The exhibition Agropoetics: soils/bodies at the newly-renamed Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (ex-SPEL) will open this Friday, presented by the Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council and the Deputy Ministry of Culture. Curated by Dr Elena Parpa, the exhibition is an official event of the Cultural Programme of the Cyprus Presidency and features the works of over 50 Cyprus artists.

Both historical and contemporary artists take part in the exhibition that will run from Friday to June 30 in downtown Nicosia. Their works suggest an open reading of the term ‘landscape’ in connection with the related concepts of nature, countryside, land, place and soil.

The exhibition draws its point of departure from the observation of works in the State Collection of Cypriot Art (Majestic). The selected pieces encourage an investigation of the relationship between art and landscape in the practice of Cypriot artists, but also the public’s understanding, exchange and intimate relationship with this theme.

“The term ‘landscape’,” explain organisers, “is considered in its expanded sense, wherein the experience of geomorphology, geology, light and nature is intertwined with history and with conceptions of identity and belonging, towards a conception of art in direct relation to the earth.

“Through diverse artistic approaches that draw observations from the Cypriot experience yet seek to connect with concerns that exceed local boundaries, the notion of landscape is investigated not only as representation and aesthetic experience, but also as a cultural construct, as a site in which relations of power are inscribed, as a contested terrain, as a natural resource subject to reckless exploitation, as a living ecosystem and a primary material.”

The title of the exhibition, Agropoetics: soils/bodies, derives from an essay by the Portuguese artist Filipa César and is linked to an interdisciplinary framework for discussing the relationship between humans and nature, focusing on soil as ground for collective resistance. The exhibition adopts the term and seeks to engage with the discussion it generates, developing aspects that relate to the Cypriot context.

The showcase also invites viewers to reconsider their perspective of ‘landscape’ through a more poetic and symbolic lens, to perhaps look at the world through a less anthropocentric and more empathetic lens.

Accompanying the exhibition is a publication with contributions by more than 30 writers from the fields of literature, poetry and the social sciences who were called to reflect on the work of the artists. A parallel events programme will also unfold throughout the exhibition’s duration with guided tours, presentations by the artists, a three-day film screening programme, Only Terrestrial, curated by Dr Róisín Tapponi, and a symposium organised in collaboration with the Celadon Centre for Arts & Ecologies under the title Oiko-nomia: Peasant Women, Invisible Others, and Resilience. Dates and times for the parallel events will be announced at a later date.

Agropoetics: Soils/Bodies

Group exhibition part of the Cultural Programme of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2026. Curated by Dr Elena Parpa. Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Nicosia. January 30-June 30.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 10am–6pm. Thursday: 10am-8pm. Tel: 22-479600. www.cy2026.eu, [email protected]