Pollock as a Puppet Hero

A filmed performance of a shadow-puppet play .

Using techniques of the traditional Greek shadow-puppet theatre ("Karaghiozis"), East Asian storytelling theatre and the modern American musical, Apostolos puts together a highly idiosyncratic imaginative biography of Jackson Pollock. Performed in February 1999, in Athens, Greece, "The Tragical History of Jackson Pollock, Abstract Expressionist" is the alleged work of two fictional characters: the American artist, poet and puppeteer Alfred Hoos and the Greek avant-garde theatre director Yannis Philaretos. The play, and its performance in Athens, plays a central part in a novel called the "Republic". But here we have the paradox: though this was meant to be a fictional play in a real novel, now the play exists and the novel doesn't.

Alfred Hoos' shadow play staged by Yannis Philaretos, storyteller Alexandros Mylonas, assistant director Tassos Langis, painting katerina Karoussou, music Dimitri Papadimitriou, produced by Maria Nicolacopoulou, curated by Katerina Koskina and written disigned and directed by Apostolos C.Doxiadis. Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens, 1999