Have you ever thought about Cyprus’ monuments? Its public art and landmarks? One artistic research initiative, from both sides of the island, has looked into just that. Titled Of Monumental, the initiative now opens a critical space for reflection and active engagement with the public art landscape of Cyprus and its first presentation this Saturday is a collective installation at Nicosia Masterplan Hall at the Ledra Street Crossing.

Conceived by visual artist PASHIAS, and grounded in his previous work, Of Monumental is implemented by the intercommunal cultural non-profit organisation Visual Voices, in collaboration with architect and academic Dr Dimitris Venizelos, researcher Selin Genç, audiovisual artist Rahme Veziroğlu and curator Melina Philippou. It is funded by the deputy ministry of culture.

This Saturday, the buffer zone space reopens, looking at 11 public art sculptures of cultural significance across the divide. They include Maria Kyprianou’s Birth in Limassol, Xylophagou’s Big Potato, Theodoulos Gregoriou’s Clepsydra, Zehra Şonya’s Democracy Sculpture, Horses by the Near East University Sculpture Workshop, Jaffa Orange by Sevcan Çerkez in Lefke, Lying Down by Naz Atun, Miners Strike Monument also in Lefke, The Liberty Monument by Ioannis Notaras, The Poet by Kostas Varotsos and Rainbow by Nikos Kouroussis.

This selection reflects an inquiry into the multiple functions of public art in Cyprus, from formal commemorations of historical events to vernacular symbols of livelihood and contemporary gestures of abstraction or critique.

The exhibition unfolds as a collective installation anchored by a series of public performance interventions translated into film works by PASHIAS, introducing the contemporary body in its corporeal, vulnerable, powerful, queer, fluid and subversive forms at each monumental site.

These are framed by the situationist explorations of Rahme Veziroğlu and interwoven with fragments from the monuments’ biographies, through archival materials and newly conducted interviews with the following contributors: Dr Nadia Anaxagora, Naz Atun, Sevcan Çerkez, Dr Ali Efdal Özkul, Theodoulos Gregoriou, Dakis Joannou, Nikos Kouroussis, Maria Kyprianou, Zehra Şonya, Giorgos Tasou, Dr Yiannis Toumazis and Kostas Varotsos.

Of Monumental seeks to provoke renewed interactions with public legacy, opening up a critical dialogue on city space as a site of civic exchange, reformulating narratives of identity, memory and authorship, inviting us to learn from existing histories, while speculating on future ones.

Of Monumental

Collective installation on Cyprus’ public monuments. Conceived by PASHIAS. Implemented by Visual Voices. November 29. Nicosia Masterplan Hall, Ledras Street Crossing, Nicosia Buffer Zone. 7.30pm. www.pashias.art, www.visual-voices.org