Therianthropes: video art, photography exhibition looks at man and nature

Featuring video art and photography, Yiannos Economou’s new exhibition is coming to Nicosia to present collaborative, imaginative work. Titled Therianthropes, the exhibition will open at the A+ Multipurpose Event Space on Ermou Street in Nicosia on April 27 and consists of six video screens playing in synchronicity with sound, and a small collection of photographs.

The footage presented was shot in Cyprus, Bulgaria and Iceland over 10 years, with a contribution from musician Galina Dimova-Georgieva and sound artist Patricia Jäggi on two of the five acts. On until May 18, the exhibition is the first part of a diptych, with the second part taking place at the Knapp Gallery of the Regents University in London in November.

“This project,” say organisers, “like many others currently, is a product of the new post-pandemic and pro-environmental crisis – realities, a discernible trend, if not a total shift, in global perceptions. What is important is the cultural attitude of a – possibly religious – practice and not the artefacts, which depict creatures that are half-human and half animals, known as Therianthrope, such as the Minotaur or Anubis.

“It signifies a self-perception of human society as an equal component with the rest of nature, a non-privileged group among many others living on the planet, in a condition of interdependence. This prehistoric state of non-separation between sapiens and the rest of the fauna and flora is becoming again essential for the survival of humanity, and the avoidance of major disasters in our biosphere.

“The awakening sensation that we are not invincible opens up the opportunity of a new, spectacular, albeit simpler, world with infinite possibilities and new pleasures, outside our techno-consumerist cave.”

The showcased artwork also touches on the notion of radical ecology that Joseph Beuys and so many other artists have turned to. Yet it does not depict animals and therianthropes as mysterious or threatening things, it instead attempts to demonise the image of animals in pop culture as they are often presented in comics or horror movies such as in Alfred Hitchcock’s film Birds, to which there is an unintentional reference in the last part of the work.

Therianthropes

Video art and photography exhibition. April 27-May 18. A+ Multipurpose Event Space, 266 Ermou Street, Nicosia. Opening night: 7pm. Monday-Friday: 11am-5.30pm, Saturday: 12pm-8pm, Sunday: 11am-3pm. Tel: 22-452885, 99-413594