the undergraduate courses “Visual Performance I: Theory and Applications” and “Dance II: Dance and Society”, as well as a series of projects by artists, guests of the Department.

Except for the island of Spetses, the exhibition will be also held in Nafplion, aſt er the invitation of the Municipality of Nafplion, and within the framework of the two-day conference at the National Technical University of Athens, in which the coordinators of the exhibition will participate (15-16 October 2021). Moreover, after an invitation of the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Aff airs, the Department will apply for a presentation of the exhibition in a series of commemorative events organised by the Ministry and held at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre (in progress). Lastly, the exhibition will be presented in the island of Syros (September 2022).

3. The Department of Performing and Digital Arts is organising an international conference about Iannis Xenakis, in cooperation with the Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the Paris VIII. The conference will be held in Athens and Nafplion in May 2022. The Department will include the conference in its research and educational activities through cooperating courses, and also organise art activities in its location during the days of the conference.

4. Acquisition of the Greek Diaspora Fellowship Program (GDFP) grant. The grant off ers to the Department of Performing and Digital Arts the chance of inviting to Nafplion the acclaimed Greek-American artist and professor at the Pratt Institute in New York City Theodora Skipitares for 3 months, for the purposes of teaching and consulting on the department’s curriculum. The invitation has not been yet realised because of the pandemic.

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