Cyprus will be represented in the 60th Venice Biennale of Art by a group consisting of the artist duo LLC (Peter Eramian, Emiddio Vasquez), the artist collective Endrosia (Alexandros Xenophontos, Andreas Andronikou, Doris Mari Demetriadou, Irini Khenkin, Marina Ashioti, Niki Charalambous, Kyriaki Rafaelia Tsiridou), and the artist Haig Aivazian, the Department of Modern and Contemporary Culture of the Deputy Ministry of Culture announced on Thursday.
According to the Deputy Ministry, the group’s proposal is entitled “On a wildflower-lined gravel track off a quiet thoroughfare…” and was selected by the Deputy Ministry’s Advisory Committee for the Selection of Artists and Works (Eleonora Antoniadou, Gabriel Koureas, Louli Michaelidou, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Maria Petrides) among a total of 23 proposals submitted in response to an Open Call last March.
In terms of the selection rationale, it is noted that the Advisory Committee unanimously selected the proposal “On a wildflower-lined gravel track off a quiet thoroughfare…” due to its refreshing, multilayered and dynamic character, which adopts or pushes forward current ideas to bring both a local microhistory and the broader postcolonial experience to the forefront.
It is noted that the chosen concept of ‘ghosting’ in the framework of social theory poses questions that concern, among others, how past or current social powers control our daily lives and holds an important place in the proposal, which provides innovative and timely methodologies that engage with pertinent issues, using a multi-media, visitor-centred approach, and an engagement with local communities.
It is added that the proposal exhibits a collaborative inter-generational approach that breaks away from the conventional model of a single curator and artist format, providing a decentralized curation whose power lies in its methodology, the collaborative experience of artistic practice, and in its inclusive vision.
The Committee also said it was excited about the great response to this year’s Open Call, as well as the quality of the proposals submitted, many of which demonstrated a high standard of artistic, curatorial and conceptual thinking, reflecting the outstanding level on which contemporary artistic practices in and from Cyprus are developing.
According to the statement, the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale, directed by Adriano Pedrosa, will unfold under the general theme “Foreigners Everywhere” – a reference to the Turin anarchist collective of the same name, which at the turn of the millennium addressed racism and xenophobia, highlighting the estrangement of being foreign everywhere in a global society.
It is added that in the upcoming edition, the Cyprus pavilion will be housed as before at Associazione Culturale Spiazzi, Castello 3865, 30124 Venezia, close to the Arsenale – one of the two main exhibition venues of the Venice Biennale.
The 60th edition of the event opens on 17 April 2024 for the Media and accredited professionals and on 20 April for the general public, the statement concludes.
