The UNIC Department of Architecture will host a presentation of the Pavilion representing the Republic of Cyprus at the 16th International Architectural Exhibition Biennale Architettura di Venezia 2018 at an event on 24 October 2018 at 7 pm, at the [ARC] Architecture Research Centre.
In addition, the event will feature three book presentations: “Green Urban Lab – Activating Public Spaces” (editors: V. Antoniou, R. Carraz, Y. Hadjichristou); “In_Out Crisis – Unit 5” (tutors: A. Swiny, N, Christou , M.Georgiou, Y. Hadjichristou); and “I Am Where You Are” (editors A. Swiny, V. Antoniou, Y. Hadjichristou).
The event will be addressed by the President of the Association of Architects of Cyprus, Christos Christodoulou, and the Director of Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Mr Pavlos Paraskevas.
For bookings and relevant information, please call: 22842601 or email [email protected].
ABOUT
‘I Am Where You Are’ is a platform for communication. By highlighting and questioning sets of binaries, key to cultural perceptions in and about Cyprus, we disengage from convention. A multiplicity of other, ‘freespaces’, is revealed in the pavilion, these are seen as the ‘in-between’ and are set in contrast to binaries, such as the“built_unbuilt, tradition_modernity, Island of Love_place of conflict, migration_locality”, allowing unexpected experiences to be celebrated.
Architecture is the mediator and the lens used to investigate these often-unnoticed conditions. The Pavilion show-cases significant contemporary innovative projects and incorporates important historical and vernacular works. We collapse the notions of time/space and presence/non-presence, utilizing digital and interactive means. The physicality of the body of the visitor dissolves, as it is enveloped in and immersed into a moving-scape of simultaneous projections.
‘I Am Where You Are’, because we are constantly moving and shifting, both physically and digitally. We continuously transform, therefore, ‘I encompass some of what you are and you encompass some of what I am’. The Cyprus Pavilion becomes a transmitter and a receiver: visitors are transported through the images found in the pavilion into the Cypriot context, and virtually interact with the people and built environments of Cyprus through an interactive video art piece. Different languages, customs, cultures, etiquette and built forms we experience on a daily basis mix and merge. They bring into focus that which differentiates, connects and binds us together.
The Team:
The team is made up of a diverse, international group of architects, a practicing video artist and a museologist. The Curators have collaborated on several projects in the past. In 2016 they represented Cyprus as the Curators of the State Pavilion for the Milano Triennale with their project ‘Human Topographies_Emerging Identities’. In 2010 they collaborated on the design of the Architecture Research Centre, which houses the Department of Architecture at University of Nicosia. A. Swiny and Y. Hadjichristou have been working and teaching together at the Department of Architecture, UNic, since 2008. V. Antoniou and Y. Hadjichristou have collaborated in designed projects since 2004. In 2014 V. Antoniou established Urban Gorillas (a non-for-profit organization involved in urban actions through community engagement) where Y. Hadjichristou is also a Board Director.
The Pavilion:
The curatorial team initiated the concept of ‘Human Topographies_Emerging Identities’ in 2016 when they curated the Cyprus Pavilion for the Triennale di Milano.
Since then, they have continued exploring multiplicities of the built environment in Cyprus. They have sought to use an exploratory lens to reveal the diverse identities and social relationships that exist as in-between conditions, both within and outside of the architectural realm.
‘I Am Where You Are’ further extends their study of the thematic of the ‘in-between’ or the ‘third spaces’ that are found in Cyprus, within planned or unplanned conditions. The Curators use an architectural lens to search for the ‘third space’, examining different conditions that we tend to overlook; such as, common, everyday rituals, our relationship to nature and the ways we navigate through social and political situations on a daily basis.
The Cyprus Pavilion is divided into 3 main spaces that offer a diverse set of experiences.
The First Space
Upon entering into the Cyprus Pavilion the visitor is immediately immersed into a dense forest. Hundreds of ephemeral trace panels hold the core ingredients of the exhibition. The diverse works of 17 architects, 24 artists, NGOs, and a rich collection of archival images fill the space as if free-floating in the air. Visitors merge with this hanging, or growing, forest of printed material and become emerged into a possibly unexpected view and deeper understanding of Cyprus.
The Courtyard
The courtyard serves as a mediator between the two exhibition spaces, a form of in-between space in itself, and also as the socializing space of the Pavilion.
The Projection Space
The video art installation evolves into a 360-degree projected collage of architecture and art works. This installation acts as a ‘visual composition’ and is presented as a 6-channel projection in the 8 X 8 m room. The projection enables visitors to observe both moving and still images, inside the architectural works which explore human, spatial and social conditions in Cyprus that often go unnoticed due to stereotypical visual representations of the country.
The Partners:
The synergy of different but essential entities is deemed very important for the production of the future living environment. The three curators joined forces bringing into the project their different backgrounds and personalities. They weave together their experience and involvement in their Architectural Practices, their NGO practice, their research and their Academic work. The Department of Architecture at the University of Nicosia, with its internationally awarded students and faculty members, in alignment with innovative Architectural Practice creates a unique collaboration for the emergence of socially sustainable built environments. The NGO ‘Urban Gorillas’ with a rich set of creative and research activities within the Island of Cyprus and its international recognition is also key.
Commissioner: Republic of Cyprus, Ministry of Education and Culture
Assistant to the Commissioner: Angela Skordi
Organizer: Cyprus Architects Association
Main Partner and Main Sponsor: University of Nicosia
Partner: Urban Gorillas
Collaborator: Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation
Curators: Veronika Antoniou, Yiorgos Hadjichristou, Alessandra Swiny
Collaborators: Despo Pasia, Matthieu Tercieux
Team: Anastasios Balabanides, Lucia Calliari, Teresa Ditadi, Evdokia Demetriou, Marine Haim, Elena Kapakiotou, Jose Luna, Stefanos Panteli.
