Tenant

Tenant is the title of a video installation by artist and video designer Pantelis Makkas, presented at Peiraios 260: a translucent house filled with images born and crafted for theatrical productions in which he has collaborated over the past fifteen years. As the creator remarks, “A tenant is not merely the one who inhabits a space, but also one who remains in constant interaction with it. In theatre, the tenant could be the play itself, which settles on stage and then unfolds through actions, words, images, and emotions fostered and expressed on that very stage; a play that, through the act of interpretation, temporarily ‘inhabits’ the audience, influencing and engaging with the viewers.”

In Tenant, the element of video assumes a leading role, disrupting the traditional hierarchies of theatrical production and reveling in the autonomy of the image as a self-sufficient artistic medium. As an organic component of the play, video on stage invites new interpretations.

The images featured in the installation originate from productions of both classical and contemporary plays—Euripides, Shakespeare, and Molière alongside Pinter, Dario Fo, and others. Here, video transcends its formal function within performance, liberating the texts from their theatrical framework and granting them a new visual dimension.

Rather than merely depicting the action, video transforms it—reframing and deconstructing the very concept of the theatrical work. Plays such as Hippolytus by Euripides, The Tempest and King Lear by Shakespeare, or The Misanthrope by Molière are baptized anew through the lens of video, offering the audience an immersive and experiential encounter. The use of the camera and image processing generates an ever-evolving environment, one that illustrates the tensions and contradictions within these classical texts. Characters and conflicts are revealed from new perspectives, beyond the boundaries of the traditional stage.

This interplay with video is not merely an innovative mode of presentation—it is a proposal for reinterpreting the classical repertoire. Video frees the play from its stage form, presenting a different, dynamic, and multidimensional experience for the audience.