NECROPOLIS | Open House Festival

Since 1993, UNITED for Intercultural Action, a network of hundreds of anti-racist organizations from all over Europe, has been compiling a list of refugees and migrants who lost their lives on their way to the continent. As of June 2025, when the latest updated version was released, the list included information on 66,519 reported deaths. The total toll is certainly much higher, as many people are neither found nor registered. When scrolling through the many pages of the list one cannot ignore the fact that only a very small number of the deceased are mentioned by name, leaving the vast majority without identifying details.

NECROPOLIS is an ongoing choreographic and documentary work about unknown bodies - a poignant reflection on the ongoing human tragedy at Europe's borders. By integrating data analysis, choreographic gestures, and documentary practices, Arkadi Zaides and his team delve into the practice of forensics to conceive a new virtual depository mapping the remains of the many whose deaths remain to this day mostly unacknowledged. This archive, revealing a cartography made invisible, stretches across space and time, weaving together the mythologies, histories, geographies and anatomies of those who have found their way to NECROPOLIS. Although there are no bodies to dance with in the city of the dead, it is precisely this absence - the collective body of NECROPOLIS - that Zaides brings to life.

Bio: Arkadi Zaides, (b. 1979, Belorussia) is an independent choreographer and performer based in France. He holds a Master's degree from the AHK Academy of Theater and Dance in Amsterdam, and is presently pursuing a joint practice-based PhD degree at Antwerp University and Ghent University. He is a member of CORPoREAL research group at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp and a member of S:PAM (Studies in Performing Arts & Media) at Ghent University. Zaides' work examines the ways in which political and social contexts affect the physical body and constitute choreography. He is a recipient of numerous prizes, among them a prize for demonstrating engagement in human-rights issues, awarded to Zaides by The Emile Zola Chair for Interdisciplinary Human Rights Dialogue (IL).

Concept & direction: Arkadi Zaides
Dramaturgy, text and voice: Igor Dobricic
Research assistant: Emma Gioia
Performers: Arkadi Zaides, Emma Gioia
Sculpture: Moran Sanderovich
3D modeling: Mark Florquin
Avatar animation: Jean Hubert | Animation assistant: Thibaut Rostagnat
Light: Jan Mergaert
Sound design: Asli Kobaner

Grave location search: Aktina Stathaki, Amalie Lynge Lyngesen, Amber Maes, Amirsalar Kavoosi, Andrea Costa, Ans Van Gasse, Arkadi Zaides, Benjamin Pohlig, Bianca Frasso, Carolina-Maria Van Thillo, Christel Stalpaert, Doreen Kutzke, Dorsa Kavoosi, Eleonora Soriente, Elisa Franceschini, Elvura Quesada, Emma Gioia, Eva Maes, Flavia Dalila D'Amico, Frédéric Pouillaude, Friederike Kötter, Gabriel Smeets, Giorgia Mirto, Gosia Juszczak, Igor Dobricic, Ilka Van Bijlen, Jordy Minne, Joris Van Imschoot, Julia Asperska, Juliana Andrea Tapiero Polanía, Juliane Beck, Katia Gandolfi, Katja Seitajoki, Lilas Forissier, Lina Gilan Tsitouri, Lovis Heuss, Luca Lotano, Lucille Haddad, Maite Zabalza, Manuel Lavecchia, Maria Sierra Carretero, Marijana Hameršak, Mercedes Roldan, Myriam Van Imschoot, Myrto Katsiki, Nevena Delić, Osnat Kelner, Özge Atmış, Pepa Torres Perez, Sarah Leo, Selby Jenkins, Simge Gücük, Solveig Gade, Sunniva Vikør Egenes, Tamara Vajdíková, Tilemachos Tsolis, Uroš Škerl, Uršula Lipovec Čebron, Valeria Povolo, Victoria Columba, Yannick Bosc, Yari Stilo

Technical director: Etienne Exbrayat
Administration & production: Simge Gücük / Institut des Croisements |
Coproduction: Théâtre de la Ville (FR), Montpellier Danse 40 Bis (FR), Charleroi Danse (BE), CCN2 Centre Chorégraphique National de Grenoble (FR), les ballets C de la B (BE), Tanz im August / HAU Hebbel am Ufer (DE), La Filature – Scène nationale de Mulhouse (FR)

Residency support: CCN - Ballet de Lorraine (FR), STUK (BE), PACT Zollverein (DE), WP Zimmer (BE), Workspacebrussels (BE), Cie THOR (BE)
Support for experimentation: RAMDAM, un centre d'art (FR) Arkadi Zaides / Institut des Croisements is supported by French Ministry of Culture - DRAC Auvergne Rhône-Alpes
Social media tags: https://www.instagram.com/arkadi_zaides/
Artist’s website: https://arkadizaides.com/

(+16)
Duration: 50'
In English with Greek surtitles
Tickets: € 12 / 10