Climax, a Show to Wake Up the World

Described as “A Talent of the Next Generation”, Natasha Tsakos is known for pioneering ways of integrating technology with live performance. Just landed from Florida, she presents her show ‘CLIMAX’ which critically engages with our society and puts foward concerns around the environment and sustainability.

INTERVIEW

Sustainability MAG : You performed for the first time in Luxembourg at the Luxembourg Sustainability Forum the 21th November 2017. Your show, CLIMAX, is a very bold and powerful artistic message that also opened the G20 Summit in Mexico. Could you tell us more about it?

Natasha Tsakos : Performing CLIMAX at the G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico was definitely an incredible and powerful experience. I sincerely could not believe the invitation was real and kept thinking “They must have not seen the show!”; but they did, and that gave me hope that the world was ready to wake up, and there were courageous and conscientious players in these houses of cards.

What type of reactions does it trigger?

It depends on who sees it. It’d like to think it exhilarates, provokes and moves people to think differently about environmental and social issues. Because our reasoning is inextricably tied up to our emotions, a work of art, a song, a live performance can sometimes have a much greater impact on people than a conversation would.

You seem extremely fascinated about technologies as they hold a very important role in your artistic performances. You were also awarded a Google grant to attend the Graduate Studies Program at NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, which focuses on accelerating technologies to address Humanity’s greatest challenges. What relationship do you have with technologies? Do you see them as powerful tools and dream of the possibilities?

Absolutely. I am fascinated by technology and use the theatre of mind to envision and project future possibilities. I believe the synthesis of Arts and Technology will transform the way we create, experience and ultimately interpret the world around us.

In our highly technological times, is the idea of your shows to humanize the experience?

My goal is to enhance the human experience through technology and humanise the technology through the experience. The story is the humanising element, the technology inspires possibilities, and the creative process challenges technology to better tell the story. It’s a beautiful feedback loop.

You are very much committed to sustainability and became the Arts 2030 Ambassador to the UN SDSN Youth in 2016. How does this artists collective contribute to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals? More generally, how do you see the role of Arts in shaping the future?

It is an honor to be the ambassador of Arts 2030. Beyond the organisation’s mission, which is to empower artists around the world to shine light onto the 17 global goals through their art. I believe the greater power of artists is not necessarily their creations but their creative process. Artists should be at the table today and part of the operating system of solutions.

You also developed a Green campaign through the character ZERO. Could you tell us more about it?

Upon creating my first multimedia show, I realised I should leverage my character ZERO’s unique look and persona to stand for causes that mattered to me. The iGreen movement started with a digital campaign I would send my friends and fans every Sunday inviting them to turn their power off from 7.53pm - 8.00pm with ZERO. The campaign grew with more performance installations and creative happenings as ZERO collaborated with local organisations.

I always thought the environmental awareness movement was badly branded. If you took the best art directors from the top ad agencies around the world and put them in a room for three days, they would come up with spectacular campaigns that would inspire everyone. If they can sell us fat, sugar and toxins than surely they can entice us to care for our planet. That is what I was trying to experiment with and do - on smaller scale! - by giving the green movement a face and an original twist.

What next should we expect next? You are currently working on a new show that will premiere in 2018. What is it about?

I am currently working on a new show called Billion Billions. It is a roller coaster through time in real time. The show will be different every single time you see it because the world’s data becomes the environment that performers interact with. We are using mobile technology and real time data to create a production that responds to world events, and where the audience can respond back. Imagine watching an exhilarating scene that features climate change: wind machines are blowing, the music is peaking, performers flying, visuals surrounding: vivid intermixed with CO₂ statistics. It’s cathartic, your phone lights up and allows you to donate to an organisation tackling that challenge. You are done. You took action. It was simple. entertaining and meaningful. That is what I am excited about, bridging the best of theatre, technology and social impact.

NATASHA TSAKOS

Born in Geneva and currently living in Florida, Natasha Tsakos has acquired a worldwide reputation thanks to her futuristic "technoformances", which highlight environmental and social issues. In 2002, during her show " UP WAKE ", Natasha Tsakos immediately attracted the interest of the public with her outstanding performance. Her career was recognised with her show CLIMAX, which closed Al Gore's Climate Reality Project and opened the G20 Summit in Mexico. Now cited as "talent of the new generation", Natasha Tsakos has become the Arts Twenty Thirty Ambassador of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solution Network.