NECROPOLIS
ARKADI ZAIDES
2022
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.
The European jurisdiction establishes a clear distinction between criminal, natural, and accidental deaths, which determines the way the bodies are subsequently handled. As the many thousands of deaths that take place at the gates of Europe challenge this taxonomy, the forensic procedures consisting in collecting medical and biological data from the corpses are not carried out in most of the cases. This absence of information prevents any possibility of future identification of the victims. At the bottom of the sea, on the shores, and inland, a mass of decomposed bodies tells the story of a collective whose ghost hovers over European territory.
For their research, Arkadi Zaides and his team delve into the practice of forensics to conceive a new virtual depository documenting the remains of the many whose deaths remain to this day mostly unacknowledged. This growing archive, this map, this invisible landscape is stretching in all directions across space and time, interrelating the mythologies, histories, geographies and anatomies of those who have been granted entrance to NECROPOLIS. Freedom of movement needs to be returned to the bodies who are admitted to Europe as corpses. And although in the City of the Dead there is no- body left to dance, it is exactly that no-body, that body of the bodies - the body of NECROPOLIS - which Zaides aims to animate back to life.
https://arkadizaides.com/
@arkadi_zaides
The European jurisdiction establishes a clear distinction between criminal, natural, and accidental deaths, which determines the way the bodies are subsequently handled. As the many thousands of deaths that take place at the gates of Europe challenge this taxonomy, the forensic procedures consisting in collecting medical and biological data from the corpses are not carried out in most of the cases. This absence of information prevents any possibility of future identification of the victims. At the bottom of the sea, on the shores, and inland, a mass of decomposed bodies tells the story of a collective whose ghost hovers over European territory.
For their research, Arkadi Zaides and his team delve into the practice of forensics to conceive a new virtual depository documenting the remains of the many whose deaths remain to this day mostly unacknowledged. This growing archive, this map, this invisible landscape is stretching in all directions across space and time, interrelating the mythologies, histories, geographies and anatomies of those who have been granted entrance to NECROPOLIS. Freedom of movement needs to be returned to the bodies who are admitted to Europe as corpses. And although in the City of the Dead there is no- body left to dance, it is exactly that no-body, that body of the bodies - the body of NECROPOLIS - which Zaides aims to animate back to life.
https://arkadizaides.com/
@arkadi_zaides
CREDITS
Choreography and direction: Arkadi Zaides Dramaturgy, text and voice: Igor Dobričić Research assistant: Emma Gioia Performers: Arkadi Zaides, Emma Gioia Sculpture: Moran Sanderovich 3D modeling: Mark Florquin Avatar animation: Jean Hubert Animation assistant: Thibaut Rostagna Light: Jan Mergaert Sound design: Asli Kobaner Grave location search: Aktina Stathaki, Amali 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 Gilani 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 Gücükk / Institut des Croisements
NECROPOLIS is a production of Institut de Croisements in coproduction with Théâtre de la Ville, Montpellier Danse 40 Bis, Charleroi Danse, CCN2 Centre Chorégraphique National de Grenoble, les ballets C de la B, Tanz im August / HAU Hebbel am Ufer, La Filature – Scène nationale de Mulhouse
Residency support: CCN - Ballet de Lorraine, STUK, PACT Zollverein, WP Zimmer, Workspacebrussels, Cie THOR Support for experimentation: RAMDAM, un centre d'art Arkadi Zaides / Institut des Croisements is supported by French Ministry of Culture - DRAC Auvergne Rhône-Alpes
photo by Eike Walkenhorst
BOOKING INFO
Venue: theatre, black box, grey space, white cube
Audience: seated on 2 sides
Capacity: 100-350
Duration: 70 min.
Language: English
Subtitles: yes, currently available: French, Italian
Set-up: 1-2 days
Travel Party: 6 pax (2BE, 4 FR)
Shipping: 1 flight case
Other:
An artist talk after the performance is recommended. Other forms for audience development are
welcome & supported by the artist.
Audience: seated on 2 sides
Capacity: 100-350
Duration: 70 min.
Language: English
Subtitles: yes, currently available: French, Italian
Set-up: 1-2 days
Travel Party: 6 pax (2BE, 4 FR)
Shipping: 1 flight case
Other:
An artist talk after the performance is recommended. Other forms for audience development are
welcome & supported by the artist.
