Press Releases

The Department of Antiquities of the Deputy Ministry of Culture announces the art installation We Met – Love, Death and Meta,at theCyprus Museum (Temporary Exhibition Hall), between 31^st May and 31^st October 2024. The installation approaches three fundamental existential conditions that have been a focal point of human creativity and thought through the ages, inviting us to reflect on their realisation in the present time. The virtual reality (VR) work, which is the centrepiece of the installation, was realised with the contribution of Immersive Technologies for Intelligent and Creative Applications (ITICA) of the CYENS Centre of Excellence.

Antiquities from the Department of Antiquities’collections and contemporary artworks by Michalis Charalambous co-inhabit a timeless and labyrinthine environment, aesthetically accessible to young generations. Clay, metal, stone, glazes, prints, 3D printing materials and algorithmic entities are combined within this hybrid universe where love and death represent successive transitions in the immersive journey of the (META)human toward the virtual realms, beyond reality.

This virtual METAuniverse provides space for reassessment and critical reflection. Is it possible to transliterate the sense of touch in virtual reality? Is the grief of separation experienced in the METAverse? Can fragrance be encoded in digital flowers? How do relations with others, with our surroundings and with all the other elements that signify our existence, emerge and develop within this virtual realm? Does intimacy emanate in a virtual reality space? Are our avatars capable of falling in love and dying in a context that cancels the concepts of decay and mortality? Here, we are called to wander and renegotiate the essence of the experiences that define us, in a rapidly shifting reality.

Information

Opening: 31 May 2024, 19:00

Cyprus Museum (Temporary Exhibition Hall)

Duration: 31/05/2024-31/10/2024

Exhibition Opening Hours: Tuesday-Friday: 10:00−18:00/Saturday: 10:00-17:00/Sunday: 10:00-13:00/ Monday: closed
Every first Wednesday of the month: 10:00-20:00

Free Entrance

(MS/IA)