CyprusToday, October-December 2010 (1.8 MB).pdf

Cyprus 

TODAY 

Volume XLVIII, No 4, October-December 2010

Volume XLVIII, No 4, October-December 2010 

A quarterly cultural review of the Ministry of Education and 

Culture published and distributed by the Press and Information 

Offi ce, Ministry of Interior, Nicosia, Cyprus. 

EDITORIAL BOARD 

Chairperson: Pavlos Paraskevas 

Chief Editor: Michalis Papantonopoulos 

E-mail: mpapantonopoulos@gnora.com 

Gnora Communication Consultants 

Tel: +357 22441922 Fax: +357 22519743 

Website: www.gnora.com 

Editor: Polly Lyssiotis 

E-mail: plyssioti@pio.moi.gov.cy 

Tel: +357 22801181 

Fax: +357 22663730 

Address: Ministry of Education and Culture 

Kimonos & Thoukididou Streets 

1434 Nicosia, Cyprus 

http://www.moec.gov.cy 

Press and Information Offi ce 

Apellis Street 

1456 Nicosia, Cyprus 

http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio 

Translator: Christine Georghiades 

Design: Gnora Communication Consultants 

Photographic 

credits: Leventis Municipal Museum 

PIO 

Pavlos Vrionides 

George and Ritsa Kyriacou Archive 

Stelios Votsis Archive 

Andreas Karayan Archive 

Andreas Menelaou Archive 

Andreas Malecos 

Nikos Charalambides 

http://gezett.de 

Printed by: Konos Ltd 

Front cover: Scene from the artistic program during the 

Flagship Event on 1st October 

Back cover: Andreas Karayan, “Personae” 

(work exhibited at the 2001 Venice Biennale) 

PIO 4 – 2010 

ISSN (print) 0045-9429 

ISSN (online) 1986-2547 

Note: If you no longer wish to receive the magazine or if you 

have changed your address please could let us know at the 

following email address so that we can update our subscribers’ 

list: iathanasiou@pio.moi.gov.cy 

Please include your current address for easy reference. 

Editor’s note: Articles in this magazine may be freely 

quoted or reproduced provided that proper acknowledgement 

and credit is given to “Cyprus Today” and the 

authors (for signed articles). 

Disclaimer: Views expressed in the signed articles are those 

of the authors and not necessarily those of the publishers. 

The magazine can also be found on the Press and Information 

Offi ce website at: www.moi.gov.cy/pio 

Contents 

Editorial ............................................................................3 

The Flagship Event of 1st October ..................................4 

Awards for Excellence in Letters, Arts and Sciences ......12 

“Cyprus in Venice, 1968-2009”: 40 Years 

of Participation in the Venice Biennale of Art ...............18 

“50 Years of Visual Arts Creation” ................................22 

XVII Biennale de Paris in Nicosia .................................26 

Ara Gevorgian Performed on the Occasion of the 

50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus ..................31 

“xperimental 9.0” ...........................................................34 

“Re-Envisioning Cyprus”: An Exhibition and Book 

Launch ............................................................................38 

The Press and Information Offi ce Commemorated 

the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus ...........40 

2nd Dancecyprus Gala – “Dance for a Better Life” .......44 

Piano Recital by Cyprien Katsaris for the 50th 

Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus .........................45 

“50 Years Society – Culture – Life in the Republic of 

Cyprus” ..........................................................................46 

Myrto Azina Chronides Was Awarded 

the 2010 EU Prize for Literature ....................................48 

Exhibition for the 82 Years of the British Rule 

of Cyprus ........................................................................50 

Cyprus Symphony Orchestra: Concerts Dedicated to the 

50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus ..................54 

“No_Body”: 2nd Dance, Movement 

& Performance Arts Festival ...........................................58 

Christophoros A. Pissarides won the 2010 Nobel Prize 

in Economic Sciences ....................................................61 

A Literary Evening with Kyriakos Charalambides 

at the European Commission ..........................................67

Editorial 

Although Cyprus gained its independence from Britain on August 16, 1960, the offi cial celebration 

has been moved to October 1. Thus, this issue is mostly dedicated to the series of events 

which were held during October-December 2010 both in Cyprus and abroad to commemorate the 

50th Anniversary of the declaration of the Republic of Cyprus. 

The culmination of the anniversary program was the Flagship Event of 1st October which took 

place in the Tassos Papadopoulos-Eleftheria Stadium in the presence of more than 2,000 people and 

distinguished offi cials from Cyprus and foreign countries as well who had the opportunity to watch 

an artistic synthesis of music, song, dance-theatre, visual effects and multimedia highlighting the 

achievements of the island on a political, social, scientifi c and cultural level. 

Furthermore, “Cyprus Today” displays several events which contributed to the celebrations of the 

Republic of Cyprus: the Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts put on the “50 Years of Visual Arts Creation” 

exhibition aiming to show contemporary artistic creation as well as the artistic creation of previous 

decades which marked the years of the Republic of Cyprus; the second exhibition was a tribute 

to the 40 years of participation of Cyprus in the Venice Biennale of Art from 1968 to 2009. In the 

musical fi eld, the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra gave a series of concerts in Cyprus and Greece, with 

the participation of young talented Cypriot musicians; the Armenian composer Ara Gevorgian with 

his Orchestra, the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra and the local “Sipan” Dance Ensemble gave two 

spectacular music and dance performances in Nicosia, while the internationally acclaimed pianist 

Cyprien Katsaris performed a unique piano recital in Bonn. “Cyprus Today” presents the “50 

Years Society – Culture – Life in the Republic of Cyprus” exhibition held at the Leventis Municipal 

Museum, “Re-Envisioning Cyprus” – a photography and multimedia exhibition accompanied by 

an edited volume, and fi nally “The Cyprus Press 1960-2010: An Evolution of 50 Years of Independence” 

exhibition and a Multi-theme Exhibition at the Famagusta Gate organised by the Press and 

Information Offi ce. 

“Cyprus Today” also focuses on the awarded with the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 

Professor Christophoros Pissarides. This award was the highest possible honor for Cyprus and its 

people and an international recognition for Mr. Pissarides’ excellent scientifi c work and his lifetime 

achievements in the area of Economics. 

The second international (European) Prize included in this issue is the 2010 EU Prize for Literature 

which was given to the writer Myrto Azina Chronides for her book “The Experiment”. A detailed 

article describes the special ceremony of the Awards for Excellence in Letters, Arts and Sciences. 

Rina Katselli, Michalis Pieris (Letters), Despina Bebedeli (Arts) and Kyriakos Nicolaou (Science) 

were the honored personalities of this year’s Awards. 

The issue is complemented with the presentation of an exhibition organised by Mr. Andreas Menelaou 

in London, presenting more than 2,000 items (newspapers, books, annual colonial reports etc) 

related to the 82 years of the British Rule in Cyprus; of the 9th International Xperimental Film and 

Animation Festival; the 17th Biennale de Paris which took place in Nicosia; the 2nd Dancecyprus 

Gala – “Dance for a Better Life”; the 2nd Dance, Movement & Performance Arts Festival entitled 

“No_Body”; and of a literary evening with the Cypriot poet Kyriakos Charalambides at the European 

Commission. 

3

The 

Flagship 

Event 

of 1st 

October

The Flagship Event of 1st 

October in Nicosia constituted the 

culmination of the anniversary 

program, which the Republic of 

Cyprus organised in Cyprus and 

abroad in order to celebrate its 

50th Anniversary. The Republic 

aimed to illustrate the history 

of the island since 1960 and 

highlight the achievements of 

the country on a political, social, 

scientifi c and cultural level.

The Flagship Event of 1st October took place in 

the Tassos Papadopoulos-Eleftheria Stadium. 

It was attended by more than 2,000 people and was 

a synthesis of music, song, dance-theatre, visual 

effects and multimedia. In the performance part, 

many well-known Cypriot artists, mostly young, 

contributed with their talent and creativity on stage. 

The Event was based on an idea by Andy Partzili, 

who was assigned the artistic direction of all Flagship 

Events in Cyprus and abroad, with the exception 

of the Washington DC exhibition. The 1st 

October celebration was performed under the stage 

direction and choreography of Machi Demetriadou-Lindal 

and Elena Christodoulidou. Consultant 

director was Evis Gavrielides, and costume designers 

were Elena Katsouri and Lakis Genethlis. Re- 

6 

Celebrations to Mark the 50th Anniversary 

of the Republic of Cyprus 

President Christofi as addresses the event 

sponsible for the direction of screenings for the fi rst 

part was Alexia Roider and Nicos Synnos for the 

stage/photography/video direction of screenings in 

the second part. 

The digital processing/editing and the three-dimensional 

processing of the fi lms of the fi rst part belonged 

to Vera Papastavrou, while Christos Georgiou 

was in charge of the digital processing/frame 

of the fi lms in the second part. Music, composed 

by George Kolias, Demetris Zavros, Michalis Hadjiyannis, 

Roman Kariolou and Savvas Savva, was 

a major component of the event. Tony Solomou, 

Sona Gargaloyan, Michalis Tterlikkas and other 

important Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot singers 

and musicians also participated, alongside many 

other dancers, presenters, actors and children.

Michalis Hadjiyannis at the event 

Scenes from the artistic program 

The Artistic Part of the Event 

In particular, in the fi rst part, the last 50 years of 

Cyprus’ history were presented in a performance 

that recalled the past, but also kindled hope 

about the future. The performance began with traditional 

music of all the communities of Cyprus, 

starting with monodies and then culminating in 

combination to show the participation of all in the 

newly-constituted state of 1960. Then the dancetheatre 

work “The Thread of Time”, a journey in 

history, with emphasis on the human dimension, 

began. The movement inspired by Machi Demetriadou 

and the performance of the 13 dancers, 

the amazing epic music of Yorgos Kolias, projections, 

multi-media and visual effects, composed a 

20 minute, emotionally charged, stroll through the 

Cyprus of the last 50 years. Michalis Hadjiyannis 

sang the song “Beloved Cyprus” which he had 

composed to lyrics by Andreas Paraschos, which 

Gurgenc Korkmazel recited in Turkish, conveying 

an optimistic message for the island and its people. 

7

The second part was symbolic and alluded to the 

abolition of the dividing line, as well as the development 

of Cypriot society into a society for all, under 

conditions of equality, justice, mutual acceptance 

and respect. The main item was the performance 

of the multi-media and dance-work entitled “Horizons 

without Lines”, which projected the ideal of 

the dismantling of the wall and then the future in 

an ideal Cyprus where all the inhabitants co-exist 

peacefully and the people prosper. The images and 

the movements of the dancers were the brain-child 

of Elena Christodoulidou and the inspired music of 

Demetris Zavros embraced them perfectly. The fi - 

nale of the event was also powerful. The sopranos 

Katerina Mina and Vasfi ge Tzakirtas sang as a duet 

in two languages the inspiring hymn “Peace Comes 

Like a Dream”, which was composed by the very 

talented young composer Roman Kariolou to words 

by Neşe Yaşın. As they sang “Cyprus will fi nd joy/ 

in my beautiful light” tens of young children from 

the primary schools of Phaneromeni and Ayios Kassianos 

“fl ooded” the stage with their smiles, leading 

everyone to applaud and the President of the Republic, 

Demetris Christofi as, to go on to the stage and 

embrace all the performers, one by one. 

View of the crowd who attended the Flagship Event 

8 

It should be mentioned that an exhibition of photographic 

documentation on the history of Cyprus, 

with emphasis on the 50 years of the Republic of 

Cyprus, welcomed the visitors at the two entrances 

of the Stadium, with various images being projected 

simultaneously on built-in screens. 

Speeches and Distinguished Guests 

Between the two parts of the Flagship Events 

speeches were addressed to the public. The 

main speaker was the President of the Republic, 

Mr. Demetris Christofi as. Among other things, Mr. 

Christofi as thanked all those present, especially the 

President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr Karolos 

Papoulias, for attending the event and made special 

mention of Greece, expressing the gratitude of 

Cyprus for supporting the endeavour of the Cypriot 

people for a solution and reunifi cation. President 

Christofi as renewed his promise to continue 

the struggle for a solution of the Cyprus problem 

and an end to the occupation, stressing anew that 

the Greek Cypriot side will exhaust every possibil-

President Demetris Christofi as at the Flagship Event 

ity offered by the current process for a solution of 

the Cyprus problem, within the framework of the 

United Nations Resolutions. 

Looking back over the 50 years of the independence 

of Cyprus, the President of the Republic said: 

“We gained our independence and freedom from 

the colonial yoke by means of the struggles and 

sacrifi ces of the Cypriot people which lasted for 

decades,” and went on: “The heroes of this struggle 

offered their lives in sacrifi ce so that our beloved native 

land should not be deprived of freedom and democracy. 

