Press Releases

SESSIONS x SPEL: A series of queer happenings (June - December 2023)

The Department of Modern and Contemporary Culture of the Deputy Ministry of Culture informs the public that, In October, the State Gallery of Contemporary Art - SPEL continues to welcome the public en masse to Sessions’ programme, in a new series of events including film screenings, open discussions, musical performances, art performances, spatial and visual art installations, and a magical birthday celebration.

SAT  7/10  20:30  Being the cat on the edge of the roof (Nurtane Karagil)

Nurtane Karagil invites us on SPEL’s roof, the Cloud, to react to our thoughts and challenges much like a cat perched on the precipice of a rooftop.

Nurtane Karagil is a visual artist using a wide range of artistic mediums such as painting, illustration, sculpture, video and photography. Her art conceptualises the power of memory, dreams and surreal fantasies in juxtaposition with everyday life situations. Through this contrast, she invites the viewer to an uncanny zone where the edges of reality are somewhat sharper.

The event is part of the activities curated by the Urban Gorillas within the framework of the European Creative Rooftop Network project co-funded by the Creative Europe Program.

WED  11/10  20:30  Sssssinema: Faggy Films as Archiving Tools (Queer Wave x Cerebral Gym)

Queer Wave’s artistic director Diego Armando Aparicio in collaboration with Sessions’ Cerebral Gym, curated by Loizos Olympios, will showcase a series of films that serve as tools for creating archives - real, imaginary, organised, messy. The Queer Wave x Cerebral Gym screenings will run during October, November and December 2023. Screenings will take place on the first Wednesday of each month, for a total of three iterations, on October 11, November 8 and December 13.

SAT  14/10  20:30  BIRTHDAY: ALL MUSIC IS DANCE MUSIC

As Sessions complete their first orbit around the sun since their opening at Sapfous 6, we invite you to a special birthday celebration of the mischievousness and enchanting magic that brought us together. Taking inspiration from Loizos Olympios' statement that "ALL MUSIC IS DANCE MUSIC", the phrase becomes a guiding principle to curate unique DJ sets a special performance by Michela Pelusio, Space Time Helix, and a birthday ritual by Garilyn Monrose and Korallida.

SpaceTime Helix, an optoacoustic instrument conceived and executed by Michela Pelusio since 2012, delivers a site-specific audiovisual spectacle featuring a colossal rotating standing wave within a white string, shaping an expansive helicoid extending towards the ceiling. The surface, luminous and translucent, showcases waves traversing it, vanishing into the distant reaches of the future across space and time. A white string, once a mere line and boundary, metamorphoses into a monumental, spinning standing wave, an immense helicoid uniting the terrestrial realm with the celestial. It orchestrates a dance of vibrations, entwining the physical and metaphysical, inducing the persistence of visual impressions and synesthetic voyages for those ensnared within its whirlwind.

WED  18/10 19:00  Legally Queer vol 2 (Queer Collective Cy)

"Legally Queer" is a dedicated initiative focused on exploring the legal landscape's impact on Cyprus' LGBTQI+ community. Our mission is to empower LGBTQI+ individuals by providing accessible insights into the legal issues affecting our daily lives and fundamental rights. Through informative discussions, we aim to foster awareness, address common challenges, and build connections within the community.

Our initiative goes beyond legal matters; it creates a space for LGBTQI+ individuals to connect and share experiences. By coming together, we can build a collective consciousness, highlighting shared struggles and triumphs. Through these interactions, we aspire to cultivate a stronger sense of unity and solidarity within the community. "Legally Queer" ultimately strives to facilitate open conversations, promote awareness, and strengthen the bonds that tie us together as LGBTQI+ individuals in Cyprus.

SAT  21/10  20:30  Sleepover: Leave your flesh at the door (curated by Nefeli Kentoni)

Leave your flesh at the door, this world ends here. 

Lay down. Close your eyes – you can if you want to!

You are now part of this performance, a reality interrupted by dreams. 

Leave your flesh at the door, there is no shame here.

Relax. Sleep – you can if you want to!

Wake up! Was that a dream?

S[l]ee[p] again. 

As we fall fall fall [asleep] together, the space collapses, and we give shape to the world of our desires. 

“Leave your flesh at the door” is an invitation to a collective dream. Because to dream is always a solitary action, but what if we spend the night together? The stage becomes a bed, big enough for everyone! As the audience waits for Sleep to take them, they become witness to a series of events, where a world of contradictions, of suppressed desires and of imagination emerges.

Leave your flesh at the door and join our sleepover; an all-nighter of performances, screenings, and music. And who knows, maybe in the morning the world will be different.

We invite you to come in your pyjamas with pillows and blankets.

Making our Bed Together (Nayia T. Karacosta), Constellations of Awakening (Writter/Director: Nefeli Kentoni, Performers/Devisers: Maria Masonou, Ioli Kaskani, Dramaturg: Ioulita Toumazi, Music Composition: Manos Stratis. Musicians: Andreas Zembylas, Manos Stratis), 200 Years of Sleep (Pablo Temboury), Detective Larry H. Bramble investigates a dream (Anastasia Hadjipapa - McCammon), setting the codes for the heart of a dream (Ioulita Toumazi, Panayiotis Mina, Nayia Anastasiadou, Maria Leonidou), (deep) ssslumber

SAT  28/10  17:00  Rooftop Stories: Reimagining Sustainable Urban Living  (Urban Gorillas)

The Urban Gorillas invite the public to interact with the spatial installation “Agora”, which is currently adopted on the rooftop of the SPEL building, and reimagine it as an urban garden and creatively express themselves on the themes of sustainability, social and artistic innovation. A participatory planting activity will transform the modular and mobile structure of Agora into a temporary green oasis and will allow the cultivation of new conversations and the search for new fertile opportunities on our roofscape. The planting will start at 16:00 and from 18:00 a discussion will be facilitated between an interdisciplinary team of guests and the audience.

*This event is part of the activities of Urban Gorillas within the framework of the European Creative Rooftop Network project, which is co-funded by the Creative Europe Funding Program as well as the Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth.

**Agora is a mobile structure thoughtfully designed by the Urban Gorillas with the support of the Commonwealth Foundation and the JEC World Commemorative fund, currently installed at Sessions x SPEL’s rooftop, the Cloud.

SAT  28/10  20:30  IOLI - ΑΛΛΟΛΙΟ ALBUM RELEASE & STRANGER IN THE BODY LIVE

“IOLI - ΑLLO LIO” LIVE – “STRANGER IN THE BODY” LIVE

“ALLO LIO” is the third album by artist IOLI (fka RAW SILVER) and after three years in the making it’s ready to be presented to you. It features live electronics, cello, guitar, saxophone and the voices of 5 local acts.

“Stranger in the body” is a band formed in 2022 by vocalist/songwriter Cievil Momo & music producer/ multi-instrumentalist Kalaqs. Working with live electronics, acoustic & electric instruments, they combine fast beats with experimental ways of narration without being limited in one language.

*Cloud Transmissions every Thursday 20:20 on the roof

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STATE GALLERY OF CONTEMPORARY ART – SPEL

73 Ammochostou Street, 1016 Lefkosia

Opening hours: Tuesday - Saturday 12:00–00:00 (closed on public holidays)

Information: T: 22479600, info@moca.org.cy , Facebook / Instagram: spelstategallery

(NG/SCH)