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Till we meet again – Exhibition by Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot women

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Till we meet again… is an exhibition which showcases works by twelve contemporary Cypriot women artists against the backdrop of CVAR’s (Centre for Visual Art and Research) prestigious collection.

The exhibition invites viewers to experience a challenging yet exciting endeavour that presents these artists’ poetic encounters with the history of the island of Cyprus, bridging notions through subjective and shared experiences, and in turn question meanings in our current climate.

Participating artists: Alev Adil, Anber Onar, Dicle Özlüses, Dize Kükrer, Evelyn Anastasiou, Gönen Atakol, Koula Savvidou, Lito Kattou, Maria Perendou, Marina Xenofontos, Melina Shukuroglou and Oya Silbery.

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Dscf0595

Info:

December 16, 2021- February 15, 2022

At the CVAR – Centre for Visual Art and Research, Nicosia

Till we meet again… is curated by Nicos Chr. Pattichis, Esra Plümer Bardak, Oya Silbery, and is coordinated by the Centre for Visual Art and Research.

Mr. Nicos Chr. Pattichis writes about the exhibition:

In the thirteen years since my debut attempt in curating a major museum exhibition to this third invitation, Cyprus has been through a lot. Too much.

The first public presentation in 2008 of a private contemporary art collection at NIMAC (Nicosia Municipality Art Centre) “Where Do We Go From Here?”* posed a crucial question, expressing as it did the anguish of division, especially during a time of elation – and delusion!

A multitude of artists representing the contemporary art scene on the island delved instinctively within, deliberately leaving unanswered questions, like a trail of breadcrumbs for the satiated spectators of the time.

In 2012, the desolation of a “Utopia”* unfolded at the Evagoras and Kathleen Lanitis Foundation in Limassol with the second presentation of a ‘Cypriot Contemporary Art’ collection which came of age on an island that remained stubbornly immature, irresponsible and indecisive.

Ayıp Üstüne Bir Nokta Koyarsan Kayıp Olur
Ayıp Üstüne Bir Nokta Koyarsan Kayıp Olur

Our artists were engaged, the forewarning of the eminent danger: The financial and moral decline which followed was masterfully interpreted by the art pieces selected and presented at the time. Warnings which fell on deaf ears.

From the plunder of the economy in 2013, in a dramatically short period infested by various viruses, we quickly reached 2021 with prospects of a viable solution of the

Cyprus problem decimated and the reunification of our country merely a long lost dream.

When Rita Severis asked me to contribute to her vision of the first exhibition of contemporary art in this delightful museum, my revived art conscience awoke, exclaiming, “Till we meet again!”

For my sensitive Rita, contemporary art in this particular space meant “small paintings, oils on canvas, watercolours, or acrylics as the greatest of concessions” and of course only in the dedicated ground floor exhibition space. This position was easily overturned – she being open-minded and a visionary – into interventional installations from the entire contemporary art repertoire among the permanent exhibits, and on all four floors of the museum.

The intention of the ambitious exhibition committee: For a substantial number of Cypriot women to converse with the hundreds of travelling artists to this blessed – some might add cursed – island.

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20211111 114726

Twelve women, who weave a living and breathing tapestry of the island’s creativity over the past 30 years. Artworks by six Turkish Cypriot women (Alev Adil, Dize Kukrer, Dicle Özlüses, Anber Onar, Gönen Atakol and Oya Silbery) are presented alongside works by an equal number of Greek Cypriots: Koula Savvides, Maria Perendou, Marina Xenophontos, Evelyn Anastasiou, Lito Kattou and Melina Shukuroglou. Art historian Esra Plumer Bardak and I have curated the show.

Under the sparkling gaze of Caterina Cornaro, these twelve Cypriot women share codes and secrets,   exchange experiences of lives devoted to art, as the curators juxtapose similarities and creative differences within the multi-coloured rooms of CVAR with their exhibits dating from the 16th century.

I sincerely aspire to a fruitful dialogue between CVAR and the 21st century and to regular presentations of contemporary art to the visitors and friends of this jewel of a museum; a beacon of culture for the divided city of Nicosia, reaching out to its long-suffering neighbourhood, its great European family, and the world at large.

Nicos Chr. Pattichis,

Publisher, architect, art collector

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