To the heroes of the Freedom of Cyprus, 

to the heroes who sacrifi ced themselves in the defence 

of democracy and legality, we devoutly bend 

our knees and bow to the greatness of their sacrifi 

ce.” As President Christofi as said: ”By putting to 

good use these special gifts, we acquired our freedom, 

our independence, albeit with commitments, 

which is an achievement of the entire people, Greek 

Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians 

and Latins. By putting to good use these gifts, we 

stood erect, rebuilding our economy and our country 

after the biblical catastrophe which the illegal 

invasion by Turkey brought to our island in 1974. 

By putting to good use these gifts,” he continued, 

“we have safeguarded our State, the Republic of 

Cyprus, in conditions of occupation and partition. 

We have contributed, through the Non-Aligned 

Movement and the United Nations Organisation, 

with Ethnarch Makarios in a leading role, to the 

struggle for world peace and cooperation for a 

better world. We have become a member of the 

European Union and we are playing an equal and 

creative role. For 36 years we have been fi ghting 

for the liberation and reunifi cation of our country 

and our people, keeping the hope alive. We have 

established democracy and equality of rights.” In 

conclusion, the President of the Republic urged us 

“all to work together, united, for a Cyprus that is 

free, reunifi ed, an island of peace, joy and prosperity 

for her people, for Cyprus to become a bridge 

of peace, meeting and cooperation for Europe, the 

Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.” 

9

Addresses were also delivered by the President 

of the Hellenic Republic Karolos Papoulias, the 

Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium, Yves 

Leterme, and the Minister of Petroleum of the Arab 

Republic of Egypt Sameh Fahmy on behalf of the 

Egyptian President. 

The President of the Hellenic Republic 

called on Turkey to show “real political 

will” for a settlement to the Cyprus problem, 

and highlighted that Cyprus membership to the 

European Union defi nes the basic aspects of the 

solution. “Today is a day to remember the important 

achievements of the Cypriot people, but also 

to recollect our course,” Mr. Papoulias said, adding 

“this is a day of remembrance and honor to President 

Makarios, a symbolic fi gure and a point of reference 

for all of us.” Noting that Nicosia remains the 

only divided capital in Europe, the President of the 

Hellenic Republic said that this is “a daily reminder 

of the connivance of the international community 

to the violation of international legality and of human 

rights.” Turning to President Christofi as, Mr. 

Papoulias reassured him of Greece’s active support 

10 

in his efforts and his initiatives for a just, viable and 

functional solution to the Cyprus problem on the basis 

of the UN Security Council resolutions and the 

EU principles and values. 

The Prime Minister of Belgium, Mr. Yves Leterme, 

expressed his support for the reunifi cation 

of Cyprus, during his address at the Flagship 

Event. Mr. Leterme said he was impressed by 

the “determination and vigour with which your 

population has overcome some severe ordeals in 

the history of the Republic.” Moreover, he stated 

that this Anniversary also marked fi fty years of 

relations between the Republic of Cyprus and 

the Kingdom of Belgium. The Prime Minister 

remarked that the links between the populations 

of Cyprus and Belgium “are much older than the 

respective states,” adding that the strategic position 

and rich natural resources of Cyprus attracted 

settlers and merchants, conquerors and crusaders 

from the east and west, north and south. “Amongst 

them were people from our shores,” Leterme added. 

He also said that “in view of the many threads 

which have bound Cyprus to Europe for so many

centuries, it was totally normal and fi tting that the 

Republic of Cyprus should become a member of 

the European Union.” The Belgian Prime Minister 

said that Cyprus made another important contribution 

to the European Union, as the birthplace 

of Aphrodite. Concluding, he said in the Greek 

language: “Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, 

we wish the Republic of Cyprus a bright future 

and a successful EU presidency.” 

Video messages with the addresses of the President 

of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and 

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso 

were also displayed. 

Mr. Van Rompuy said that the settlement of the 

Cyprus issue is important for the European Union, 

as it is all about ending divisions in Europe 

and strengthening the stability of the region. He 

commented that “in only a few years the young 

Republic reached high levels of social and economic 

growth,” adding that Cyprus has developed 

competitive sectors of the economy. The President 

of the European Council went on to say that the 

country’s rich cultural heritage, combined with the 

people’s profound belief in freedom and commitment 

to the rule of law, provided a natural foundation 

for Cyprus’ integration into the European 

Union in 2004. Mr. Rompuy added that the last 50 

years have been “a successful ride, but certainly not 

an easy one.” Moreover, he said that “today is a day 

of celebration, which has to be marked with pride 

for what was achieved, as well as with hope.” Before 

concluding his message, the President of the 

European Council said that he cherishes the memories 

of his recent visit to Cyprus and expressed his 

regret for not being able to join the celebrations. 

“I am certainly there in spirit and with my heart 

and I extend my warmest wishes to all Cypriots on 

the occasion of this important anniversary,’’ Van 

Rompuy said and concluded in Greek by saying 

“Congratulations to the Republic of Cyprus.” 

The President of the European Commission expressed 

his wish for a quick reunifi cation of Cyprus, 

saying that such a historic step would be 

welcomed by all Europe. He congratulated the 

Republic of Cyprus on the 50th Anniversary of its 

establishment and said that he asked Cypriot Commissioner 

Androulla Vassiliou to represent him 

and the European Commission at the festivities. 

“Cyprus is a country that I admire for its long and 

varied history, and for its very rich cultural heritage,” 

the European Commission President said 

and added that the Republic has a lot to be proud 

of and to celebrate. He went on by saying that the 

achievements in the last 50 years have seen Cyprus 

becoming a Member State of the European Union, 

extending the borders of the European Union to 

its furthest south eastern part. Barroso went on to 

say that Cyprus faces today one of the major challenges 

of the last 50 years. “I can assure you, the 

European family and the international community 

is looking at you,” he noted and said that “the leaders 

of the two communities in Cyprus are fully 

engaged in fi nding a solution to the Cyprus division 

once for all.” Concluding, he said in the Greek 

language “I congratulate you with all my heart on 

your National Day.” 

Offi cial guests at the Flagship Event to commemorate 

the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus 

also included the President of the Republic of 

Malta George Abela, the President of the Republic 

of Serbia Boris Tadic, the Vice President of the 

Republic of Bulgaria Angel Marin, the Minister of 

Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Spain Miguel 

Angel Moratinos, and the Minister of Defence of 

the Slovak Republic Lubomir Galko. Moreover, 

the event was attended by the State Minister of the 

Republic of Lebanon Mona Ofeish, the Minister of 

State, Foreign and Commonwealth Offi ce of the 

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern 

Ireland Lord David Howell, the Deputy Minister 

for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Italy Alfredo 

Mantica, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of 

Cuba Dagoberto Rodriguez Barreras, the Deputy 

State Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic 

of Hungary Janos Hovari, the Deputy Secretary 

General of the Commonwealth Ransford Smith, 

the Commissioner for Education of the European 

Commission, representing the President of the European 

Commission, Androulla Vassiliou and the 

Vice-President of the European Investment Bank 

Plutarchos Sakelaris. 

11

Αt a special ceremony held on 18 October 

2010 in the Hall of the University of 

Cyprus, the Ministry of Education and Culture 

Awards for Excellence in Letters, Arts and Sciences 

were given to Rina Katselli, Michalis 

Pieris, Despina Bebedeli and Kyriakos Nicolaou. 

Specifi cally, Rina Katseli and Michalis Pieris 

were honored with the Award for Excellence in 

Letters, Despina Bebedeli with the Award for 

Excellence in Arts and Kyriakos Nicolaou with 

the Award for Excellence in Sciences. 

The Awards were presented by the President of 

the Republic, Mr. Demetris Christofi as, while 

the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on 

the Awards and former Rector of the University 

of Cyprus, Mr. Stavros Zenios, analysed the 

grounds for the award to each of the recipients. 

In his address, the President of the Republic referred 

to the award winners, emphasising that 

“with hard work and dedication, they have contributed 

valuable services and new knowledge. 

Each of them has opened paths and they have 

left their indelible mark with their contribution. 

Their work, the fruit of many years of labour, 

hard work and self-denial, is now the common 

heritage of us all.” Mr. Christofi as went 

on to say: “Tonight’s ceremony is a historic 

milestone in the course of this institution since 

it is dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of the 

Republic of Cyprus, refl ecting the evolutionary 

course of the contemporary culture of our country 

through high intellectual achievements. [...] 

Cyprus, an integral piece of the world cultural 

heritage, is a crucible of cultures through its 

long history and also through the personal toil 

and creative struggle of her visionaries. Resisting 

the trends of globalisation and of Might is 

Right, Cyprus must protect its cultural identity 

and upgrade and further promote scientifi c 

research so that our country can take up the 

12 

Awards for Excellence in Letters, Arts and Sciences 

position that befi ts her within the great European 

family in the fi eld of scientifi c progress 

and cultural recognition.” Finally, addressing 

the award winners, Mr. Christofi as said: “You 

are the model for the Cypriot citizen. We are 

proud because you have succeeded in overcoming 

individual, geographical and intellectual 

boundaries in order to see and show us, each 

of you through the perspective of your own 

knowledge, Man as an entity that is continuously 

evolving, beyond the conventional and 

the accomplished, ever more simplifi ed and unadulterated. 

We are certainly aware of the diffi 

culties you have faced and face today as creators 

and scientists due to the small size of our 

country. We know that it has often been necessary 

for you to work in adverse conditions, with 

meagre means, for the most part, and with personal 

sacrifi ces, reaping only the joy of creation, 

quest and contribution to society. It is for 

this reason that the State is honoring you today, 

not simply and solely as recognised labourers 

of the intellect and of science. Today we are 

also rewarding your struggles and your anxieties, 

your arduous occupations, your toil and 

your zeal, the self-denial which you showed for 

the benefi t of the progress of science and the 

development of the letters and arts.” 

On receiving the Award, Rina Katselli, clearly 

moved, said that “our language and cultural 

heritage have not allowed us to vanish in all the 

years of being refugees,” noting that the honor 

to her for her effort to preserve memories of her 

native town, of Kyrenia, also belongs to many 

worthy men and women, such as the members 

of the Folklore Society of Kyrenia. “This collective 

memory, not only of the occupied areas 

but also of the whole of Cyprus, is the all-embracing 

past of us all which sets the seal on our 

identity and helps us to value our history cor-

From left to right: Michalis Pieris, Despina Bebedeli, President Demetris Christofi as, Rina Katselli and Kyriakos Nicolaou 

rectly, without fanaticism, so that we can act 

more effectively in the hope that our State will 

see better days, unifi ed without refugees,” she 

added. 

For his part, Michalis Pieris said that the Award 

to a researcher and academic teacher means 

nothing other than that the State is rewarding 

primarily his original work, which, as he added, 

he served with assiduous research and study 

over many years and with loyalty. He declared 

himself deeply moved and expressed his warm 

thanks to the Advisory Committee. 

On receiving her Award for Excellence in Arts, 

Despina Bebedeli said she was happy and 

grateful for the honor done to her by the Ministry 

of Education and Culture and the Republic 

of Cyprus. “Cyprus has given me a great deal 

and I have not yet repaid my debt to her,” she 

said, stating that Cyprus, as her second motherland 

had embraced her, accepted her, gave 

sustenance to her dreams and the opportunity 

to fulfi l them. 

“I am proud that with my colleagues and the 

help of the State we have managed to raise the 

Cypriot theatre to high standards, worthy to 

carry out its social role,” she said, adding that 

“the theatre and all the arts are for a country 

a weapon of defence and attack against every 

form of ugliness, cheapness and violence. The 

theatre and art in a country are the herald, vehicle 

and voice of universal human values,” she 

said, noting that every artist should always be 

fi ghting for his country. Finally, Mrs. Bebedeli 

said a great “thank you” to the people of Cyprus 

who, as the audience, had given her indescribable 

joys. At the same time she promised that 

as long as she is master of her body and mind 

she will always be present in body and in deed. 

Finally, Professor Kyriakos Nicolaou made 

special mention of his unforgettable teacher 

of Chemistry at the Pancyprian Gymnasium, 

Telemachos Charalambous, who, as he said, had 

fi lled his mind with his knowledge and his personality. 

“Intellectually, this inspiration was my 

13

greatest ally in my career as a scientist. And for 

this reason I thank him, even though he is not 

here,” he said. In conclusion, he expressed the 

wish that “the new opening in the geopolitical 

developments in the area around our island will 

lead to the longed-for freedom of our country.” 

