Vera Iona Papadopoulou is a performance director, artist and mentor working at the intersection of performance, film and experiential education. Her work moves between the personal and the collective, creating spaces where presence becomes creation and life itself turns into art. Born in Kiev and raised in Greece, Vera studied Architecture in Odessa, Film Direction at VGIK Moscow and Digital Arts at the Athens School of Fine Arts. She has collaborated with Marina Abramović and Yoko Ono, and trained with Theodoros Terzopoulos as well as ICA Moscow’s New Art Strategies program. Her performances explore memory, trauma, identity and the body, unfolding through collective and participatory processes. Recent works include On the Neck (2025), a polyphonic performance weaving together cinematic dramaturgy, video, live action and visual art. In film and media, she has directed short films, documentaries and video works presented at festivals in Greece and abroad, while her performance collaborations have been featured at institutions such as GARAGE Moscow and MoMA PopRally. As an educator, Vera teaches performance art, focusing on presence, embodiment and the art of real-time composition. She leads workshops and long-term labs for artists, educators and seekers, helping participants to develop their personal artistic language and authentic expression through the body. She is the founder and artistic director of spiti8 | The Home of Performance & Experiential Arts, a platform dedicated to performance, artistic research and collective creation. Through spiti8, she designs performances, labs and retreats that bridge art, pedagogy and transformation—cultivating new forms of living and learning through art.