Exhibitions at Goethe look at body’s connection to the Earth

After a series of lockdowns, KunstRaumGoethe, Goethe-Institut Cyprus’ art space, is now hosting its second edition to welcome artists, art lovers and guests to two new exhibitions.

The exhibitions Interlaced – Verflochten zwischen Schichten by German artists Dagmar Glausnitzer-Smith and Marion Jungeblut and Acrobat Above the Dome by Cypriot photographer Stelios Kallinikou explore the body’s connection to the earth and will run until June 9.

The works in the exhibition Interlaced are brought into a context that juxtaposes the familiar, the abstract and the foreign. Words and reflective surfaces create the possibility of other realities, layers, and insights. Due to its abstraction, the artwork arouses different associations in the viewer’s mind on different levels of cognitive and visual perception.

Marion, with a background in sculpting, and Dagmar in performance art among other art forms, have collaborated in the past and have taken their contribution to this exhibition ‘Interlaced’ as an experiment for future work together. Though their work is of different formats, materials and approaches, the two German artists seek that gap where their art, or understanding of art, meets. In other words, where it intersects, relating to the title of their exhibition.

Presented in the same space is Kallinikou’s exhibition, a series of photographs that look more like abstract images – sometimes as paintings, others as illustrations – than classical photographs. There’s no clear separation between the two exhibitions other than Stelios’ work being presented on the stage and the room right next to it. It is this non-existent separation between the exhibitions that creates an interesting element on their relationship, even though at first glance it seems that they have nothing in common.

Kallinikou presents sequences of images that flow into nested dialogues as he explores the connection between the narrative boundaries of photography and consciousness. His images have a mythological and archaeological pre-human feel, connecting something primordial to the present by illustrating the body’s connection to the earth. The worlds are constructed at an introspective, meditative pace, and then function as speculative scenarios through which the intersections between territorial and ideological concepts related to landscape – such as space/place and time/history-are explored.

A similar meditative approach is present in Dagmar’s work too, although it is a completely different art form. Marion also focuses on reflection and introspection, much like the other two artists, thus by looking at the three artists’ understanding of their art practices and processes, they even surprise themselves in finding similarities in their concepts. To a visiting eye, these won’t be obvious most likely yet the artists encourage viewers to create their own narratives and reflections within their work, finding the acrobat interlaced above the dome.

Interlaced – Verflochten zwischen Schichten and Acrobat Above the Dome

Exhibition by German artists Dagmar Glausnitzer-Smith and Marion Jungeblut and another exhibition by Cypriot photographer Stelios Kallinikou. May 13-June 9. Goethe-Institut Cyprus, Nicosia. Monday-Friday 2pm-7pm, Saturday 10am-2pm, upon appointment at [email protected] or 22-674606