2021
Phytorio
Artists-in-Residence 2021
artist residency program Νο.6
gathering x discourse, Phytorio residency, 2021 Curator Argyro Nicolaou, writer and filmmaker
This year’s phytorio presidency program, gathering x discourse, is a convening that brings together artists, theoreticians, cultural professionals, and anyone interested in art and society, to discuss the relationship between art, history and politics in Cyprus. The discussions will center on artistic practices galvanized or informed by sociopolitical developments on the island in the past fifty years. During the month of July, the space of phytorio will be open daily as a space of reading, writing, and discussion. A (non-exhaustive) bibliography and videography will be provided, creating a common discursive ground for participants. These references can be expanded to include participants’ suggestions. The bibliography and videography will inform a three-part convening that will take place at the phytorio garden every Friday, at 19:00.
Registration required by mail vartcy@gmail.com For information, tel. 22681088
Gathering x discourse 1
As part of the Phytorio residency 2021 gathering x discourse, curated by Argyro Nicolaou, the first of a series of public discussions will take place on Friday 16 July at 7:00pm at the phytorio garden.
The first session will focus on questions raised by the recent theater production Out of Necessity, in conversation with the play’s directors Maria Kyriacou and Maria Varnakkidou.
Some of the questions to be addressed are: What choices govern artists’ responses to contemporary sociopolitical events? What is the role of the performing arts in communicating alternative visions of society? What considerations govern the shaping of Cyprus’ cultural and historical canon?
Out of Necessity is a devised theater piece that began as an exploration of the Republic of Cyprus’ constitution. The play explores the island’s fraught historical narratives as well as recent sociopolitical events.
This year’s residency program at the Visual Artists and Art Theorists Association –phytorio aims to open up space for public dialogue around issues concerning Cypriot history and art, through the gathering x discourse project proposed by writer and filmmaker Argyro Nicolaou.
We invite everyone interested in the intersection of art, society, and politics in Cyprus to attend.
More about the Phytorio residency program 2021 gathering x discourse:
In a “state of exception”—and thus emergency—since the mid-1960s, Cyprus finds itself at yet another impasse. Political scandals, worrying developments in the Cyprus problem, the rise of the far-right, and the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic, all converge to produce a hotbed of collective activities and sociopolitical reconstitutions, with an activist approach.
Responding to the urgency of the moment, this year’s phytorio residency 2021, gathering x discourse, offers a space of collecting thoughts, sharing insights, and discussing impressions on the contemporary arts in Cyprus in a political context.
Gathering x discourse 2
The next public discussion of Phytorio residency 2021 gathering x discourse, curated by Argyro Nicolaou, will take place on Friday 23 July at 7:00pm at the phytorio garden.This discussion will focus on the concepts of the margin and the periphery. We will center contemporary and historical practices that are marginalized by dominant sociopolitical and cultural discourses, including hegemonic narratives and aesthetic forms. How do contemporary artists respond to the margin or periphery in their practice?This session will feature theater director and scholar Magdalena Zira and artist and writer Marina Kassianidou.Through the prism of the ongoing Women Walk Home project (SEASON: Women) and the text “Peripheral Visions: The “Peripheral” Position as Productive of Artistic Process” (Μαρίνα Κασσιανίδου, Contemporary Art from Cyprus, eds. Elena Stylianou, Evanthia Tselika, Gabriel Koureas) we will also discuss the margin/periphery as a productive artistic positionality and a lived reality that Cypriot artists—based in Cyprus and abroad—must negotiate.This year’s residency program at the Visual Artists and Art Theorists Association – phytorio aims to open up space for public dialogue around issues concerning Cypriot history and art, through the gathering x discourse project proposed by writer and filmmaker Argyro Nicolaou.We invite everyone interested in the intersection of art, society, and politics in Cyprus to attend.
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