International Installation Art Festival to be held in Nicosia

Since the 1960s, the creation of installations has been a major feature of modern art. This was increasingly the case from the early 1990s when the ‘crash’ of the art market in the late 1980s led to a reawakening of interest in conceptual art. Miscellaneous materials, light and sound have remained fundamental to installation art.

With this in mind, a new arts festival will be staged later this month. The Installation festival EFE organised by E.KA.TE. (the Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts) focuses on the notion of site-specific art and locational identity, creating work that is integrated with its surroundings and that explores its relationship to its topography, whether indoors or outdoors. “This project,” say the organisers, “encourages the artist as well the viewer to experience an open, non-defined optical/cerebral ambience.”

The festival will take place on April 9, 10 and 11 at E.KA.TE.’s grounds in Nicosia, both outdoors and indoors. It aims to create the opportunity for closer social contacts and relationships between the broader public and the installation space as a visual medium. It is through this exchange that EFE hopes to redefine familiar spaces and create an enriched viewing experience through visual art.

“Installation art is a complete unified experience,” say the curators, “rather than a display of separate, individual artworks. The focus on how the viewer experiences the work and the need to provide a powerful experience for them is an important factor. It consists, therefore, of a dialogue between the artist and the space.”

International Installation festival EFE

Art installation festival by E.KA.TE. Curated by Christina Michaelide and Loukas Ioannou. April 9-11. E.KA.TE, Nicosia. Opening night: 4pm-9pm. Saturday-Sunday: 10am-1pm and 4pm-8pm. Tel: 99-817481, 97-793188