Full Description
To what extent does locality influence contemporary art? Can any particular artistic practices be defined as uniquely Cypriot? And does art from Cyprus transcend Western boundaries once it enters the global art scene?
This volume uses Cyprus as a case study for the exploration of notions of identity, regionalism, and the global and local in contemporary art practice; it is not, therefore, a complete historiography of contemporary Cypriot art. Rather, this critical text provides a theoretical and historical framework that frames and contextualizes art practices from Cyprus, while always relating these back to the international art world.
Numerous current and pressing issues—all relevant beyond Cyprus—are investigated in this book including, but not limited to, art as capital, the emergence of the "periphery", the importance of thriving localities, issues of memory and memorialization, archaeology, artists' identities, conflict and politics, social engagement, gender politics, and such curatorial alternatives as artist-run spaces. In doing all of this, Contemporary Art from Cyprus not only bears on current and future art practices in this region but highlights the importance of Cypriot art in a global context too.
Contents
List of Figures
List of Contributors
Introduction, Contemporary Art from Cyprus: Politics, Identities, and Cultures across Borders, Elena Stylianou (European University, Cyprus), Evanthia Tselika (University of Nicosia, Cyprus), and Gabriel Koureas (Birkbeck College, University of London, UK)
Part I: Shaping an Art Scene
1. Art History as Narration: Ideological Configurations of Greek Cypriot Modernity in Art, Louli Michaelidou (Royal College of Art, UK)
2. From Narration to Dialogue: Thinking about the Way We Talk about Contemporary Visual Art in the Turkish Cypriot Community, Esra Plumer Bardak (Girne American University, Cyprus)
3. Becoming and Being a Visual Artist in the Republic Of Cyprus: the Prominence of the Artist-Identity, Niki Zanti-Philiastides (Cultural Practitioner)
4. Peripheral Visions: The "Peripheral" Position as Productive of Artistic Process, Marina Kassianidou (Visual Artist)
Part II: Challenging Identities
5. A Forgotten Anglo-Cypriot Partnership: Glyn Hughes, Christoforos Savva and the Apophasis Gallery in the Early 1960s, Yiannis Toumazis (Frederick University, Nicosia, Cyprus and the Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre, Associated with the Pierides Foundation, Cyprus)
6. Who are we, Where do we come from, Where are we Going to? Writing Greek Cypriot Women's Art Histories in Contemporary Cyprus, Maria Photiou (University of Derby, UK)
7. Nicosia's Queer Art Subculture: Outside and Inside Formal Institutions, Marilena Zackheos (University of Nicosia, Cyprus) and Nicos Philippou (University of Nicosia, Cyprus)
Part III: Excavating Place
8. Tracing the Local: Sense of Place and Identity in the Cypriot Landscape, Elena Parpa (Birkbeck College, University of London, UK)
9. The Ground Beneath Our Feet: A Discussion on Contemporary Art and Archaeology in Cyprus, Participating Artists: Alev Adil, Haris Epaminonda, Maria Loizidou, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Organised by Gabriel Koureas (Birkbeck College, University of London, UK), Elena Parpa (Birkbeck College, University of London, UK), and Christina Lambrou (Independent Researcher)
10. The Dig, the Fragment, and the Archive: The Archaeological Imaginary in Greek-Cypriot Contemporary Art, Elena Stylianou (European University, Cyprus) and Artemis Eleftheriadou (Frederick University Nicosia, Cyprus)
Part IV: Negotiating Politics
11. Transcultural Memory (Re)-Mediations in Cypriot Art History and Contemporary Art, Gabriel Koureas (Birkbeck College, University of London, UK)
12. Two-Folded Account on the Attempt to Understand the Potential Source of Change in Cyprus, Basak Senova (Visiting Professor, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria)
13. Conflict Transformation Art in Nicosia: Engaging Social Groups across the Divided City through Artistic Practices, Evanthia Tselika (University of Nicosia, Cyprus)
Index
