TEAM
UrbanDig Project was created by Ohi Pezoume Performing Arts Non-Profit Company.
Eirini Alexiou lives and works in Athens as Choreographer-Director, Performer, Yoga Instructor.
She has studied theatre sciences (National Kapodistrian University of Athens), Dance (Professional school of dance Rallou Manou), Choreography (Movement Research NY, Suzan Klein Technique NY,) Asthanga Yoga (Atmananda Yoga Centre NY).
She is one of the two founders and the Choreographer of Ohi Pezoume Performing Arts Company. Along with George Sachinis they have co- created all the performances of the company, that have been produced so far. In 2005 they created the platform UrbanDig Project.
In 2015 Eirini has been trained for live art performance by Katerina Kokkinos Kennedy, a live artist and dramaturg.
Eirini with the collaboration of Katerina created a live art performance “Eurydice” which travelled from Linz (Wolfinger Hotel/Die Fabrikanten),to Marseille, France (F A I A R),Tours,France (Best Western Hotel/French Hotel Obscura Performance) and Naples, Italy (AltoFest).
In October of the same year the Panel of Critics of Alto Fest awarded the first prize to Eirini and the UrbanDig platform for the live art/site specific performance “Eurydice”. Ιn 2005 Eirini was honored from the Argolis prefecture of Greece for her Contribution to the cultural development of the wider area with her performance “Hercules in Human land”, at Lerna’s riverside.
In 2014 Eirini directed and choreographed a play for kids “Vatrapounzel”, a production of the theatre company ”Retro” at Polis Theatre stage in Athens, Greece.
Aparts from the Ohi Pezoume productions she has collaborated as a performer with adLibdances, Unplugged,Felix Ruckert , Simone Forti ,David Dorfman , Jennifer Monson, Katie Duck, Meg Stuart, Sxedia company, Chorika and others.
As a choreographer she has collaborated in productions for the Athens Festival, National theatre, Athens Concert Hall and Fougaro Art Centre at Nauplion, Greece.
Rea Zekkou holds a BSc in Marketing from the American College of Greece, a BA in Fine Arts from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design [University of the Arts, London] and an MFA in Museum Exhibition Planning and Design [with emphasis on the notion of museum without walls], from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, USA. As a designer, consultant and fabricator, she has worked, with and for, a number of institutions and initiatives within the cultural and creative industries, in Greece and abroad, such as the Slought Foundation [US Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2008], Crane Arts, the Village of Arts and Humanities, the Benaki Museum and Atopos CVC. She has also collaborated with architectural firms and design studios in various projects, competitions and visual merchandising, such as TPA Inc., Arodo Architects, Anthropologie and Lapin House. She is currently collaborating with Dromos Consulting Ltd. in urban regeneration issues of transport corridors through built-up areas and TPA Inc. in the design of the new Hellenic Children’s Museum in Athens. She has been a member of UrbanDig Project since 2010. She is member of the Board and is involved in the development and execution of artistic works and activities in the public space.
Eirini Iliopoulou is an Architect - Urbanist and holds a Doctor of Engineering degree, awarded by the Technical University of Berlin and fully funded by DAAD research grants and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Regional Development Institute, Panteion University (Athens, Greece), a freelance urban planning consultant and a board member & research coordinator of the research/artistic/community platform "UrbanDig Project", developed by Ohi Pezoume NPO. Her research and professional experience includes research, monitoring & evaluation, urban planning & design, community and cultural projects. Additionally, her work has been presented in conferences, invited lectures and seminars, and published in reviewed journals and edited scientific volumes. Both her research and professional interests focus on Community Engagement and Participation Practices, Urban Co-Production, Socio-spatial Conflicts, the Ιmpact of Intangible Cultural Heritage on Urban Development, Cultural/ Creative Industries.
Matina Magkou is a cultural management and youth projects consultant.
She was worked for the Olympic Games Athens 2004, the European Capital of Culture- Patras 206, the International EXPO Zaragoza 3008 and for the Spanish Presidency of the EU in 2010. She has worked as well for the Athens Festival, the Doha Film Festival and has organized international tours for Teatro Español (Dos Orillas) and the Old Vic and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (Bridge Project).
She is member of the Trainers pool of the Council of Europe and collaborates with international and governmental organisations as trainers and consultant in training and capacity building programs of youth and civil society organisations.
Finally, she cooperates with cultural and non-governmental organisation in the coordination of editorial communication, development, communication and the organisation of cultural and scientific events.
She holds a BA in French Language & Literature, a MA in European Studies and a MA in Cultural Management. She is finalizing hes PhD at the University of Deusto (Bilbao, Spain) researching on cultural cooperation projects in the EuroArab region.
