Mouth Ensemble – Eργαστήριο BeatboxΓιώργος Γαργάλας
26 March 2026
Arabic Music Workshop: Voice and Musical EnsembleZiad Rajab
26 March 2026Music Recycling
Coordination: Nikos Veliotis
Duration: 30 hours
Hours: 10.00 – 14.00 & 17.00 – 19.00
(the hours may be adjusted to meet the needs of the workshop)
Language: English, Greek
25 - 31 August
(25.8 arrival date / 31.8 departure date)
A workshop dedicated to searching for sounds from unexpected and unforeseen sources, and to their creative recycling. Through processes of editing and transformation, the original material is deconstructed, loses its recognizable form, and reappears as a new musical work.
The workshop is aimed at musicians who wish to take part in a hands-on exploration of the idea of recycling, contributing to the collective composition, shaping, and live presentation of a new piece.
In practice, any music can function as raw material—with a slight, but by no means random, preference for whatever repels us, irritates us, or makes us feel uncomfortable. Participants are invited to contribute actively to the formation of the source material by bringing musical selections, which are then removed from their original context and re-examined through collective listening, analysis, and discussion. The goal is to isolate individual elements that will form the basis for editing, transformation, and deconstruction.
The processing is carried out using the available instruments and means, employing unorthodox techniques in both performance and composition. Through continuous experimentation, the initial materials are transformed until they lose their recognizability and function autonomously, as part of a new collective work.
Nothing is thrown away. Everything is tried.
Beyond methods and tools, the workshop’s core material remains unbridled imagination.
Nikos Veliotis (Athens, Greece)
www.nikosveliotis.com
www.mmmd.eu
Nikos Veliotis began in the late 1980s as co-founder of the Greek electronic duo In Trance 95 (with Alex Machairas), releasing music on early independent labels such as Wipe Out and Elfish. Their early demos were later reissued by Minimal Wave (2011), followed by a new album in 2012. The project remains active, with a new release expected in 2025.
In the late 1990s, he turned to experimental and avant-garde practices, focusing on the relationship between sound and image, primarily through the cello and video. His work includes the Cello Powder intermedia performance (Glasgow, 2009), where he deconstructed the instrument itself. During this period, he founded and participated in groups such as CRANC (with Angharad and Rhodri Davies) and Looper (with Ingar Zach and Martin Küchen).
In the late 2000s, he co-founded Mohammad with ILIOS and Coti K. (renamed MMMD after 2015). The project has released over 15 albums on labels including Antifrost, PAN, Improved Sequence and Modal Analysis.
Veliotis has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including David Grubbs (The Harmless Dust, Headz, 2005) and Greek songwriter Giannis Aggelakas, with whom he has released four albums and one live recording.
He has composed extensively for film, theatre and dance.
Film (selected)
TACK (dir. Vania Turner)
Embryo, Larva, Butterfly (with MMMD, dir. Kyros Papavassiliou – Best Music Award, Thessaloniki IFF 2023)
Hagazussa (with MMMD, dir. Lucas Feigelfeld)
Impressions of a Drowned Man (dir. Kyros Papavassiliou)
Valse Sentimental (dir. Constantina Voulgari)
Original live scores for The Passion of Joan of Arc (Kymata Festival 2024) and Nosferatu (Athens International Film Festival 2022–23, Kymata Festival 2023)
Theatre (selected)
Antigoni meteori (dir. Rinio Kiriazi)
Afanismos (dir. Anna Kokkinou)
Orestis (with MMMD, Horos Theatre Company, dir. Simos Kakalas – Athens Epidaurus Festival)
Agamemnon (Theatro Domatiou, dir. Angela Brouskou – Athens Epidaurus Festival)
Liomeno Voutiro (Horos Theatre Company, dir. Simos Kakalas – National Theatre of Greece)
Dance
Long-term collaboration with Zita Dance Company and choreographer Iris Karayan (Self Portrait, Mothers, Unauthorized, A Dance as a Dance, The Dance of Death).
Selected Discography (1988–2022+)
Includes releases with In Trance 95, Mohammad/MMMD, Looper, CRANC, and solo works. Selected titles:
Sidiroun Parapetasma (2022), L’âge de l’absolutisme (2020), Likoi sti hora ton thavmaton (2019, with G. Aggelakas), Pèkisyon Funebri (2016), Folklor Invalid (2013), Som Sakrifis (2013), Cities of Steel and Neon (2011), The Harmless Dust (2005, with D. Grubbs), Desire to Desire / Brazillia (1988).
Intermedia & Video
Intermedia works include Cello Powder, VOMVOS (cello + video), and MASS (with Looper).
His video works (I was about to say, imAgo, obJet, memento Mori) have been presented internationally at festivals such as San Francisco IFF, Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival, Paris-Berlin Rencontres, Exis (Korea), and others.
Performances & Festivals (selected)
He has presented his work internationally in festivals and venues such as MoMA (New York), Reina Sofia (Madrid), Ultima Festival (Norway), Supersonic Festival (UK), Tectonics Athens, Fylkingen (Sweden), Musica Genera (Poland), and the Biennale of Young Artists of Europe and the Mediterranean, among many others.
He was also the organizer of the experimental festival 2:13 in Athens (2000–2007).