Questions by Leda Galanou for flix.gr

Why do you believe it is important that the viewer actively participates in an art project or a discussion of any kind, instead of simply listening to arguments or narrations?

Many brains are more intelligent than one brain. This is a simple fact. I very much believe that the answers to the questions, the solutions to the problems are already available. It is not one brilliant mind that knows and spits out the solution. It is the combined mind of the people that harbors the knowledge. But of course it is not an easy task to access this wisdom. In today’s media it is all about having a competition between different opinions to find the winner, as if this winner than knows what to do. We all have to participate, listen and share and take some of the responsibility. I try to use computers to visualize and enable us to understand multiple realities. In this endeavor the brains of the people are of crucial importance. I don’t want an audience that shuts up and listens. I want an audience that participates in the thinking-process.

What are, in your opinion, the cultural elements which the Greek and German people of today have in common, and which are those which separate them?

Also among Germans there are many different cultures. I myself grew up in the south, my wife grew up in the north. People from the north of Germany are different from people in the south. Same goes for the west, the east, the center. There are 16 different states in Germany, each proud to have a different culture. So if you put all that together and say this is the German culture what is the difference to the Greek? Well I would say: German people for a few years experienced a very strong economy, which seems to be good for building up confidence. Greek people experienced a very weak economy for the last couple of years. That makes the main difference. Greeks and Germans are both Europeans, that is what they have in common.

How can the audience participation in a “Korsakow Show” be described, except for the fact that they determine the subject of discussion?

Basically the subject of discussion is given. We will talk about “money and the greek”. There are video-clips (interviews and short narrations collected by me and my partner Elissavet in two travels across Greece) and there are two thinkers (Dionyssis Kavvathas from Greece and Claus Leggewie from Germany) on stage. These are the ingredients of the show. The ingredients were carefully picked (also with the help of hundreds of people that helped preselecting the video-material) and now the audience is guiding the talk. They can vote which video-clip should be seen or which of the thinkers should be heard. The audience can comment on different levels. The show is a cooking-pot, and the audience is the cook. There is not one message or goal other than maybe: “Think productively.”

What is it, in your opinion, that the Greek audience can gain from such an intimate communication with their German counterparts instead of, for example, with the people of another country in financial crisis?

This show is not only for a Greek audience. We want to show it in Germany as well and maybe in other countries. I hope that it helps building a better understanding for each other, and bringing the stereotypes more in sync with reality.

Could the “Korsakow Show” be described as a transmedia project, since it develops in multiple platforms simultaneously?

For many years I have used computers as my medium to create narrations or narrative projects. I grew up with computers and in my opinion it makes so much more sense, to use the logic and structure of computers to build narrations, than other usually much more linear and mono-dimensional formats. We are at the beginning of a new era of understanding and discussing the reality around us. Computers are crucial to discuss and understand this new level of complexity. This is beautiful, it is like entering a new world. I am experimenting with this new formats. I don’t know how this formats are called. I call them “Korsakow”.

What was your own impression from your journey in Greece last year, what kind of memories did you collect?

People are wonderful. Greece is beautiful. I am proud to be European. The rest is in video-clips – come and see for yourself on Monday at the Goethe-Institut!

The Korsakow-Show “Was ist. geld.gr” takes place at the Goethe-Institut in Athens:
Oct 22, 2012, 20:30 h Goethe-Institut Athen, Omirou 14-16, Athen