The members of the Advisory Committee on 

the Awards for Excellence in Letters, Arts and 

Sciences were: Stavros Zenios (Chairman), 

Takis Adam, Evis Gavrielides, Vassos Karageorgis, 

Elpida Keravnou, Yorgos Kotsonis, 

Nicos Papamichael, Costas Papanicolas, Panayiotis 

Persianis, Christoforos Pissarides and 

Kyriakos Charalambides. 

The ceremony –which opened with classical 

music played by the String Quartet of the Cyprus 

Symphony Orchestra composed of Wolfgang 

Schroeder (violin), Sorin Allexandru Horlea 

(violin), Vladimir Tkachenko (viola) and 

Petros Gospodinov (cello)– was followed by a 

reception. 

14 

The Award Winners 

Rina Katselli was born in 1938 and is a refugee 

from Kyrenia. She has written studies on 

Kyrenia as well as literary works. Among them 

stands out the novel “Blue Whale”, the chronicle-testament 

“A Refugee in My Own Country” 

and the Byzantine two-part work “On the Seven 

Hills – On the Mountains of Tramontana”. 

She has also written plays and poetry. Her 

works have been awarded the State Prize for 

Literature. From 1981-1996 she was a member 

of the House of Representatives. She was the 

fi rst woman to be elected to the House of Representatives. 

Grounds for the Award 

Rina Katselli, a distinguished fi gure in our cultural 

affairs, was uprooted from Kyrenia by the 

Turkish invasion. The stamp of the bitterness of 

being a refugee is expressed for the fi rst time 

in her book “A Refugee in My Own Country”, 

which she signed symbolically 

as “A Woman of Kyrenia”. Essentially, 

her person became 

one with the country and this 

shows her conscious choice 

to serve in multifarious ways 

her own town, preserving with 

dedication and careful research 

precious elements of history 

and culture. 

The writer has the gift of functioning 

on two levels: on the 

one hand, on the purely creative 

or author’s level (mainly 

in novels and plays) and on 

the other hand in the research, 

the gathering and preserving of 

the material of memory. Without 

her faith and enthusiasm, 

her knowledge and hard work, 

very many facts about old and 

modern Kyrenia would have 

been lost. Apart from her book 

“Kyrenia – Historical and Folk-

lore Research”, as well as 

the testament, covering 

many aspects and in the 

form of a novel “Kyrenia 

from the Lips of the Old”, 

the writer brought back to 

life with systematic and 

hard work, emblematic 

fi gures of Kyrenia, publishing 

bulky monographs 

on them, which are testaments 

of the soul. These, 

in combination with her 

activity in the freedom 

struggle of 1955-59, her 

active participation in 

politics and in the foundation 

by her of the very 

active “Folklore Society 

of Kyrenia”, of which she 

was secretary for 40 years, 

show the breadth of her 

love for her country. 

For Cyprus Rina Katselli 

symbolises sleepless dedication 

to one’s native land 

and is a vivid example of intellectual perseverance 

and resistance. 

Michalis Pieris was born in 1952 in the Limassol 

district. He studied Greek Literature in 

Thessaloniki and Theatre at the Macedonian 

Conservatory of Thessaloniki. He has a doctorate 

from Sydney University. He worked in 

the capacity of researcher and teacher at many 

research centres in Greece and other European 

countries, in America and in Australia. 

Since 1992 he has been teaching Medieval and 

Modern Greek Literature at the University of 

Cyprus. His contribution to the study of medieval, 

renaissance and modern Greek literature 

is very important, while his tens of studies on 

the work of Makhairas, Cavafy, Seferis, Montis 

and Sinopoulos are a point of reference in 

international bibliography. His literary work is 

also important. 


Professor Michalis Pieris is an internationally 

distinguished student of Greek culture and 

Cypriot literature. With a deep education in the 

humanities, he serves Greek letters with sincerity 

and passion and has opened new horizons 

for intellectual Cyprus, while he has written 

and published studies which project internationally 

works that are milestones of Cypriot 

literature. He played a leading role in the establishing 

of the Department of Philosophy, 

the School of the Greek Language, the Cultural 

Centre and the Theatre Workshop of the University 

of Cyprus. He has been the director of 

the Theatre Workshop for years. His pioneering 

theatrological method with which he has approached 

and made known the vernacular texts 

of the fringes of Hellenism, such as the Cypriot 

folk songs and the medieval “Chronicle of Cyprus” 

of Leontios Makhairas, has contributed to 

15

the international reception of Cypriot literature. 

Michalis Pieris is numbered amongst the most 

eminent students of the poetry of Cavafy and 

Seferis and has contributed seminal work to the 

fi eld of literary research and interpretation. His 

literary work (poetry, short stories, plays, translations 

and adaptations) has been well-received 

throughout Greece and internationally. In particular, 

in his poetry he shows a rare ability to 

reveal and make universally intelligible his personal 

moods, experiences and intuitions. His 

poetical discourse is controlled by a lofty sense 

of poetic ethics, with which he fi ghts against 

every device of alienation. 

Despina Bebedeli-Kafkaridou was born in 

Athens and studied at the Pelos Katselis Drama 

School, at the French Institute of Athens and at 

the Athens Conservatory. She worked for many 

years as an actress in Greece and Cyprus and 

has also taken part in fi lms and television series. 

She has produced plays for the Cyprus Theatre 

16 

Organisation (THOC) and the Satirico Theatre. 

She has won various distinctions including the 

THOC prize for Artistic Contribution and the T. 

Anthias-Th. Pierides Prize for Contribution to 

Culture from the Central Committee of AKEL. 


Despina Bebedeli has made a multifarious, 

distinguished and outstanding contribution 

to the representational arts, particularly to 

the theatre, for about half a century. Her fi rst 

professional appearance in the theatre was in 

1962, at the Greek Laiko Theatro of Manos 

Katrakis, in Mikis Theodorakis’ work “The 

Song of the Dead Brother”. She went on to 

appear with tens of other important companies. 

Her performance as Mrs. Alving in the 

“Vampires”, as Hecuba, Electra, Jocasta, Andromache 

and many other roles won her excellent 

reviews for her instinctive talent and 

her stirring interpretations. 

Without doubt, the work which sealed her career 

was “Mother Courage and Her Children” 

by Brecht. Apart from her 

career in the theatre, Despina 

Bebedeli has a signifi cant 

presence in fi lm as well and 

on Greek and Cypriot television. 

She has produced plays 

for THOC and the Satirico 

Theatre and has taught at 

the Satirico Theatre School 

and the Drama School of Y. 

Kimoulis. For her great cultural 

and artistic contribution 

she has been awarded many 

distinctions and prizes. The 

Award for Excellence in Arts 

is the recognition and crowning 

of the multi-faceted contribution 

of Despina Bebedeli 

to the representational arts 

which she has served with 

dedication and has promoted 

in Cyprus and in the wider 

Greek world for about half a 

century.

Kyriakos Nicolaou was born in 1946 at Karavas. 

He studied Chemistry in London and 

wrote his doctoral thesis at University College. 

He worked as a post-doctoral scientist at Colombia 

University. His academic career began 

at the University of Pennsylvania where he rose 

to the position of Rhodes-Thompson Professor 

of Chemistry. Today he is working at the University 

of California as Professor of Chemistry 

and at the same time as Director of the Chemistry 

Department of the Scripps Research Institute. 

He has been voted a member of the New 

York Academy of Scientists, of the U.S.A. Society 

for the Promotion of Science and of the 

Academy of Athens. He has received Honorary 

Doctorates from twelve universities across the 

world. His research career numbers almost 700 

publications and four books. 


Professor Kyriakos Nicolaou is 

one of the most eminent scientists 

in the world in the fi eld of 

organic chemistry and one of 

the prominent academics Cyprus 

has produced. He studied 

Chemistry at London University 

and graduated with distinction. 

Three years after graduating 

he received a doctorate in 

Chemistry. He worked at the 

University of Colombia in the 

United States of America as a 

post-doctoral researcher. He 

was appointed to the Chair of 

Rhodes-Thompson Professor 

of Chemistry at the University 

of Pennsylvania in 1983 and as 

Director of the Chemistry Department 

in 1989. 

Kyriakos Nicolaou brings 

honor to Cyprus internationally 

with his major contribution 

to the development of 

synthetic organic chemistry 

and particularly to total synthesis 

of molecules with pharmaceutical 

action. He gained distinction as 

a model researcher and teacher and created 

a school for scientists. Kyriakos Nicolaou 

specialises in the synthesis of complex molecules 

of major biological and pharmaceutical 

value. His pioneering research has found 

many practical applications in chemistry, 

biology and medicine. His achievements include 

the creation of various antibiotics and 

medicines for the treatment of cancer and 

AIDS. The creation of taxol, one of the most 

important chemotherapeutics produced to the 

present day has given him international recognition. 

The work of Kyriakos Nicolaou has 

changed the lives of countless patients, while 

he has been honored with a great number of 

distinctions and prizes from academic institutions 

all over the world. 

17

Ιn the framework of the program commemorating 

the 50th Anniversary of Cyprus’ 

Independence, a large retrospective exhibition 

was organised as a tribute to the 40 years 

of participation of Cyprus in the Venice Biennale 

of Art, from 1968 to 2009. 

Marking 115 years since its inauguration, the 

Venice Biennale of Visual Arts is still considered 

to be one of the most signifi cant artistic 

events on the calendar, and every two years 

the city of Venice becomes the epicenter of 

the international art world, the media and the 

art-loving public. 

Cyprus fi rst joined this massive art celebration 

in 1968 with six young artists, demonstrating 

all the cultural and artistic dynamism 

of a new State. The intractable socio-polit- 

18 

“Cyprus in Venice, 1968-2009”: 40 Years 

of Participation in the Venice Biennale of Art 

Yorgos Skotinos next to his paintings inside the Cyprus pavilion, in 1968 

ical circumstances on the island during the 

following period led to a long absence, until 

1986 when the national participation resumed, 

continuing almost uninterrupted until 

today, under the responsibility of the Cultural 

Services of the Ministry of Education and 

Culture. 

This exhibition primarily sought to acquaint a 

wider local audience with the institution of the 

Venice Biennale, and the works of the artists 

who have represented Cyprus up until today. 

On another level, it attempted to place these 

contributions in a historical context, in relation 

to the course of contemporary art in Cyprus 

during the post-independence period as 

well as in relation to the developing course of 

the Biennale. Furthermore, it investigated prevailing 

narratives and discourses, both within

Christoforos Savva at the Cyprus pavilion, in 1968 

works in the national pavilion and in connection 

with international debates in theory and 

criticism; and fi nally, it collected and reconstituted 

“lost” sources and archival material associated 

with the Cypriot participation, while 

trying to outline the distinctive profi le of the 

event itself. 

This retrospective followed a multi-level approach, 

including a historical section, a series 

of theoretical discussions, and a subsequent 

extensive publication. The conscious 

effort here was not to faithfully reproduce 

all the national pavilion shows, but rather to 

convey the essence of the original presentations, 

while highlighting the historicity of the 

whole course. 

For this reason, the exhibition unfolded on a 

chronology and a descriptive narrative that 

guided the visitor through four decades of 

participation. In effect, it drew on the Venice 

Biennale theme in order to identify research 

and question issues around the Cypriot artistic 

scene of the last 50 years, juxtaposing 

them to the complex dynamics of the global 

arena. 

The event was co-organised by the Ministry 

of Education and Culture, Cultural Services, 

and the Pierides Foundation. The inauguration 

ceremony was held on 3 December 2010 

and the exhibition will remain open for the 

public until 27 March 2011 at the Nicosia 

Municipal Arts Centre. Moreover, on 27 December, 

a lecture on “Aesthetic Cosmopolitanism” 

was given by Nikos Papastergiades, 

Professor at School of Culture and Communication, 

University of Melbourne. 

The curators of “Cyprus in Venice, 1968- 

2009” were Louli Michaelidou and Yannis 

Toumazis. 

19

20 

Venice Biennale: The History 

Ιt is a major contemporary art exhibition 

that takes place once every two years (in 

odd years) in Venice. The fi rst Biennale was 

held in 1895; during the fi rst editions, decorative 

arts played an important role. The event 

became more and more international in the 

fi rst decades of the 20th century: from 1907 

on, several countries started installing national 

pavilions at the exhibition. After World 

War I, the Biennale showed increasing interest 

in innovative traditions in modern art. Between 

the two World Wars, many important 

modern artists had their work exhibited there. 

