New exhibitions opening in Nicosia and Limassol

The two biggest cities of the island welcome new art exhibitions this month featuring local talent. In Limassol, cultural NGO NeMe and curator Irini Mirena Papadimitriou host the exhibition Money, Ruins, and the Sea which opens this Friday.

With the participating artists Ursula Biemann, FRAUD, Kyriaki Goni, Vladan Joler, Nye Thompson, Liam Young, Robertina Šebjanič and Xandra van der Eijk, the exhibition explores the significance of the sea in the contemporary world from being a means of transport to cross-cultural relations.

“Throughout the ages,” organisers say, “seas and oceans have been, and continue providing immense resources to many people and countries worldwide. A source of food, jobs, energy, minerals, goods and services, a host for our vast internet data travelling through undersea cables, as well as trading routes, cross-cultural exchange and migration, the sea and ocean have always been central to many industries and world economies.”

As such, the Money, Ruins, and the Sea exhibition is an invitation to critical conversations about how money and finance impact our seas, ocean environments and marine life, and an exploration of potential alternative economies and futures of the sea, as presented by the artists and scholars in the exhibition.

In Nicosia, another two exhibitions open this month. Artist Maria Kofterou presents artwork on glass in Landscapes I/in vitro at isnotgallery. This series of work is an exploration of landscape as a quiet space, from which narrative is absent in relation to the natural landscapes of Cyprus with attention given to the chaotic qualities and interaction of species and phenomena which constitute a unified whole with thin blue lines of ink which fade on the white of the paper. The works are only completed when they are sealed in glass cases made by adapting a small-scale stained-glass technique developed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, for their preservation. From November 25 and until December 10, Kofterou’s pieces will be available for the public to visit.

One day later and another Nicosia venue welcomes an artist’s work. Korai Space will host Christos Kyriakides’ solo show The Cave / Two Wooden Doors, running from November 26 to December 22.

Kyriakides is a visual artist, curator and poet whose practice concerns a gathering of ideas on architecture and contested landscapes, youth culture and identity and iconography. His work questions sexual and geopolitical intimacy and how that is impacted by queer subjectivity.

“The work collected for The Cave / Two Wooden Doors,” said organisers, “is a product of gleaning, from long walks under the yellow burn of street lamps, the shades of blues and oranges lighting beaches and coasts, and the incandescent warmth of familial homes and others. Seen through a parallax gaze, the material gathered has been stripped and redressed. Affirming what was latent in it, Kyriakides unsentimentally castrates his work, giving it new life.”

Money, Ruins, and the Sea

Group exhibition. November 18-December 16. NeMe, Limassol. Opening night: 7.30pm-10pm. Tuesday-Friday: 5.30pm-8.30pm. www.neme.org

Landscapes I / in vitro

Solo exhibition by Maria Kofterou. November 25 – December 10. Isnotgallery, Nicosia. Opening night: 8pm. Tuesday-Friday: 10am-1pm, 3pm-6pm and 10am-2pm. Tel: 99-569498

The Cave / Two Wooden Doors

Christos Kyriakides’ solo show. November 26 – December 22. Korai Space, Nicosia. Opening night: 12pm-4pm. Wednesday – Friday: 12pm-2pm and 4-8pm. Sat – Sun: 11am–3pm. Tel: 99-090773