For Andreas

Maria Klonaris and I met Andreas Velissaropoulos in Paris in the late 1970s. He attended a screening we held, liked what we did, and came close. We started meeting regularly and became friends. We saw his Opera — baroque, pulsating with camp energy and vibrant colour, featuring impressive costumes. I can’t recall where we saw the film. Perhaps a private screening at our studio? Andreas was fond of private screenings, so we could talk about the images as they came and went.

We would meet when he visited Paris; he would attend our screenings, talk about his activism, the Greek Homosexual Liberation Movement and its publication Amphi, as well as Gai pied and the articles he wrote for that magazine. He would show us the articles he wrote. He was very enthusiastic about feminism and psychoanalysis, too. A brave fighter. Open-minded, sharp-penned. With a formidable character.

We also visited Switzerland together for screenings of our work at Bienne. Our affinities with Andreas were plenty. The island of Syros provided one more link between us.

He was particularly touched by our film, The Mothers, a complex filmed performance commissioned by the Centre Pompidou in 1981. This inspired him to do a feature on us in a Greek magazine about modern cinema (Synchronos Kinematografos, issue 30, 1981), including his own intro, a lengthy interview with us, a manifesto we wrote, and lots of pictures. He used a phrase from the film’s soundtrack as the title of the feature: “Greece Runs Away”. We were runaways from Greece, as was he.

In the summer of 1982, Andreas was there for our multimedia performance version of Unheimlich I: Secret Dialogue at the Averoff Theatre in Athens. We were verjoyed to see each other again.

During his last visit to Paris in 1984–85, he appeared to us troubled and burdened with heavy thoughts. He was emotional when we parted that night. We kissed him goodbye, for good. We would never meet again.

Unexpectedly, in the summer of 1985, we received word from Athens that Andreas Velissaropoulos had passed. We did not know about his illness. We were shaken by the news. His funeral at the First Cemetery of Athens. Moments I won’t forget.

Just afterwards, in the autumn of 1985, we would introduce The Angel Cycle with the multimedia performance Mystery II: Conflagration of the Angel at the Galerie Donguy.

We dedicated it to Andreas’ memory. His presence was felt strongly by our side at that decisive moment in our work.

Katerina Thomadaki, October 2023