Karla Isidorou
‘I am supposed to be a question mark, BUT…’
Karla Isidorou is a visual artist creating performative constellations in which different disciplines merge together to create an open meeting space between performer and public, letting the work immerse into public space. Magnetised by the engraved rituals of the body, the versatile structures of our bones and muscles, Karla Isidorou, was trained as a performer, a theatermaker and a visual artist. Karla Isidorou followed Theater Studies at the University of Amsterdam, focusing on the shared experience of catharsis between performer and audience. She continued her studies in a more practical field: exploring the possibilities of performative photography (UCK, Utrecht), focussing on the scenographic dimensions of the moving body(ArtEZ, Arnhem) and continued her research on the limits of the body, its sculpturality as well as its relational aesthetics at the Base for Experiment Art and Research (ArtEZ, Arnhem).
Karla Isidorou is co-founder of K&A an, artistic duo formed with Alexandra Bellon, reaching across the borders of disciplines and signatures.
The artistic projects of K&A have been presented in between others at: PQ2019 – Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (Prague, CZ), Sitting Shotgun (Brooklyn, NYC), A LAB (Amsterdam, NL), Filmtheater FOCUS (Arnhem, NL), La Head (Geneva, CH), L’Usine Kugler (Geneva, CH), MCBA – Musee Cantonal des Beaux Arts (Lausanne, CH), ICAF- International Community Arts Festival (Rotterdam, NL), etc.
As a photographer Karla Isidorou collaborates with various artists, reaching out to the core of their concept, distilling it into a captured image. Compressing the tempo-spatial reality, enchanted by the virgules of the bodies, tempted by the unknown magnet of the blink, Karla Isidorou photographs to reach behind the borders of vulnerability, to expose/propose an open door.
‘Shooting is a play between pickpocketing and tightrope walking; an endless play..’ H.C.Bresson
As an educator Karla Isidorou creates and leads since 2018 workshops for educational institutions such as: ArtEZ University of the Arts (Arnhem, NL), Hofplein Rotterdam-Youth Theater School (Rotterdam, NL), Alfred University of the Arts (Alfred, USA), Institut Jaques-Dalcroze (Geneva,CH). In 2019 her masterclass ‘THE COMMON SEATING’, developped with Merle Schiebergen, was selected for the International Festival of Making Theater (Athens, GR) and in 2020 her workshop for young audience (G)loves for (G)anst developed in collaboration with Alexandra Bellon (K&A) was selected for Archipel Festival/ Geneva (CH).
Karla Isidorou is founder of IDEAS MACHINE and co-founder of K&A. Next to her passion for art, Karla has been sharing her passion for swimming through classes, workshops & week camps.
K&A
Within K&A the single signature is killed. What stays is the space in between, a space build through hours of training, drawing, glitching, performing, trusting and diving together into unknown territories. By de-sponging & de-stealing each other K&A extract the matiére premiére that will be distilled again. Out of this continuous distillation wor(l)ds arise to invite/invade the public.
Concepts start simple: at the core.
K&A build projects & concepts that arise out of long periods of research. Torrent books, vagary images, deserting writings, performative actions, grinding sounds, poetical and socio-political contexts come together to create a complex philosophical environment in which the statement of each project is formed. The multiplicity of projects and their thorough statements create the cartography of their work.
As a photographer K&A is a tightrope walker between the wilderness of the street and the capsule of the photostudio. Balancing in between the two worlds to either awake, expose or transform realities, the crack of light grasps the gasp of the inbetween. Each photoserie is a satelite that oscilates around the core of a concept.
K&A is formed by Karla Isidorou & Alexandra Bellon
Links – Ascociated Artists
To discover and follow the work of the artists/projects that commissioned photographic documentation and are present on this website:
Lava Collective (before Burning Bridges)
Invited Artists at the 10+1 Ans Ensemble Batida:
Noijzu
Machinefabriek
Léo Maurel
Sophie Bellamy
Christophe Jaquet
Raphaël Brunner
Bongo Joe