In the 1930s, several new sections of the 

event were established: the Music Festival in 

Cypriot Participation 1968-2009 

1968 – Stelios Votsis, Costas Joachim, George Kyriakou, 

Christoforos Savva, Yorgos Skotinos, Andreas Chrysochos 

1972 (contribution to the Graphic Arts Section) – Costas 

Averkiou, Stelios Votsis, Angelos Markides, Nikos Kouroussis, 

Mikis Finikarides 

1986 – Maria Loizidou 

1988 – Angelos Makrides 

1990 – Nikos Kouroussis 

(Venice Aperto) – Theodoulos Gregoriou 

1993 – George Sfi kas 

1997 – Theodoulos Gregoriou, Lefteris Olympios, Nikos 

Charalambides, Savvas Christodoulides 

1999 – Glavkos Koumides 

2001 – Andreas Karayan 

2003 – Nikos Charalambides 

2005 – Panayiotis Michael, Konstantia Sofokleous 

2007 – Haris Epaminonda, Mustafa Hulusi 

2009 – Socratis Socratous 

(Parallel Projects) – Yioula Hadjigeorgiou 

1930, the International Film Festival in 1932 

and the Theatre Festival in 1934. From 1938, 

Grand Prizes were awarded in the art exhibition 

section. 

After a six-year break during World War II, 

the Biennale was resumed in 1948 with renewed 

attention to avant-garde movements in 

European, and later worldwide, movements 

in contemporary art. Abstract expressionism 

was introduced in the 1950s, pop art in the 

1960s. 

The protests of 1968 marked a crisis for the 

Biennale; the Grand Prizes were abandoned 

and more emphasis went to thematic exhibitions 

instead of monographic ones. The 1974 

edition was entirely dedicated to Chile, as a 

major cultural protest against the dictatorship 

of Augusto Pinochet. New prizes were 

Leafl et for the Cypriot participation in the 

34th Venice Biennale, 1968

A work by Angelos Makrides, 1988 Façade of the Cypriot pavilion in the 2003 Venice Biennale 

installed; postmodern art entered the scene 

with increasingly varied and popular exhibitions. 

In 1980 Achille Bonito Oliva and Harald 

Szeemann introduced “Aperto”, a section of 

the exhibition designed to explore emerging 

art. A three-year gap was left afterwards to 

make sure that the 1995 edition would coincide 

with the 100th Anniversary of the Biennale. 

In 1999 and 2001, Szeemann directed 

two editions in a row (48th and 49th) bringing 

in a larger representation of artists from Asia 

and Eastern Europe and more young artists 

than usual and expanded the show into several 

newly restored spaces of the Arsenale. 

The 50th edition had a record number of 

seven co-curators involved, including Hans 

Ulrich Obrist, Catherine David, Igor Zabel, 

Hou Hanru and Massimiliano Gioni. The 51st 

Biennale, opened in June 2005, was curated, 

for the fi rst time, by two women: Maria de 

Corral and Rosa Martinez. In 2007, Mexico 

made its offi cial debut at the Biennale with an 

exhibition by artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer 

at the Van Axel palace. 

The Venice Film Festival is part of the Biennale, 

as is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, 

which is held in even years. A dance 

section, the “International Festival of Contemporary 

Dance” was established in 1999. 

The formal Biennale is based at a park, the 

Giardini, which houses 30 permanent national 

pavilions. The Giardini includes a large 

exhibition hall which hosts a themed exhibition 

curated by the Biennale’s Director. The 

“Aperto” began as a fringe event for younger 

artists and artists of a national origin not represented 

by the permanent national pavilions. 

This is usually staged in Arsenale and has become 

part of the formal Biennale program. 

21

Costas Averkiou, “Fishing in the Karpass”, 1968, oil on canvas, 97x137cm 

Adamantios Diamantis, “When the World of Cyprus First Heard the Bad News”, 1975, acrylic, 21x227cm 

22 

Angelos Makrides, “House”, 1974, paper, wire, plaster, 51.5x56x13cm. Right: Demetris Constantinou, “The Fighter’s Shirt”, 1975, bronze, 93x72x11cm

Michael Kashialos, “The Green Line”, 1964, oil on wood 

“50 Years of 

Visual Arts Creation” 

The Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts put on the major 

retrospective exhibition “50 Years of Visual Arts Creation” 

dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus. 

23

Ismet V. Guney, “Halal Sultan Tekke”, 1960, oil on canvas (private collection) 

The aim of the exhibition “50 Years 

of Visual Arts Creation” was to 

show contemporary artistic creation as 

well as the artistic creation of previous 

decades which marked the years of the 

Republic of Cyprus, with works dating 

from 1950 to the present day. 

The exhibition involved the organising 

of three autonomous exhibitions which 

functioned in parallel as parts of one 

large sum of artistic production, numbering 

more than 230 works. Many of 

these works, from collections of artists 

and foundations, had never been shown 

in an open exhibition before. 

The fi rst exhibition, entitled “Cyprus 

1950-1975”, presented the artistic creation of the 

years before and after the founding of the Republic 

of Cyprus, through the work of about 60 

artists. The Minister of Education and Culture, 

Mr. Andreas Demetriou, opened this exhibition 

on October 8th at Casteliotissa. The exhibition 

remained open to the public till October 30th. 

The second exhibition, entitled “1974 – A Milestone 

in Politics and Art” showed the artistic creation 

pivoting on approaches to the tragic events 

of 1974. Works of that period, and also modern 

24 

Telemachos Kanthos, “Women’s Bazaar IV”, 1978, oil on canvas, 97x130cm 

(Kanthos’ family collection) 

ones, covered the way in which Cypriot artists 

faced –and face– the events of 1974, with all the 

parameters and aspects which were created. The 

events of 1974, which infl icted a grave blow to 

the body of Cyprus, naturally also infl uenced the 

course of contemporary art. An additional reason 

for the wealth in quantity and quality of artistic 

creation was the fact that the decade of the 70s 

found Cyprus at a very dynamic stage of artistic 

research and creation. This exhibition was 

opened by the President of the Republic of Cy-

Andreas Ladommatos, “Broken Window of ’74”, 1975, 

oil on canvas 

Eleni Nicodemou, “Black Work”, 1987, acrylic on canvas, 2x1.5m 

prus, Mr. Demetris Christofi as, on October 6th 

at the Famagusta Gate. The exhibition remained 

open to the public till October 30th. 

The third exhibition, entitled “Artistic Rhythms”, 

was the result of the open invitation of the Chamber 

of Fine Arts to the artists to present their 

recent work. About 100 artists took part with 

paintings, videos, sculptures etc. The Minister of 

the Interior, Mr. Neoclis Silikiotis, opened this 

exhibition on October 4th. The ceremony was 

followed by a reception in the exhibition area of 

the Kaimakli Mills. 

Within the framework of the exhibition, a catalogue/book 

was published with text covering the 

three parts of the exhibition. In addition to the 

works in the exhibition, the book includes works 

which it was not possible to secure for the exhibition. 

The research, design and the writing 

of the text was undertaken by the art historian 

Marina Schiza. The assistant curator was Argyro 

Toumazou, who also undertook the organisation/ 

coordination of the exhibition. 

The organiser was the Cyprus Chamber of Fine 

Arts with the support of the Cultural Services of 

the Ministry of Education and Culture, and also 

with sponsorship of Kykko Monastery and the 

Press Organisation “O Phileleftheros”. 

Costas Argyrou, “Cyprus in Chains”, 1981 

25

XVII Biennale de Paris in Nicosia 

The 17th Biennale de Paris took place where 

things… were occurring. From 19 to 25 October 

2010, it was in Nicosia in partnership with 

ARTos Foundation and sponsored by the Ministry 

of Education and Culture, Cultural Services. 

The headlight project of this Biennale de Paris 

edition was to reinvent the terminology of art by 

the following outline: 

Art was built by successive liberations from its 

own values. New practices appeared along with 

new terms. Literally, it is by the terminology that 

these changes partly wrote the history of art. A 

term always arises from an existing practice and 

defi nes it thus that it was hitherto indefi nable. 

Name it, is to have it, exist. 

Moreover it allows a progression and an extension 

of the practice from which it is deriving. The 

terminology of art has become richer since its 

beginnings –the Renaissance– and has changed 

very little over the last 50 years. Accepting the 

immobility of the terminology of art would be admitting 

the impossibility of historical continuity. 

On the contrary, a renewed terminology is an encouraging 

sign that art is being transformed. This 

is why an update has become essential. The nature 

of the Biennale de Paris constitutive steps means 

that the usual art words are insuffi cient to realize, 

to identify or to describe them. In that, new words 

or terms are necessary. These terms are laying the 

foundations of a new art terminology. 

Within this framework a series of Conferences 

and art exhibitions were organised in Nicosia. 

The Round Table Discussions 

At this round table, different points of views on 

the need to update the art terminology were presented 

publicly. Participants tackled the subject 

in various manners. They actually presented a 

selection of new terms of art. 

The open to the public Conference was held on 

21 October at the ARTos Foundation. Its program 

included: 

• Welcome by Alexandre Gurita (Biennale de 

Paris) 

• Welcome by Achilleas Kentonis (ARTos Foundation) 

• Greeting by Ms. Louli Michaelidou, Cultural 

Services, Ministry of Education and Culture, 

on behalf of Mr. Pavlos Paraskevas, Director of 

Cultural Services. 

• Greeting by Ms. Eleni Mavrou, Mayor of Nicosia 

• Greeting by Elpida Keravnou, President of 

CUT Governing Board 

• Introduction of the international projects participating 

in the 17th Biennale de Paris by the 

artists 

• Conference speeches 

• Question and Answer session with the public, 

coordinated by Foivos Liasides. 

“Neology is the art to form new words for new or badly expressed ideas. 

Neologism is a mania to use new words without any need or taste. Neology 

has its own rules; neologism is only guided by a vain whim.” 

Louis Sébastien Mercier, 1801 

27

The Conference speakers and titles of their presentations 

were as follows: 

Alexandre Gurita: Invisual (A. G. – Strategist 

in the fi eld of art. Director of the Biennale de 

Paris since 2000. Refl ections associated with his 

practice: “Art is a suffi cient reason in itself to do 

without it”, “The object of art is the modifi cation 

of the idea art”, “Art is the art of art”.) 

Loïc Depecker: Terminology and real (L. D. – 

Linguist and terminologist. Founder and President 

of the French terminology company.) 

Ghislain Mollet-Vieville: Art agent & nonartistic 

art (G. M.-V. –Art agent. Art critic. Art 

collector. Expert adviser, expert with the Paris 

Court of Justice. Refl ections associated with his 

practice: “I have nothing to show and I’m showing 

it”.) 

Genevieve Breerette: Art by terminology (G. 

B. – Art critic and journalist. President of the 

French section of the International Association 

of Art Critics.) 

Achilleas Kentonis: Data Cities/Meta-environments 

(A. K. – Artist. Researcher, Founder and 

Artistic Director of the ARTos Foundation.) 

Jean-Baptiste Farkas: To operate in real [J.- 

B. F. – Artistic activities. Professor at the Fine 

Art School in La Reunion. He has created two 

identities with which he is still performing today: 

Ikhéa (1998 became Ikhea© services in 

2004) and Glitch, much more less! (2002) Initiator 

of the Amicale de la Biennale de Paris 

(2006).] 

The closed to the public Conference was held on 

22 October at the ARTos Foundation: 

10:00HRS | Discussion by the small group of 

guests and artists concerning the Conference – 

Preliminary suggestions. 

16:00HRS | Introduction to the Round Table 

Discussion by Conference Coordinator. 

16:15HRS | Short presentation by artist Paul 

28 

Jean-Baptiste Farkas (France): 

O. O. Workshop: “Useless, impractical, embarrassing? 

Give us the objects you want to get rid of!” 

Ricardo Mbarkho (Lebanon): 

National Lebanese Tabbouleh Day 

Robert entitled Public of Indifference. 

16:30HRS | Part A of the discussion and proposals 

on New Terminology. Coordinator: Caroline 

Keppi-Gurita (assistant offi cer at the Biennale de 

Paris. In charge of the project “Reinventing the 

Terminology of Art”.) 

18:00HRS | Coffee break 

18:15HRS | Part B of the discussion and proposals 

on New Terminology. Coordinator: Ellada 

Evangelou. 