Since 2015 she is board member of Ohi Pezoume and responsible for international collaborations and development. She represents the organisation in the TANDEM Europe project where she cooperates with Ideas Factory from Sofia for the project Hotel Transit.
Anna Magoulioti is a graduate from the Athens School of Fine Arts, with concentration in Sculpture and has also attended a 2-year course in Set Design, at ASFA, with Lily Pezanou. She has also graduated from the School of Drama, at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. As a teacher of theater education she has worked in the educational programming of The Telloglion Foundation of Art in Thessaloniki. Since 2008 she is working as a teacher of theatre education, in public schools and as an art teacher, in private schools, researching the Didactic of Visual Arts through Drama in Education. Since 2009 she has been employed as a Set and Costume Designer in numerous theatrical plays. Since 2014 she is collaborating with Ohi Pezoume performing arts company and UrbanDig Project as a visual artist, in charge of developing artistic activities and activities for children, while she is also participating in the planning and implementation of performances.
Katerina Protonotariou has a Bachelor Degree on Civil Engineering (Faculty of Engineering, University of Patras, Greece) and a Master Degree on Environmental Engineering and Transportation (Faculty of Engineering, University of Patras, Greece). She is currently doing a master degree on Urban and Regional Planning (Faculty of Architecture, N.T.U.A., Greece), focusing on grassroots’ attempts to reclaim the city.
She is also an actress, graduated from “Delos” Drama School (Athens, Greece). She has attended workshops in physical theatre, performing and live- art (with M. Magni, Studio Mateijka, Ohi Pezoume, Katerina Kokkinos-Kennedy etc). She has participated in devised theatre performances, dance theatre plays, musical and “typical” theatrical structures as well. She was also a member of the theatrical group “katayis theater” (under the guidance of G. Angelopoulos), which created devised theatre plays.
She is involved with the UrbanDig Project by working on the support and reconnection of urban communities and neighborhoods, through participatory planning practices. She also participated, as a performer, in Dourgouti Island Hotel Project and represented the group in Hotel Obscura Melbourne.
George Sachinis is a graduate of Central School of Speech and Drama (MA course in Advanced Theatre Practice), of the Institute of the Arts at Duke University (performance art and literature strand), and of Civil Engineering at Duke (BSc) and UC Berkeley (Msc). He is the founder of Ohi Pezoume performing arts company, coordinator of UrbanDig Project and director of the company's performances in the city and in theatres (National, Municipal Theatre of N. Aegean, Proskinio and others). In the mornings he works as a civil engineer at Athens Water Company (EYDAP) where he has created its operations centre and he represents the company at the steering committee of GWOPA / UN Habitat. He has been a board member of the Network for the Rights of Children and of the steering committee of Reactivate Athens. He has directed musical-theatre performances of composer Christos Theodorou and has facilitated workshops and classes in theatre direction and devising at Theatre of Changes, Mikro Politechneio and at Bow School of Boys in London. As a student he has curated visual arts spaces (Brown Gallery of Duke Unversity) and has written lyrics for Christos Theodorou and Speira-Speira group. In 2006 he was a nominee for the “Promising young artist” award by the Greek Theatre and Music Critics Association.
Nadia Siokou is currently finishing her studies of Architectural Engineering in the N.T.U.A., after having spent one academic year following classes in the Msc in Architecture in the TU Berlin (2015-2016).
Her academic interests are among others: the human body as the only space articulation’s element, such as the power correlations that exist and create the public, urban environment.
During her studies, she has voluntarily participated in teams of organization and production of the 4th Biennale of Athens (AGORA,2013), the Open House Athens (2014,2015), the exhibition OUT-topias (Benaki Museum, 2016).
As a member of the UrbanDig Project platform since November 2016, she tries to find herself among duties of production and development of intervention strategies, always focusing on the meaningful and dynamic connection between public space and performing arts.
Dr. Dikaia Chatziefstathiou is a Reader in Olympic Studies & the Social Analysis of Sport at the School of Human and Life Sciences in Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. She has been visiting professor at universities in Europe, the US and Asia (e.g. German Sport University in Cologne, Germany; University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; University of Montpellier, France; Ithaca College, USA; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; and more). She is the winner of the inaugural Coubertin Prize 2008 awarded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Pierre de Coubertin Committee (IPCC) for her qualitative research on Pierre de Coubertin’s writings and speeches. Following her award, Dikaia became a Member of the Executive Board of the International Pierre de Coubertin Committee (based in Lausanne, Switzerland) until 2014 and was recently re-elected until 2018. She is author and editor of books and scientific articles regarding sports in international and Greek publications. She has also published storytelling books "Imagine my Stories for Peace" containing five stories for inspiring young people to embody the Olympic values in life and sports.
