Final show of a first
International 10-day residency workshop
By Heidi Trautmann
I have handed in my application
for citizenship for the Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland (KREV) and I will be
issued a passport in due time which – so it says – is valid for all times –
present – past and future - and all places – known and unknown - and that I
shall be immortal…
The KREV Royal Chamber has
addressed a letter to the Government of Cyprus in which it is announced that
with respect to the constitutions the border area between South and North
Cyprus are annexed to the Kingdom of Frontier Areas worldwide.
Laid out on the application desk
at EMAA’s is the Book of State in which
the various state forms are explained, i.e. the State of Things, State of the
Art, State of Mind, State of Alarm, State of Grace, State of Health.
There is a new entry in the KREV
News Record, that the Inauguration of the General Consulate of the Kingdoms of
Elgaland-Vergaland for Cyprus took place on 12.02.2015 http://www.elgaland-vargaland.org/news/ and that
the Consuls were appointed : Özgül Ezgin and Argyro Toumazou at EMAA Capital
Art Centre in Nicosia Northern Cyprus.
Now it is official.
Border Areas, spaces were we
could go to when the countries around are getting into fights about things,
border spaces where like-minded can meet spiritually, but become superfluous
when contradictions have ceased to exist. So it says.
The EU-funded Art Project "Confrontation Through Art - Contemporary
Art as an Instrument for Reconciliation in Cyprus", expands from 2014-2017. The first residency/workshop ‘Stimulating
Synapse’ took place from February 9 – 18
with an exhibition and presentation on the evening of February 18. EMAA
(European Mediterranean Art Association and Rooftop Theatre are working on this
project together. The first 10-day residency programme curated by Branko
Franceschi has come to an end, an experience which ran off in a very friendly
atmosphere, I learnt when talking to the participating artists who were Carl
Michael von Hausswolff (Sweden), Ana Elizabet (Croatia), Paul Devens (Netherlands),
Erhan Oze (Cyprus) and Eleni Phyla (Cyprus). Most of the artists are very experienced in
this kind of workshop. For example,
Branko Franceschi is director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Split, Croatia www.galum.hr.
From 1987 to 2004 he was programme director at the Miroslav
Kraljevic Gallery in Zagreb, from 2004 to 2008 executive director of the Museum of Modern and
Contemporary Art in Rijeka/Croatia, from 2008 - 2010 director of the Croatian Association of the
Visual Artists in Zagreb, Croatia, and from 2010 - 2014 Franceschi was director
of the Virtual Museum of Avant-garde Art www.avantgarde-museum.com and president of the Institute for the
Research of Avant-garde. Also about the other artists you will find information
in the internet.
During the ten days of workshop the artists have tried to learn
about and understand the situation in Cyprus. They were given a house in the
Old City of Nicosia to live and work in; they were taken around the island and
had walked around the divided capital on both sides. On one occasion they have met with a group of
young Cypriot artists who were invited to show their own work and discuss it in
the house of EMAA for future contacts and cooperation.
The results of their workshop was being prepared and put on
display at EMAA’s. The impressions they had collected within these ten days
were concentrating on visual and phonetic installations taken from throughout
the area they have explored to find a possible stimulation between the two
poles of North and South Cyprus. So they have made a written statement which
among other says:.....’Our aim was to create the art that connects two parts,
art that is crossing over, the sparkling of neurons that will ignite the
synapse, the message and its echo, proposals and their future completion, the
bond....’
I was looking for suggested proposals.... A wooden construction
representing one particular abandoned store seen in the UN-controlled buffer
zone in which recorded sounds of the neighbourhood were enclosed and the
visitors were invited to take up earphones to listen to the sound
installation. A poster montage showing
some proposals how to change a part of the buffer zone into a recreation centre
for teenagers.
My favourite proposal though was the buffer zone painted in red as
the spiritual Kingdom I have now become a citizen of.
The exhibition is on until February 27 at EMAA’s; visiting hours
daily 14:00 – 18:00 hrs
PS:
There is another open call for artists for a similar workshop.
For
more information on the project and the open calls, please visit the website:
www.art-confrontation.com , and Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ConfrontationThroughArt
For any further information please contact the project coordinators:
Özgül Ezgin / E-mail: ozgul.ezgin@gmail.com / Tel: 00 90533 864 04 18
Argyro Toumazou / E-mail: argyro@toumazou.com / Tel: 00 357 99 31 72