20:00HRS | Final Remarks – Closing

International Projects 

Jean-Baptiste Farkas (France): O. O. Workshop: 

“Useless, Impractical, Embarrassing? Give 

us the Objects you Want to Get Rid of!” – 20 October 

at the ARTos Foundation 

The O. O. Workshop invited the public to empty 

its overloaded daily life. The preliminary phase, 

consisting of talking about the why (and the how, 

a genuine moment of refl ection on “less”) of the 

destruction of the object, was essential. Excerpt 

from an IKHEA letter describing the realisation 

of the O. O. Workshop during the 2003 Nuit 

Blanche (an all-night cultural event in Paris):” 

... with IKHEA©SERVICES, devoted to reducing 

productive consumption, we have turned to 

the idea of “subtractive services” which openly 

attack merchandise. Services which, because 

they are theoretically executed without a public 

(directly in the client’s home and in that person’s 

presence alone), should permit those who realise 

them to do without intermediaries (the market, 

the stage) as much as possible. By defi nition, 

however, the Nuit Blanche (a high-visibility op- 

Patrizio Travagli (Italy): “Talking Bulbheads” 

eration open to a very large public) precluded a 

number of circumstances favourable to the realization 

of the services indicated above (working 

without an audience, modestly, in direct 

relationship with the client). To keep the O. O. 

Workshop from turning into a spectacle, it was 

necessary to adopt an extremely diligent attitude 

during the execution of the service and remain 

both measured and precise in the destructive act. 

Ricardo Mbarkho (Lebanon): National Lebanese 

Tabbouleh Day – 20-24 October at the AR- 

Tos Foundation 

In April 2001, the Lebanese artist Ricardo 

Mbarkho decides unilaterally that the fi rst Saturday 

of July would be the National Tabbouleh 

Day. Right after, he informs by email thousands 

of Lebanese that he does not necessarily know, 

and invites them to transfer the message everywhere 

to the world… It is the snowball that 

starts! The Lebanese and foreign press mobilizes 

with articles announcing the news. The 15th 

edition of the Biennial of Paris presents the National 

Tabbouleh Day since 2006. The Lebanese 

Ministry of Tourism offi cially gives its approval 

and its patronage for the 2007 edition; The National 

Tabbouleh Day is henceforth celebrated 

each year by all the Lebanese. This new form of 

art has started: The Celebration Art. 

The Tabbouleh is the most famous Lebanese traditional 

dish. During this day, Lebanese and their 

friends everywhere in the world meet in private 

or in public around this king of the mezzé. This 

artistic, cultural, gastronomic and touristy feast 

presents them an opportunity to show and to reinforce 

their attachment to their country and to 

their roots. 

Patrizio Travagli (Italy): “Talking Bulbheads” 

– 20-25 October at Peace Room, Ledra Street 

“Talking Bulbheads” is the latest new media 

experiment by Patrizio Travagli. While seated 

in a Tuscan villa, a passage light blinking out 

29

of weak transmission became interpreted as a 

signal; a blinking light which became a Morse 

code, transferring secret messages to the visual 

receiver. A dialogue began to unravel through 

the systematised light, and the hosting website 

kept track and hosted all sentences designed 

through this project. 

Creating a network of Morse codes connected 

with a dialogue of blinking lights, “Talking 

Bulbheads” mapped the world through the independently 

conjoined light sentences. 

Paul Robert (France): “The Runner” – 23 October 

at the Peace Room, Ledra Street 

Paul Robert gave a very interesting description 

of the project he performed in Nicosia. On the 

brochure published for the XVII Biennale de 

Paris he introduced “The Runner” as it follows: 

“To say: ‘there will be art’, it considers the spectator 

to be an idiot or an incompetent. Institutions 

know very well how to do that. They use all 

sorts of signs indicating the arts (special exposition 

places, invitation cards, gold frames, visual 

habits, articles in the press under the headings of 

‘culture’ rather than ‘political’ or ‘sport’, etc.). 

Each of these signs warns the public that they 

will have to think about art in 

one context or in one situation 

but not in another, when one 

is looking at one object but 

not another. It degrades the 

spectator; it denies them of 

the ability to think uninhibited 

about the world around 

them. Friday, October 23rd, in 

the morning, I will be in the 

streets of Nicosia to conduct 

an experiment, which interests 

me when I think about 

it in an artistic point of view. 

That, I promise. The experiment 

will take place in the 

city openly. In my mind, I call 

this experience ‘one-sided’ or 

‘without symmetry,’ to distin- 

30 

guish it from my other experiments. But I refuse 

to say more for now, out of respect for people 

who will be there that day. I will talk about it in 

the discussions in the afternoon.” 

Cyprus Project 

“Imbalanced Echoeing: Accidental Private 

Feedback” – 23 October at the Peace Room, Ledra 

Street 

This project was curated and created by Achilleas 

Kentonis and it was open to artists or 

groups who were willing to experiment, add 

or evolve the existing platform. The creation 

of this open platform was a basis for artistic 

practices of interfering with the ambience of 

the living environment on public space. This 

project was a system which violated the element 

of personal space in any public space and 

created a post-environment situation which 

worked as a feedback to the person which accidentally 

passed by. Artists or artists groups 

could observe and propose additional elements 

which will be presented as a collective work in 

other places in Cyprus and Europe. This project 

could have taken many forms and many versions 

according to the artist who evolved it. 

“Imbalanced Echoeing: Accidental Private Feedback”

Ara Gevorgian Performed on the Occasion 

of the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus 

The world renowned Armenian composer 

Ara Gevorgian with his Orchestra and 

the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra and the local 

“Sipan” Dance Ensemble performed on the occasion 

of the 50th Anniversary of the Republic 

of Cyprus. Two spectacular music and dance 

performances took place under the auspices of 

H.E. President of the Republic Mr. Demetris 

Christofi as, who honored the event with his 

presence on the 20th November. 

The music of Ara Gevorgian and the dances, under 

the music direction of the famous conductor 

Karen Durgaryan took the audience on a journey 

and witnessed the tragedy, but also the determination, 

the struggle and the will of the Armenian 

nation to survive. The performances were held 

at Strovolos Municipal Theatre, Nicosia, on 20 

and 21 November. The concerts were organised 

by the Armenian Representative Offi ce in collaboration 

with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra 

Foundation and sponsored by the Ministry of 

Education and Culture – Cultural Services, the 

House of Representatives and many others. 

31

32 

Ara Gevorgian 

Ara Gevorgian 

The composer was born in Yerevan in 1960. 

He is the son of Valya Samvelyan – a famous 

singer of Armenian folk and popular songs. 

From 1987-1989 he studied to become conductor 

at the Armenian Pedagogical Institute 

and was the leader of the local pop orchestra. 

Over the years he was awarded several prizes: 

in 2004 he was awarded the title of Honorary 

Actor of the Republic of Armenia by President 

Robert Kocharian, in 2006 he was awarded a 

prize for his contribution to the development 

of Armenian instrumental music and participated 

in the Opening Ceremony of the Cultural 

Year of Armenia in the Russian Federation, 

hosted at the Moscow Kremlin Music Hall in 

the presence of the Presidents of Armenia and 

Russia Robert Kocharyan and Vladimir Putin, 

respectively, and the famous singer 

Charles Aznavour. He was awarded 

the “Mikhail Lomonosov” Medal of 

Honor from the government of Russia. 

The composer has co-operated 

with famous Armenian and foreign 

musicians and participated in a series 

of festivals. He has performed 

in different countries such as Russia, 

USA, France, Canada, Australia, 

Lebanon, Syria etc. 

Karen Durgaryan 

Born in Yerevan, he graduated from the 

Yerevan State Conservatory in 1996. In 

1995 he was appointed Associate Conductor 

of the Armenian State Philharmonic 

Orchestra and was the Resident 

Conductor of the Yerevan Symphony 

Orchestra. In 1996 he became the Music 

Director of “Britten and Armenia” 

International Music Festival in Yerevan 

and since 1997 he has been the Music 

Director and Conductor of the Yerevan 

State Music Chamber Theater. In March 

2001, Durgaryan assumed the position 

of Principal Conductor of the Armenian 

National State Opera and Ballet Theatre. 

He has collaborated with various orchestras around 

the world such as: the Symphony Orchestra of 

Cagliari Lyric Theater (Italy), the Portuguese Sym- 

Karen Durgaryan

SIPAN Dance Ensemble 

phony Orchestra, the Sao Carlos National Opera 

Company Choir in Lisbon, the St Petersburg Philharmonic 

Orchestra at the 11th International Musical 

Olympus Festival, the Silantiev State Academic 

Orchestra in the Moscow Kremlin Grand Hall and 

the Orchestra of Carlo Felice Theatre in Genoa. He 

has appeared in prestigious concert halls such as 

the Thessaloniki Opera, the Mariinsky Theatre, St 

Petersburg etc. 

SIPAN Dance Ensemble 

In the year 2000 the Armenian Cultural and Educational 

Association Hamazkayin Cyprus formed 

the SIPAN Dance Ensemble composed of 45 

members, which celebrated its 10th anniversary 

this year. SIPAN performs annually and takes 

part in various local and international festivals 

around the island. Mrs. Janna Tahmizian, a well 

known dancer and choreographer from Armenia, 

with her huge contribution and dedication, made 

young Cypriot Armenian boys and girls embrace 

this beautiful side of the rich Armenian culture 

despite present day diffi culties. She was able to 

bring the Ensemble to its present formidable level, 

through a great deal of sacrifi ce and consistent 

hard work. Mrs. Tahmizian presently teaches at 

the State Institute of Dance of Yerevan and also 

works as Assistant Stage Director and Choreographer 

at the Yerevan State Opera. 

Hamazkayin owes a huge debt of gratitude to 

the Cyprus government for its contribution 

and help in keeping the Armenian culture alive 

through the Ministry of Education and Culture. 

By this opportunity, SIPAN expressed its 

heartfelt appreciation to the great support of 

the Armenian Representative in the House Mr. 

Vartkes Mahdessian and to all other organizations 

and individuals, who have encouraged the 

Ensemble to continue its existence. 

33

34 

“xperimental 9.0” 

Continuing to pioneer within the “xperimental” 

scene of Cyprus, the Pantheon 

Cultural Association organised the 9th International 

Xperimental Film & Animation Festival 

on 19 November at Pantheon Gallery. 

The Festival was sponsored by the Ministry 

of Education and Culture, Cultural Services. 

Pantheon Association strives to enforce its 

annual Festival into a globally established 

entity which keep standards and give a 

niche to those interested in the fi eld. This 

year the Festival has been spread out into 

a day during which the Pantheon Gallery 

was transformed into an “xperimental” 

cinema, where viewers were able to enjoy 

the screenings. The selection progress of 

fi lms was based on the proposed concepts 

and its audiovisual interpretation as well as 

on the level of the creativity, authenticity 

and experimentation in an effort to bring 

these works closer to the wider public. 

The participants in “xperimental 9.0” Festival 

were as follows: 

Part A 

All of My Time 

NAME: Nefeli Misuraca 

DURATION: 12:00 

DATE COMPLETED: 01/09 

FORMAT: video 

COUNTRY: Cyprus 

SYNOPSIS: All of my time or how to 

write a poem. 

Teslavision 

NAME: H. Nordholt & F. Steingrobe 



FORMAT: Video 

COUNTRY: Germany 

SYNOPSIS: The engineer Nikola Tesla 

speaks about his ideas of photographing 

thoughts and about television. I expect that 

in the future thoughts can be photographed. 

Soaked Recall 

NAME: Chrysanthi Christoforou



FORMAT: Video 


SYNOPSIS: The artist uses the past to reinterpret 

and face it in the present. Direct and mediated 

experiences create a random otherness. The self 

requires the other to defi ne itself as we belong 

outside of ourselves, elsewhere. Thus when experiencing 

the dislocation from the other we realize 

the subject (I) and the image of ourselves (ego). 

I Wanna Be a Mama 

NAME: Hyo Jung Kwag 



FORMAT: 2d computer animation 


SYNOPSIS: Yes I wanna be a mama. Yes I wanna 

have a baby. Yes I wanna… 

Eventually 

NAME: Gareth Hudson 



FORMAT: Digital Video 

COUNTRY: UK 

SYNOPSIS: An outlook on the struggle for ascension 

and the persistence of loss. 

Aanaatt 

NAME: Max Hattler 



FORMAT: HD camera 

COUNTRY: UK 

SYNOPSIS: The ever-shifting shape of analogue 

futurism. 

Private Refl ection 

NAME: Tasos Anastasiades 



FORMAT: Video 


SYNOPSIS: Nazi vs. child’s play. To me the 

idea of Nazism is never truly gone. It watches 

our every move waiting to fi nd a weak spot so it 

can fl ourish again. The child’s play reminds us, 

the grownups, how innocent we once were. To 

me the answer to life is innocence. 

The Apple 

NAME: Maria Christoforou 



FORMAT: Video 


SYNOPSIS: The animation conveys the different 

emotional roles played by contemporary 

women. It juxtaposes Eve’s temptation to 

consume the apple in the Garden of Eden with 

Snow White’s innocent desire. The apple symbolizes 

the taboos and temptations of modern 

life and its cutting symbolizes the loss of innocence. 

