This performative project builds on the exhibition shown at Kunsthalle Wil and serves as a linguistic deepening and embodied response to Hannah Arendt’s essay The Freedom to Be Free. The repetition in the title – yes!yes!yes!no!no! – emphasises the necessity of positioning, of commitment. It invites us to reconsider the conditions of freedom and responsibility in a time when political and global systems increasingly seek to penetrate and govern our innermost private spheres. Its core focus lies in the development of social vessels and a shared language capable of evoking dialogue around the idea of freedom of action. How can collective experiences, which hold transformative potential, be preserved in written or spoken language? What forms of knowledge are worth retaining? Which do we want to share? And how can such knowledge be shared meaningfully? What kinds of social sculptures, vessels, or even happenings are needed to facilitate this shared experience and allow it to emerge?

As part of the project, and in collaboration with two dancers and artist Vasiliki Sifostratoudaki, a personal “statement of freedom” was developed in response to Arendt’s essay. A central element was the shared process of translating and articulating this inner sense of freedom – in both English and Greek – using simple, direct language. These statements were later handwritten by the artist onto two specially designed costumes. During a performative promenade through the public space of Nea Ionia, a northern suburb of Athens, the two dancers wore and gradually unveiled the statements. The costumes themselves referred philosophically to the smallest unit of space – the shell or substrate – a metaphorical vessel for the idea of freedom of action, condensed into a reduced and embodied visual language.

Yellow Brick is an independent art space in Athens that invites artists, collectives, curators, writers, and thinkers to realise research-based projects. It supports co-authorship between disciplines and promotes shared authorship by fostering dialogue, exchange, and collaborative experience. Invited artists take on the role of facilitators and agents within this space.