P A N T E L I S M A K K A S
Genie, 2016
Video Dance Performance
Visual and video artist Pantelis Makkas turns to one of the most haunting real-life stories of the twentieth century—the case of Genie, the so-called “feral child” discovered in California in 1970. Found at the age of thirteen after a decade of extreme isolation, Genie had lived bound to a toddler’s chair, deprived of play, touch, and human communication. Her body remained trapped in a state of arrested childhood, while her voice was reduced to just two words: “stop” and “end.”
Her story unsettled the scientific community, raising profound questions about the nature of human learning. Could a brain, denied language during its formative years, ever truly acquire it later? At the time, researchers held that speech, like sight or hearing, depended on a critical period—a fragile window in early life, during which a child must experience communication and connection, or lose that capacity forever. Genie’s tragedy became both a symbol of deprivation and an unsettling experiment in the limits of human resilience.
Makkas translates this history into a visceral stage experience, using image and performance to explore the silence, rupture, and yearning at the core of Genie’s existence. His work does not simply narrate her story—it embodies its questions, pressing the audience to confront the fragility of language and the devastating absence of human contact.
In this exploration, Makkas is joined by dancer and choreographer Stellatou, whose movement becomes the physical echo of Genie’s confinement and struggle, extending the visual narrative into the body itself.
Concept, Live Video: Pantelis Makkas Choreography, performance: Angeliki Stellatou Costumes: Eleftheria Arapoglou Music: Giorgos Poulios