A Movement Towards 

NAME: David Anthony Sant 



FORMAT: Video 

COUNTRY: Malta 

SYNOPSIS: The fi lm is an experiment in associated 

imagery. Within each sequence are images 

of water as it is pulls and pushes against 

and together with a diverse but considered range 

of materials, surfaces and objects. 

35

36 

Part B 

Handmade 

NAME: Boris 

Franco 


DATE COMPLET- 

ED: 10/09 

FORMAT: Video 

COUNTRY: Spain 

SYNOPSIS: “Handmade” is a refl ection on 

the work of an artist. It shows a work made by 

hands trying to transform some materials as if 

an ancient ritual of magic is involved. 

Mirrors 

NAME: Demetra Englezou 



FORMAT: Widescreen 16:9 PAL 


SYNOPSIS: “Mirrors” is a motion graphics 

video that refl ects energy of the movement, 

sound, harmony, space and gravity. The fi lm 

guides you through a journey where you are 

listening openly and accept the feelings that 

refl ect on your instant emotion. Mirrors are a 

doorway to another world. It is a metaphor of 

possible imaginative worlds. 

Moment One 

NAME: Jung-Chul Hur 



FORMAT: Video 

COUNTRY: Korea 

SYNOPSIS: Every 

moment consists 

of a sequence of 

hidden movements 

and interactions. 

An ordinary nightclub 

dance scene has been transformed into a 

painterly and poetic form of moving images. 

Body movements and shifts in light become 

synchronized with carefully chosen classical 

music. 

Danger 

NAME: Nicoleta Avgousti 



FORMAT: Video 


SYNOPSIS: The danger of losing the “glocal” 

–global and local– beauty. A collage of original 

and found video. 

Cheval Blême 

NAME: Philippe Rouy 



FORMAT: 35mm 

COUNTRY: France 

SYNOPSIS: On the 17th of July 1939 a man was 

guillotined in public in front of a camera. The 

eyes of a horse will never know anything of it. 

Dance 0-19 

NAME: Stuart 

Pound 


DATE COM- 

PLETED: 08/09 

FORMAT: adobe 

after effects... 

COUNTRY: UK 

SYNOPSIS: Both audio channels are represented 

visually as integer numbers correspond 

to the amplitude of a soundtrack, music from 

the island of Bali: Gamelan Semar Pegulingan/ 

Gamelan of the Love God. 

The Sealed World 

NAME: Toby Tatum 



FORMAT: Video 

COUNTRY: UK 

SYNOPSIS: Mist parts to reveal two young 

women surrounded by wild fl owers. Detached 

from the outside world they transform everyday 

activities into private rituals of mysterious, esoteric, 

design.

Part C 

Still Burnt 

NAME: M. Nestora & G. Salameh 



FORMAT: Video 

COUNTRY: Greece/Italy 

SYNOPSIS: The fall she settles in, as well as 

amnesia, after the fi res. Collective indifference 

repeats itself and allows for the repetition of destruction. 

A dance in the burnt forest. 

An Omen 

NAME: Constantinos Chondros 



FORMAT: miniDV 

COUNTRY: Greece 

SYNOPSIS: Uncertain movement, time, space, 

percussion sounds, poetry. 

Scrutinize Express 

NAME: Antonis Antoniou 


DATE COM- 

PLETED: 01/10 

FORMAT: Digital 

Video 

COUNTRY: 

Cyprus 

SYNOPSIS: Scrutinize = to examine or inspect 

closely and thoroughly. Express = operating at 

high speed. Scrutinize Express = to examine or 

inspect closely and thoroughly at a high speed 

through the condensed texture, colour, tone and 

emotion of abandoned spaces. 

Urban Triptych 

NAME: Mar Garrido Roman 



FORMAT: DV PAL 16:9 


SYNOPSIS: Advancing along a reality which is always 

changeable, uncertain and increasingly unpredictable. 

The uncertainty corresponds to the transformations 

of the sonorous rhythms: the laughs, the 

violin, the rain, interlace with the fragmentation and 

the fragility of the individual in the city. 

Why Do You Have a Beard? 

NAME: Ocusonic O’ Donoghue 



FORMAT: Video 

COUNTRY: Ireland 

SYNOPSIS: Morphing animation tightly to 

music. Although “Why Do You Have a Beard?” 

has no linear narrative, it has a simple straightforward 

message. We are not all the same, we 

are different, and that is a good thing. 

Found Footage 

NAME: Patrizia Monzani 



FORMAT: Found footage 

COUNTRY: Italy 

SYNOPSIS: Water as a symbol of nature, water 

as the origin of life and therefore of man. 

The video, entirely realized with open source 

material from the internet movie database (also 

the music is a copyleft song from the internet), 

shortly narrates the history of humanity and its 

relationship with our planet earth. 

The Polymoids 

NAME: Tina Willgren 



FORMAT: Video 

COUNTRY: Sweden 

SYNOPSIS: A contemplation on the possible occurrence 

of smart junk in vacant city areas. Waste, 

garbage, rubbish, leftovers, dead matter, smart junk, 

new species, biopoesis, biotopes of vacant city areas. 

The Movement of Live 

NAME: Fatima Tocornal 



FORMAT: Video 


SYNOPSIS: Complex strategies give the vital 

pulse it forms. 

37

Artists and academics joined forces in a 

common effort to “re-envision” Cyprus. 

The result was an edited volume and a photography 

and multimedia exhibition. 

The authors of “Re-envisioning Cyprus” came 

from different disciplines – such as anthropology, 

social sciences, art history, literature, cultural 

theory and visual arts. They used various 

methods – some excavated past images, and 

some produced or commented on new ones. 

They exploited all kinds of materials – such 

as press, studio or vernacular photos, statues, 

landmarks, urban constructions and religious 

spaces. What united them was fi rst their wish 

to see Cyprus with their own eyes and with 

Nicos Philippou. From the series “Easter Bonfi res”, 2009 

Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert: “Constructing Memories of Family 

Fun”, Video still. From the series “Tourists who Shoot”, 2010 

38 

“Re-Envisioning Cyprus”: 

An Exhibition and Book Launch 

their own minds, rather than through offi cialising 

lenses, or narratives. Second, they were 

rather interested in photography, and how it 

could help our conceptual understanding of the 

island. 

The images each author had selected or produced 

were included in the accompanied exhibition. 

The exhibition featured the work of 

visual artists from Cyprus and abroad and was 

inaugurated by the Minister of Education and 

Culture, Mr. Andreas Demetriou on December 

8 at Pantheon Gallery. The exhibition remained 

open until December 23. 

The participating authors and artists were as follows: 

Loucas Antoniou, Melita Couta, Johanna 

“Children Carrying Placards Supporting the Strike of their 

Miner Parents. One Placard Is in Greek, Another Is in 

Turkish”, P.E.O. Archives

From the collection of Charalambos Mavromatis (Four 

Generations Photography), circa 1965 

Diehl, Anandana Kapur, Phanos Kyriacou, 

Orestis Lambrou, Chrystalleni Loizidou, Peter 

Loizos, Miriam Paeslack, Haris Pellapaisiotis, 

Nicos Phillipou, Sondra Sainsbury, Stephanos 

Stephanides, Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert, 

Constantinos Taliotis, Demetris Taliotis and Ellene 

Tsangarides. 

The exhibition was organised by the University 

of Nicosia (organiser) and the Cyprus University 

of Technology (partner) and was part of the 

celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Republic 

of Cyprus. The book was published by 

the University of Nicosia Press and was available 

at the exhibition opening. The editors/curators 

of “Re-Envisioning Cyprus” were Peter 

Loizos (London School of Economics), Nicos 

Philippou (University of Nicosia) and Theopisti 

Stylianou-Lambert (Cyprus University 

of Technology). 

Haris Pellapaisiotis. From the series “Mutant Spaces and 

Parasitic Objects. 2001-2005” 

Peter Loizos: “A Greek Cypriot Family, Displaced from 

Argaki, near Morphou”, 1975 

Johanna Diehl: “Karavas”, C-Print, 95x122cm. 

From the series “Displace”, 2009 

39

40 

The Press and Information Offi ce Commemorated 

the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus 

The Cyprus Press 1960-2010: 

An Evolution of 50 Years of Independence 

On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary 

of Cyprus’ Independence, the Press and 

Information Offi ce and the Mass Media and 

Communication Institute (IMME) of the University 

of Nicosia organised an exhibition entitled 

“The Cyprus Press 1960-2010: An Evolution 

of 50 Years of Independence”. 

The exhibition was inaugurated on 12 October 

2010 by the Government Spokesman Mr. Stefanos 

Stefanou who referred in his speech to the 

struggles of the people of Cyprus from 1960 till 

today which are refl ected in the various headlines 

of the Cyprus Press, and expressed his desire 

for a future exhibition of the Turkish Cypriot 

Press, which also is part of the Cypriot Press. 

The Government Spokesman, Mr. Stefanos Stefanou, and other personalities at the exhibition 

Referring to the Cyprus Problem, Mr. Stefanou 

stated that the key for a solution to that is Turkey. 

He also pointed out that Cyprus has managed 

to become a full member of the United Nations 

and the European Union. On the other 

hand, he said, “nothing has changed, in the 

sense that the same problem that has haunted 

us, the Cyprus Problem, is still haunting us today. 

We must be realistic and optimistic as regards 

the solution to the Cyprus Problem; because 

a nation without optimism cannot hope 

for anything at all.” 

Addresses were also delivered by the Director 

of the Press and Information Offi ce Dr. Eleonora 

Gavrielides and the Director of Communication 

of the IMME Dr. Andreas Cl. Sophocleous. 

The Director of the Press and Information Of-

From left to right: The Director of the IMME, Dr. Andreas Sophocleous, the Government Spokesman, Mr. Stefanos Stefanou, the Director of 

the Press and Information Offi ce, Dr. Eleonora Gavrielides with visitors at the exhibition on the Cyprus Press 

fi ce Dr. Eleonora Gavrielides noted that the exhibition 

“clearly shows the course of the Press 

these fi fty years and also the course of the island.” 

Dr. Gavrielides mentioned that “the only thing 

certain is that these 50 years since the proclamation 

of Cyprus’ Independence were fi lled 

with major events which directly infl uence our 

lives over and over again.” 

She added that “at the same time these 50 years 

were years where the Press was upgraded both 

technologically and in essence in such a way 

that older issues of newspapers seemed strange 

both visually and linguistically and also from 

a point of the content layout and hierarchy of 

news.” 

The Director of Communication of the IMME 

Dr. Andreas Sophocleous said that the exhibition 

would bring back memories of what the 

newspapers’ fi rst pages looked like in the past. 

“We will remember again incidents and developments, 

we will study again the main events 

of modern history and we will notice the developments 

in the design.” 

Journalists, researchers and Press and Information 

Offi ce personnel were present at the opening 

ceremony. 

Multi-theme Exhibition 

by the Press and Information Offi ce 

The opening on December 27th of the Multi-theme 

Exhibition organised at the Famagusta 

Gate by the Press and Information Offi ce 

was crowned with success. The exhibition was 

held under the aegis of the President of the Republic, 

Mr. Demetris Christofi as, to complete 

the series of events organised by the PIO within 

the framework of the festivities marking the 

50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus. 

The event was attended by the Minister of the Interior, 

Mr. Nikos Silikiotis, the Minister of Trade, 

Industry and Tourism, Mr. Antonis Paschalides, 

members of the House of Representatives, ambassadors 

of foreign countries to Cyprus and 

other offi cials. The exhibition was opened by 

the Government Spokesman, Mr. Stefanos Stefanou, 

on behalf of the President of the Republic. 

In his address, Mr. Stefanou said: “The event is 

the climax of a series of events which the Press 

and Information Offi ce organised on the occasion 

of the 50th Anniversary of the founding of 

the Republic of Cyprus. As an introduction to 

the event, we chose the cultural intervention by 

the two communities and three religious groups 

41

in Cyprus. The message of this introduction is 

clear and plain. Together, Greek Cypriots, Turkish 

Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins 

honor their common achievement, their common 

native land, the Republic of Cyprus, which in the 

half-century of its life has met with obstacles and 

tragedies. The Cypriot people have survived the 

tragedies. But they have not yet reached their 

Ithaca, despite the successes and achievements 

they have recorded. Our people will reach their 

Ithaca when the Turkish occupation ends, when 

the de facto partition of the island comes to an 

end and Greek and Turkish Cypriots join one 

another in song and dance in a free, common native 

land within the framework of a bi-zonal, bicommunal 

federation, as the two communities 

have agreed since 1977.” 

