Calling on… George Rallis

I first remember George as he made his way from the backstage area through the OT301 crowd at HIS DARK Elements ‘3’. George is the collective’s art director and performer. He is Gravity Grave for visual mediums, Quintessentially Queer for academic and curatorial issues, and hosts a podcast on Slim Radio speaking about sexuality, racism, or identity.

What drives you as a performer?
How does it relate to your other work?
I come from Cyprus. It’s quite homophobic and closed-minded — coming out and being yourself as a queer individual carries a political significance with it at all times. Your identity is interwoven with the identities of others. As an artist, I am trying to unveil this multiplicity and interconnectedness of meanings with everyone. I have two missions: first, to make people feel uncomfortable. Secondly, to make people feel confident because I believe everyone has something beautiful to add to the world. My performances are a combination of flow arts and belly dance. I’m a big hairy man, dressed like a fierce, sex-obsessed devil so I’m sure that provokes discomfort. Within each performance, I try to critique a social aspect. You can enjoy the image or you can question it: we all believe that our opinions, feelings, or aesthetics are the norm when they aren’t. Once you feel uncomfortable, you might grow as a person and develop your aesthetic perception.

Our city government projects an ideal image of Amsterdam: diverse groups don’t alienate each other but form a whole that transcends individual differences. In addition, the city believes to be successful in fighting financial, health and education-related inequalities. What is your experience as an artist in Amsterdam?
I don’t get that vibe at all. I feel as if the hierarchies between Dutch and Expat cultural practitioners are separated since the Dutch tend to gatekeep the capital with the gentrification of the cultural scene. In this Western, white, cis, and male-dominated society, it’s difficult for the majority to identify with what the foreign artist might want to show. Having said that, Amsterdam is a very progressive city in comparison to the rest of Europe and is always pushing you and your practice in new ways and directions. It’s a beautiful, artistic ecosystem that is like nowhere else. The only problem, I feel, is the apologetic nature of its own identity. Maybe it’s the trendiness of technofying everything, maybe the instagrammable culture of promotion. Haven’t figured it out but there really is something special about this city. Amsterdam is big enough to lose yourself but small enough to find the right people.

Your approach seems strongly rooted in self-expression but radiates a compassionate interest in pushing towards social inclusivity. Through HDE, there is an admonition: ‘There won’t be space for racism, sexism, homophobia, queerphobia or body-shaming’. People feel safe for one night; do you see this philosophy of nightclubbing extend to our daily life?
Ideally yes, although such a notion is also utopian. The whole point of queerness and inclusion is that you need opposition for it to be substantiated in a politically radical way. To keep on pushing these agendas to the extent where inclusion is not the goal, but rather respect and understanding. Do whatever you want, be whoever you want to be; I don’t need to understand it but I understand that I can and want to respect it.

‘Question first what happens on the inside before you go on expressing it on the outside.’

The city is developing programs promoting diversity, education; police training on empathy is also being implemented; how does your taking a stance differ from these programs that are supposedly happening ‘on the ground’? Would you say your practice is political in that it creates spaces of freedom and if so, how?
I wasn’t aware of these programs but that sounds very cool — regardless of what one may think about the existence of police. As far as my practice goes, I try to include as many agents of queerness as possible and allow not just interdisciplinary artists to be in the limelight but also showcase artists of all backgrounds and skill levels. I do not think that expression goes hand in hand with its institutionalization. I’m urging each person to decolonize their work and self and realize that they are adding something to the social discourse at large.

What are your future projects?
I am writing my thesis about alternative ontological embodiments of queerness and continue all the projects I have. With HDE, we are planning an online stream very soon that includes installations, performances, and music so that’s very exciting. I have a lot coming up that I cannot really talk about but hopefully, if things turn out well, I’ll be around for a while.