Useless Box

Panayiotis Kokoras

United States/Greece

The piece begins with the resonant sound of a struck wooden box, which initially appears empty and useless, but reveals contents that transport the viewer to worlds both real and fantastical. From the iconic Pandora's box to the intriguing Schrödinger's cat thought experiment, the narrative unfolds fusing the strange, the enigmatic, the amusing, the theatrical and the terrifying.

Every sound, from eerie whistles to thunderous thumps, takes on a life of its own, loaded with symbolism and meaning. "Useless Box" begins and concludes with a quote from Julius Fučík's 1897 military march "Entry of the Gladiators," and operates within a three-stage paradigm of Feeling, Thinking and Acting.