Referring to the photographic exhibition-itinerary 

which was part of the Multi-media Exhibition 

of the PIO, Mr. Stefanou said: “With 

the lights of photography we can illuminate the 

course of history and see how we arrived at the 

point where we are now, where we made mistakes 

and what went wrong, so that we ended up 

with the double crime of the traitorous, fascist 

coup d’état by the Junta in Athens and EOKA B 

and then the Turkish invasion which followed 

fi ve days later. The exhibition is an opportunity 

for us to look at the past critically and to assess 

42 

what we should avoid and what we should do 

or not do so that we do not fall into the traps of 

foreigners hostile to the well-intentioned interests 

of Cyprus. Or even, for Turkey not to be 

allowed to invade.” 

He added: “The purpose of history is not to read 

just the facts and to say how things would have 

been if we had not done this or that. The purpose 

of history is, through the mental reconstruction 

of the facts, decisions and actions, to see our mistakes, 

to see our shortcomings and to go forward 

and not remain rooted in the past, especially a 

past that is distorted and distortive. The role of 

history has been aptly described as that of a car 

rear-view mirror. The driver glances behind him 

in order to drive forwards safely. This is what we 

must do. The exhibition organised by the Press 

and Information Offi ce for the citizens of Cyprus 

modestly contributes to this.” In conclusion, the 

Government Spokesman thanked all those who 

had contributed to the exhibition. 

Next, the Director of the Press and Information 

Offi ce, Dr. Eleonora Gavrielides, gave a 

short speech in which, having thanked those 

contributing to the exhibition, she said the 

PIO exhibition was multi-themed “because 

the course of the Republic of Cyprus is so 

comprehensive and on so many levels that it 

could not be conveyed in a strictly conserva- 

Aspect from the Multi-theme Exhibition organised by the Press and Information Offi ce at the Famagusta Gate

The Government Spokesman inaugurates the Multi-theme Exhibition 

Address by the Director of the Press and Information Offi ce, Dr. 

Eleonora Gavrielides 

tive and linear way. For precisely this reason 

we chose for the event a combination of photographic 

documents in an artistic rendering 

of discourse, music, audio-visual productions 

and visual interventions with the aim of avoiding 

narrative on one level or strictly chronological.” 

She also said that a great part of the 

audio-visual material was projected for the 

fi rst time at the opening of the exhibition and 

that it would go on to be widely used both in 

Cyprus and abroad. 

During the event, Cypriot artists from the communities 

and religious groups of Cyprus made 

their own distinctive contribution with poetry, 

music and song. In the artistic intervention 

which was entitled “Cyprogeneia”, excerpts 

were heard of hymns from the communities and 

religious groups of Cyprus, coordinated and 

orchestrated by Larkos Larkou, with imageprocessing 

by Christoforos Larkou and lighting 

by AMS Sound Control. 

The Government Spokesman, Mr. Stefanos Stefanou, with the 

Director of the Press and Information Offi ce, Dr. Eleonora 

Gavrielides, at the exhibition 

There followed a showing of the fi lms produced 

by the PIO: “A Place in History: 50 Years of the 

Republic of Cyprus”, with research and text by 

Costas Yennaris, produced by Media Box Ltd 

and with montage/direction by Michalis Georgiades, 

and “The Republic of Cyprus: 50 Years of 

Creation”, produced by AMP Film Works Ltd. 

As the epilogue to the offi cial events of the 50th 

Anniversary, the exhibition aspired in different 

ways and with a particularly original presentation, 

to show the milestones in the history of the Republic 

of Cyprus through a spectrum of thematic 

unities and visual and artistic interventions. 

The exhibition remained open till December 

31st. It was then transferred to the exhibition 

area of the Nicosia Multi-purpose Municipal 

Centre “Pallouriotissa Old Market” where, 

from January 3rd to February 9th, it may be 

visited by groups from schools and educational 

institutions of Cyprus. 

43

Dancecyprus presented an exciting program 

chosen by the artistic director 

Carolina Constantinou, with a variety of classical 

and contemporary repertoire by famous 

choreographers with professional dancers 

from leading ballet companies such as Staatsballett 

Berlin (Germany), Victor Ullate Ballet 

(Spain), Centre Choreographique National 

de Nantes (CCNN – France). Amongst them 

Cypriot professional dancers who excelled 

abroad, Natalia Krekou (Ballett St Pölten Austria 

and Moscow City Ballet), Dafni Mouyiassi 

(Formerly Bejart Ballet Lausanne), Anastasia 

Paschali (Formerly Royal Danish Ballet), 

and Loizos Constantinou (Formerly Athens 

National Opera). 

The performances were held from 10 to 12 

December 2010 in Limassol (Rialto Theatre), 

Larnaca (Municipal Theatre) and Nicosia (Pallas 

Municipal Theatre). The Ministry of Education 

and Culture, Cultural Services were the 

principal sponsorship of this dance meeting. 

This year Dancecyprus had the honor of welcoming 

Andrei Batalov, First soloist of the 

Mariinsky Ballet (Kirov). Other dancers included: 

Gianluca Battaglia (Soloist at Victor 

Ullate Ballet – Spain), Vincent Blanc and Benjamin 

Lamarche (Soloists from Centre Choreographique 

National de Nantes – France), 

Rainer Krenstetter (Soloist at Staatsballett 

Berlin), and François Mauduit (Compagnie 

Choregraphique Francois Mauduit). 

The attendance of famous artists from various 

countries showed the dedication to the cause 

of fi ghting social exclusion, which follows 

the European Union’s nomination of 2010 

44 

2nd Dancecyprus Gala – “Dance For a Better Life” 

In collaboration with the European Commission Representation in Cyprus 

and the Press and Information Offi ce, within the framework 

of “2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion” 

as the European Year for Combating Poverty 

and Social Exclusion. The Dc Scholarship to a 

deserving ballet student has been inaugurated 

this year and will be permanent. 

The repertoire consisted of choreographies 

from Petipa’s “Le Corsaire” and “Don Quixote” 

as well as neoclassical and contemporary 

pieces by Bejart, Brumachon, Demetriadou 

Lindahl, Lao, Pandis, Tichy, Mauduit and 

Ullate. Carolina Constantinou has choreographed 

“Echos” for Dancecyprus Junior Co 

with Evelthon Michaelides on drums. 

It is worthy to mention that part of the proceeds 

has been donated to charity.

Piano Recital by Cyprien Katsaris 

for the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus 

On 26 November, at the Chamber Music Hall 

of the Beethoven House in Bonn, the internationally 

acclaimed pianist Cyprien Katsaris performed 

a unique piano recital on the occasion of 

the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus. 

The distinguished composer –and one of the 

greatest pianists of the 20th century as has been 

remarked by the musicologists– performed a 

classical program presenting works of Franz 

Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, 

Robert Schumann and Louis Moreau 

Gottschalk. Cyprien Katsaris impressed his 

audience with his outstanding performance and 

technique, as well as with his artistic brilliance 

and musical qualities. 

Cyprien Katsaris performed the world premiere 

of “… if Aphrodite”, a sonata for piano composed 

by Fedros Cavallaris. Inspired by Sappho’s 

poetry, the Cypriot composer wrote this 

musical work on the prosody and the rhythm of 

the ancient Greek lyric poetry. 

Among the 200 people attending the concert 

were the Honorary Consul of the Republic of 

Cyprus in Bonn, Mr. Ioannis Vassiliou, who addressed 

the audience, the former Ambassador 

of Germany in Cyprus, Mr. Rolf Kaiser, and Dr. 

Brigitte Kaiser-Derenthal, the General Consuls 

of Poland, Korea and Congo, the Honorary 

Consul of France, the Cultural Attaché of the 

Cyprus Embassy in Berlin, Mrs. Georga Solomontos, 

the Cypriot composer Fedros Cavallaris, 

editor of German music magazines, and 

German and Greek journalists. 

The concert, followed by a reception, was organised 

by the Cultural Offi ce of the Cyprus Embassy 

in Berlin, in collaboration with the Honorary 

Consulate of the Republic of Cyprus in Bonn. 

45

46 

“50 Years Society – Culture – Life 

in the Republic of Cyprus” 

On 8 November, the President of the Republic, 

Mr. Demetris Christofi as, inaugurated 

the exhibition entitled “50 Years Society – Culture 

– Life in the Republic of Cyprus” which 

was held at the Temporary Exhibition Hall of 

the Leventis Municipal Museum in Nicosia. 

The exhibition was organised on the occasion of 

50-year Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus. 

The exhibition focused on a retrospective presentation 

of the past 50 years in Cyprus through the 

collections of the Leventis Municipal Museum 

and with the cooperation of the Cyprus State Archives, 

the Press and Information Offi ce, the Cyprus 

Telecommunications Authority, the Cyprus 

Broadcasting Corporation, the Cyprus Central 

Bank and other private collections. It aimed to 

present the course through the fi rst 50 years of 

the Republic of Cyprus, since 16 August 1960, 

when the newly-established Republic set out 

with steady steps on its diffi cult road. This course 

through time, as well as the memories of those 

who have lived and grew up in Cyprus during 

the last fi ve decades were presented in the exhibition: 

memories and points of reference from each 

decade; memories and reminiscences of historical 

events, social and cultural activities, and a record 

Mayor Mavrou addresses the audience at the exhibition. Right: From the inauguration ceremony 

of the Cypriot society and its everyday life. 

During the inauguration ceremony, the Mayor of 

Nicosia, Mrs. Eleni Mavrou, delivered a greeting 

speech and after that President Christofi as inaugurated 

the exhibition, which included items such as 

the fi rst “Government Gazette”, the fi rst speech of 

Archbishop Makarios after the establishment of 

the Republic of Cyprus, coins from the Leventis 

Municipal Museum and Cyprus Central Bank 

collections, as well as private objects belonging to 

the Presidents of the Republic of Cyprus. 

On the occasion of the exhibition, “Pandora’s 

Box” and other spaces of the Museum hosted 

works of art, including installations and projections, 

by Kyriaki Costa –infl uenced by the recent 

history of Cyprus– under the title “This Is 

My Country and It’s Unexpectedly Beautiful”. 

Other events, special tours and educational programs 

for children and adults also took place 

within the framework of the exhibition. 

Sponsors of the “50 Years Society – Culture 

– Life in the Republic of Cyprus” were the 

Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education 

and Culture, Cyta and the Association of The 

Friends of the Leventis Municipal Museum.

Part of the exhibition 

47

48 

Myrto Azina Chronides Was Awarded 

the 2010 EU Prize for Literature 

Eleven authors have been awarded the 2010 

European Union Prize for Literature. Among 

them, the Cypriot writer Myrto Azina Chronides 

for her book “The Experiment” published in 2009 

by Armida Publications. 

The award ceremony was held at the Royal Flemish 

Theatre in Brussels on 18 November. The 

prizes have been awarded by Androulla Vassiliou, 

the Commissioner for Education, Culture, 

Multilingualism and Youth, together with Doris 

Pack, Chairwoman of the European Parliament’s 

Committee on Education and Culture, and Fadila 

Laanan, the Minister for Culture of the French 

Community of Belgium, representing the Presidency 

of the Council of the European Union. 

The European Union Prize for Literature is jointly 

organised by the European Commission with the 

European Writers’ Council, the Federation of European 

Publishers and the European Booksellers 

Federation. It is co-funded through the EU Culture 

Program which also offers funding for the translation 

literary works. The objective of this Program 

is to achieve three main goals: to promote crossborder 

mobility of those working in the cultural 

sector; to encourage the transnational circulation 

of cultural and artistic output; and to foster intercultural 

dialogue. 

The EU Prize for Literature puts the spotlight on 

new and emerging authors. The eleven winners 

this year were selected by national juries in Belgium, 

Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, 

Luxembourg, Romania, Slovenia, Spain 

and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. 

The aim of the EU Prize for Literature is to 

increase the visibility of the authors outside their 

home country. Each winner receives €5,000 and 

their books are given priority for support from the 

EU’s literary translation funding scheme. The winners 

also benefi t from other promotional activities, 

including publicity at the Frankfurt Bookfair. 

