VAST was represented by Dr. Aristotelis Nikolaidis of partner Athens Epidaurus Festival in the online conference Reconnecting & Recovering: The Second LFA/AAS  on 16 February 2023. A paper was presented with the title:  The values of democracy and the politics of adaptation: remaking Sophocles’ Antigone in a contemporary political and media landscape.
The paper is based on the performance/case study of Antigone by Sophocles, which was commissioned for the VAST project, and the original research conducted at the Athens Epidaurus Festival in July 2022. It addresses a contemporary adaptation of Antigone, set in a television studio and a modern political context resembling a western parliamentary democracy. The paper examines the representation of key political values, such as democracy, equality, and the rule of law whilst also focusing on the adaptation of Antigone through a mixed methods approach that combines qualitative and quantitative research methods. It also reflects on adaptation as a shared discourse that involves both artists as value communicators and audiences as recipients of the communicated messages and final co-authors of meaning.
The presentation of Dr. Nikolaidis is available here: RR Presentation FINAL