LUX_KILL to Open New Season at Rialto Theatre
Artist and performance maker Suzana Phialas created the site-specific work for the Cyprus venue.
Rialto Theatre will present LUX_KILL, a new site-specific installation by visual artist and performance maker Suzana Phialas, developed through the Theatre's Associate Artist in Residence 2026 Programme.
From 4 to 6 September, visitors will be invited beneath the stage and into a cold, raw and unexpected part of the Theatre, where choreography, technology and architecture intersect. Moving away from the red velvet and conventional experience of theatrical viewing, LUX_KILL transforms the understage into a responsive digital environment.
At the centre of the installation are three dismantled monitors displaying an algorithmic body that reacts to the physical presence of visitors. As they enter and move through the space, their physical mass interferes with the local network, triggering real-time visual distortions and frame-rate collapses. The spectator is therefore not a passive observer, but an active force within the work.
Developed during Phialas' residency at Rialto Theatre, the installation emerged through a process of construction, testing, failure, rebuilding and experimentation. Working closely with the Theatre's technical and production teams, the artist has used the architecture and infrastructure of the understage as an integral part of the work.
Phialas' wider practice explores the relationship between movement, digital technologies, artificial intelligence and the physical body. She approaches AI as a creative collaborator, investigating how algorithms learn from human experience and how their distortions can reflect back the complexities of the world that feeds them. With LUX_KILL, this ongoing exploration takes a site-specific and physical form.
ABOUT SUZANA PHIALAS
Suzana Phialas is a cross-media artist, performance maker, AI artist and curator working at the intersection of digital and physical art. Her practice combines choreography, performance, code and artificial intelligence, with a particular interest in movement as an algorithm.
Her work has been presented internationally in exhibitions, dance and performance events, site-specific festivals and screen dance programmes. Her AI-driven physical performance AiNA represented Cyprus at the 2024 European Contemporary Dance Festival (CCDF). Her work has also been acquired by the Cyprus State Gallery and private digital art collectors, while she has been represented by FELLOWSHIP AI since 2023.
CREDITS
Concept Creator & Artistic Director: Suzana Phialas
Creative Technologist & Developer: Dominica Zofia Matos Nogueira da Gama
Technicians & Crew: Andreas Pavlou, Antonis Stefanou, Georgos Kesides, Theofilos Theofilou
Production: Rialto Theatre, Associate Artist in Residence 2026 Programme
Acknowledgements: Alexis Vassiliou, Vasilis Petinaris, Nefeli Stylianou, Chrisilia Philiastides, Niki Vassiliou.
EXHIBITION INFORMATION
Rialto Theatre Understage
4 September: 19:00–22:00
5 & 6 September: 18:00–22:00
On the opening night, visitors will have the opportunity to meet and speak with the artist at the Theatre's outdoor bar area.
Free admission. No reservation required.
Recommended for ages 12+. The installation includes flickering lighting and low-frequency audio and takes place in a dark environment.
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