Press Releases

September - December 2023

The Deputy Ministry of Culture of the Department of Modern and Contemporary Culture, in collaboration with Dance House Lefkosia, announce the names of the artists selected to participate in the Dance Residency Programme of the State Gallery of Contemporary Art - Majestic, taking place from September to December 2023:

1. Pascal Caron and Mélissa Garcia Carro

2. Diamanto Hadjizacharia

The proposals were selected by the Program’s Planning Committee (Petros Konnaris, Maria Kamberis and Elena Panagiotou), among a total of nine participation proposals, submitted in response to the relevant Open Call.

The committee unanimously selected the proposals based on the following criteria:

• Quality and clarity of the proposal 
• Correlation of the proposal with the permanent collection of the State Gallery-Majestic (artworks and artists), the physical space and the architecture of the building
• Interdisciplinarity of the proposal
• Audience engagement plan

The Programme aims to promote synergies between the arts as an integral part of the State Gallery programme, the promotion of the multimodality of the artworks in the permanent exhibition and their alternative interpretations, the engagement of different audiences and the promotion of the work of contemporary Cypriot artists.

Three public activities will take place during each of the two residencies: a seminar/participatory workshop, a discussion/lecture and a performance (in progress).

PUBLIC ACTIVITIES:

1. Pascal Caron and Mélissa Garcia Carro

“Dancing Images”: A Performance and Videodance Exhibition / Workshop / Performative Art Talk

• Saturday 25 November 2023, 11:00 - 13:00 and 16:00- 18:00

Dancing Images: Workshop

The collaborative workshop welcomes those interested in exploring how movement and dance enter into dialogue with artworks to generate images as drawings and dance scores, from a somatic and movement composition perspective.

Workshop language: English/Greek

The workshop is open to participants 13 years and above and no previous dance experience is required. Wear comfortable clothes and shoes.

Limited number of participants (16 per workshop), by order of priority.

Reservations required, via the link: https://forms.gle/a1jACstY1DFN2FVX7.

For more information: 99883150 

• Saturday 2 December 2023, 20:00

Dancing Images: Performance with Videodance Exhibition

Every artwork and every dance create dancing images in the body of the viewer. We invite you to discover (or rediscover) the State Gallery - Majestic at the meeting point of soundscape, videodance and live performance. An interactive dialogue between the Gallery's building, the art collection and the dancers, investigating the notions of presence and absence.

Limited number of participants (25), by order of priority.

Reservations required, via the link: https://forms.gle/8uH5V3t1UhK6E4h89.

For more information: 99883150 

• Thursday 7 December 2023, 19:00

Dancing Images: Performative Art Talk

The Performative Art Talk will reflect on the commonalities between dance practices and exhibition spaces in contemporary cultures abroad, and especially in Cyprus. For instance, the State Gallery, with its collage of art styles and architectural elements, produces an irreducible diversity of dancing images in true postmodern fashion. We will discuss and unfold some of these images.

Performative Art Talk language: English

Free entrance. No reservation required.

For more information: 99883150 

2. Diamanto Hadjizacharia

• Saturday 9 December 2023, 15:00-17:30

Collaborative workshop

The participants of the workshop will be introduced to the choreographer's method through active involvement. The Gallery exhibits will inspire the creation of kinetic material with which participants will investigate different ways of viewing, interpreting and recording movement. In small groups of three, participants will interpret the material in three different ways: movement, free speech, and drawing. Each dance performance will lead to an abstract description and an abstract drawing, which will subsequently be used to produce a new collective work.

The workshop is a way of attracting and involving the public in the choreographer's research as well as a way of gathering information that will help develop this specific method. During the process the participants may recognize personal tendencies of observing and memorizing performances, while engaging themselves substantially in the development of the research and the final project. The subjectivity that dominates one's personal experiences may reveal interesting perspectives of understanding and enrich the ongoing research.

The workshop invites amateur and professional dancers, teenagers and adults, as well as people who enjoy movement and are interested in working with their bodies.

Duration: 2,5 hours

Minimum number of participants (3) and maximum number of participants (12), by order of priority.

Reservations required, via the link: https://forms.gle/vtU5fDCRGCLx6Kud8.

For more information: 99883150 

• Saturday 9 December 2023, 18:00-19:00

Discussion

The discussion will include questions and feedback on the choreographer's methodology as well as general methods of documenting and archiving works of art. Different methods of documentation and archiving of multiple art forms (visual arts, performance, dance) will be discussed by invited artists who deal with these topics:

• How do we, as viewers, watch (and embody) ephemeral artworks?
• How does the work transform when transmitted orally? What is lost, what is added and what are the consequences? How do we deal with what is lost?
• What does the subjective experience of the viewers give or take away from a work, when this is the only means of documenting it?

The debate will be moderated by Eleni Moleski.

Duration: 1 hour

Workshop participants are welcome to join the discussion and share their experiences.

Limited number of participants (25).

Free entrance. No reservation required.

For more information: 99883150 

• Wednesday 27 December 2023, 19:00

Performance

In the performer’s ‘promenade’ dance, the audience is guided through the different rooms of the State Gallery, witnessing a work that disappears at the same time as it is being created. Through a combination of speech and movement, the performer negotiates her own relationship with the exhibits in each room and seeks ways to consolidate her performative and ephemeral body as yet another art exhibit in the museum.

Duration: 20-30’

Limited number of participants (25), by order of priority.

Reservations required, via the link: https://forms.gle/WAsc8PAcmgk8wCLz9

For more information: 99883150 

Stasinou Ave. & 1 Kritis Street, 1060 Nicosia

Contact:

+357 22 458228

stategallery@culture.moec.gov.cy 

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