Myrto Azina Chronides (on the right) was awarded by 

Androulla Vassiliou 

The 2010 winners are: 

Belgium: Peter Terrin, “De Bewaker” (“The 

Guard”) – Publishing House: De Arbeiderspers 

Cyprus: Myrto Azina Chronides, “To Peirama” 

(“The Experiment”) – Publishing House: Armida 

Publications 

Denmark: Adda Djørup, “Den mindste modstand” 

(“The Least Resistance”) – Publishing 

House: Samleren 

Estonia: Tiit Aleksejev, “Palveränd” (“The Pilgrimage”) 

– Publishing House: Varrak 

Finland: Riku Korhonen, “Lääkäriromaani” 

(“Doctor Novel”) – Publishing House: Sammakko 

Germany: Iris Hanika, “Das Eigentliche” (“The 

Bottom Line”) – Publishing House: Droschl Verlag 

Luxembourg: Jean Back, “Amateur” – Publishing 

House: Ultimomondo 

Romania: Răzvan Rădulescu, “Teodosie cel 

Mic” (“Theodosius the Small”) – Publishing 

House: Polirom 

Slovenia: Nataša Kramberger, “Nebesa v robidah: 

roman v zgodbah” (“Heaven in a Blackberry 

Bush: Novel in Stories”) – Publishing House: Javni 

sklad RS za ljubiteljske dejavnosti

Spain: Raquel Martínez-Gómez, “Sombras de 

unicornio” (“Shadows of the Unicorn”) – Publishing 

House: Algaida Editores 

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: Goce 

Smilevski, “Сестрата на Зигмунд Фројд” (“Sigmund 

Freud’s Sister”) – Publishing house: Kultura. 

Myrto Azina and “The Experiment” 

The Cypriot writer commented on her award: “I 

have always regarded literature as an inner need 

to communicate my world to others. Literature 

is a continuous process of opening gates in the 

core substance of the human mind and soul, inviting 

the reader to enter and become a part of the 

writer. The Prize is the key opening the biggest 

gate. Through this Prize, barriers and borders vanish. 

I will use the same key as well to discover the 

social, cultural and religious background of other 

writers. The Prize encourages the right to expres- 

The eleven awarded authors 

During the award ceremony 

sion and dissemination of ideas without frontiers. 

It promotes linguistic diversity and stresses also 

common values and roots. This Prize is a European 

investment in literature and made me proud 

of being a European citizen.” 

Myrto Azina was born in Nicosia in 1961. Since 

her early years, she has written many essays and 

poems. She won several literary prizes at the Pancyprian 

Gymnasium for poetry and prose, and 

published her fi rst book, “Hemerologion” (“Diary”), 

at the age of fi fteen. After graduation, she 

specialized in General Medicine at the academic 

hospital of the University of Bonn in Euskirchen. 

Since 2007, she has been working in Cyprus at the 

Department of Medical and Public Health Services. 

She has received a positive critical reaction 

for her modern and unconventional writing style, 

while her short stories have featured in many literary 

magazines and in two national anthologies. 

In short, Myrto Azina’s book 

could be described as a study on 

erotic love and the soul. A couple’s 

sexual relationship forms 

the central theme running across 

most of the stories. From the beginning, 

He and She, the book’s 

protagonists, take a pledge to 

undergo an “experiment”: to 

understand the nature of erotic 

love and their relationship by abstaining 

from carnal contact so 

as to devote themselves to writing. 

She is an unbowed woman 

who claims her freedom. He 

is a wise man, a believer in the 

Socratic saying, “All I know 

is that I know nothing.” “The 

Experiment” is peculiar, subtly 

connected narrative houses a 

collection of tales that lean towards 

the structure of a synthetic 

prose piece, neither novella nor 

novel. Consequently, the book is 

an original work, which does not 

fi t easily within any traditional 

genre of creative prose. 

49

Mr. Andreas Menelaou and his son, Mr. 

Menelaos Menelaou, held an exhibition 

comprised of more than 2,000 items of original 

19th century engravings, photographs, books, 

maps, newspapers, magazines, British parliamentary 

papers, annual colonial reports, original documents, 

old picture postcards, ephemera, prints and 

other various printed matter all related to the 82 

years of the British Rule of Cyprus 1878-1960, 

and its repercussions on the island’s history. 

This was the fi rst exhibition of its kind ever held 

in the United Kingdom and was deemed a huge 

success by all those who visited the event; this was 

refl ected in the visitor’s comments book which 

was at the exhibition. 

The selection of exhibits comprised of more than 

50 

Exhibition for the 82 Years 

of the British Rule of Cyprus 

2,000 items from the personal collection of Mr. 

Andreas Menelaou, who has resided in London 

for over 50 years and has been collecting the above 

mentioned items for over half a century. 

The exhibition was opened by Dr. Niki Katsaouni, 

Cultural Counsellor of the High Commission of 

the Republic of Cyprus, on 18 October and it ran 

for fi ve days – up to 22 October. It was held at the 

hall of the Greek Orthodox Church of St John the 

Baptist, in London. 

The event was supported by the Cultural Department 

of the High Commission of the Republic of 

Cyprus in the United Kingdom and was sponsored 

by Haringey Council, from the making the difference 

grant. 

People arriving from the villages to Nicosia, February 1959, to welcome Archbishop Makarios, returning to Cyprus after 

signing the London-Zurich Agreements

The fi rst day of the Exhibition. Mr. Andreas Menelaou gives an addressing speech at the exhibition. Next to him is Mr. Kyriakos 

Tsioupras, RIK journalist, and Dr. Niki Katsaouni, Cultural Counsellor from the Cyprus High Commission London 

The Speech of Mr. Menelaou 

Mr. Andreas Menelaou gave an addressing speech at 

the exhibition describing the most signifi cant events 

of the 82 years of the British Rule as follows: 

June 1878 – The Turkish Sultan, Abdul Hammit 

II, agreed to assign the island of Cyprus, to be occupied 

and administrated by Great Britain, thus 

ending the 307 years of the Ottoman rule of the 

island. Britain agreed to pay Turkey the amount of 

22,936 Purses (equal to £92,799-11-3d) Sterling 

per year as an annual tribute for the administration 

of Cyprus, as per the confi dential agreement 

made on June 4th, 1878. The confi dential agreement 

was made between Great Britain and Turkey, 

and the amount of 22,936 Purses paid to Turkey 

per year, was the equal amount that Turkey was 

collecting from the Christian Cypriots each year in 

taxes, during the Ottoman rule of Cyprus. 

Although the island of Cyprus was administered 

by Great Britain, it was under the guardianship of 

the Sultan of Turkey. This lasted between 1878 and 

1914. When the First World War started in 1914, 

Turkey sided with Germany and Britain cancelled 

the agreement which was made on the 4th June, 

1878, and in November of 1914, declared that the 

island of Cyprus will remain British, without the 

guardianship of the Sultan of Turkey. 

12th July, 1878 – British and Indian troops ar- 

rived at Larnaka. The island of Cyprus was offi - 

cially surrendered to England and the Union Jack 

was hoisted in Nicosia. Τhat was the beginning of 

the British Rule of Cyprus. 

22nd July, 1878 – Sir Garnet Wolsley arrived in 

Cyprus and was appointed the fi rst British High 

Commissioner (Governor) of Cyprus. 

1881 – The fi rst Cyprus census, under the British 

administration of the island, was published. The 

population of Cyprus was 186,173 inhabitants. 

1884 – Mr. H. Kitchener was appointed as the Director 

of the Land Registry of Cyprus, and he undertook 

the mapping of the island of Cyprus, with 

precise details. 

1901 – The population of Cyprus was 237,002 inhabitants. 

1905 – In October, the Cyprus Railway was 

opened to the public, from Famagusta to Nicosia, 

which served Famagusta, Prastion Mesaoria, Angastina, 

Trachoni, Kythrea, and Nicosia. 

1914 – In November, Cyprus became British, 

without the guardianship of the Sultan, since Turkey 

sided with Germany when the First World 

War burst out. 

25th March, 1921 – The fi rst referendum took 

place in all the villages and towns of Cyprus 

claiming Cyprus to be united with Greece. The 

referendum was signed by the Greek Cypriot cler- 

51

gymen, by the Mukhtars and their councils and by 

the teachers and other principals of each community 

of the island. 

1923 – The Treaty of Lausanne was signed by all 

European countries including Turkey. This was 

offi cially the end of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey 

lost Cyprus and other European countries. Turkey 

recognised annexation of Cyprus by Great Britain. 

1925 – Cyprus became a British Crown Colony. 

Sir Malcolm Stevenson became a British Governor 

(before that he was High Commissioner). 

1930 – The second referendum took place in all 

the villages and towns of Cyprus claiming Cyprus 

to be united with Greece. 

52 

Part of the Exhibition 

1931 – On 20th October, the Bishop of Citium 

(Larnaka), Nicodemos Mylonas, addressed a 

large meeting at Limassol and called on the people 

to rise up for the liberation of Cyprus, because 

only through liberation would “salvation” come. 

The news of the meeting spread quickly. The 

people of Nicosia spilled onto the streets in their 

thousands and the revolution had begun. One of 

the fi rst incidents of the revolution was the burning 

down of Government House outside Nicosia 

where the demonstrators gathered to voice their 

grievances. They also burnt down the Commissioner’s 

house in Limassol and a custom house, 

including other incidents of sabotage in all the 

other towns across Cyprus. 

Some Greek Cypriots were then sent into exile by 

the Cyprus British Government, including Bishop 

Nicodemos Mylonas, Makarios, (Bishop of 

Kyrenia), George Hadjipavlou, the Reverend Dionyssios 

Kykkotis, Evdokos Ioannides and others. 

1940 – “The Cyprus Regiment” and “The 

Cyprus Volunteer Force” was formed. Many 

Greek and Turkish Cypriots joined the British 

Army in Cyprus. 

1946-1948 – At the end of the Second World War, 

thousands of Jews who had survived Germany’s 

concentration camps in Europe were immigrat-

ing to Palestine, rather than returning to their fatherland, 

either because of their sad memories 

or because their birthplace had become part of 

Eastern Europe, and they were afraid of further 

attacks against their lives. At that time, Palestine 

was under the British Mandate, and there were political 

troubles and fi ghting. Therefore, the British 

authorities detained the Jews in Cyprus, until the 

disputes were settled. 

On the 14th May, 1948, the State of Israel was 

formed, and the last British High Commissioner 

of Palestine left the country on a British destroyer. 

Arrangements were then made by the Cyprus British 

Government to release the Jews from Cyprus 

into the new state of Israel, as there was now no 

longer a bar to the arrival of Jewish refugees. 

1955 – On 1 April, EOKA launched its fi ght for 

the end of British Rule of Cyprus and for union 

with Greece. Sir John Harding was appointed as 

the new Governor of Cyprus. Sir John Harding 

and Archbishop Makarios had discussions about 

the Cyprus question. 

“The Illustrated London News” (19.9.1953): 

Earthquake at Stroumbi, Paphos, 1953 

1956 – Archbishop Makarios and another three 

Greek Cypriots, including two clergymen exiled 

to Seychelles. Lord Rackliffe’s constitution published 

in December, but rejected by the Cypriots. 

1957 – Sir Hugh Foot was appointed as the new 

Governor of Cyprus. Archbishop Makarios was 

released from Seychelles and went to Athens. 

1959/60 – The Zurich and London Agreement for 

the Constitution of Cyprus started with an agreement 

on the 19 February 1959 in Lancaster House 

in London, between Turkey, Greece, the United 

Kingdom and Cypriot community leaders (Archbishop 

Makarios III for Greek Cypriots and Dr. 

Fazıl Küçük for Turkish Cypriots). On that basis, a 

constitution was drafted and agreed together with 

two further Treaties of Alliance and Guarantee in 

Zurich on 11 February 1960. 15th August 1960 

was the last day of the British Rule of Cyprus. 

The Union Jack was lowered for the last time. The 

Treaty of the Republic of Cyprus was signed in 

Nicosia, on the 16th August, 1960. The Republic 

of Cyprus was born. 

“The Illustrated London News” (24.9.1955): 

EOKA – Explosion of a bomb in Nicosia, 1955 

53

54 

Cyprus Symphony Orchestra: Concerts Dedicated 

to the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus 

Within the framework of the celebrations 

dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of 

the Republic of Cyprus, the Cyprus Symphony 

Orchestra gave a series of concerts in Cyprus, 

Thessaloniki and Veria, with the participation 

of young talented Cypriot artists, conductor 

Yorgos Kountouris and pianist Elena Mitella. 

The program included the works: “In Memoriam” 

by Solon Michaelides, Schumann’s “Piano 

Concerto in A minor, Op. 54” and Mozart’s 

“Symphony No. 40 in G minor”. 

The concerts in Cyprus took place at Larnaca Municipal 

Theatre on 7 October and at Markideion 

Theatre, Paphos on 8 October. In Greece, the concerts 

were held on 13 October at the Ceremony 

Hall of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 

within the framework of DIMITRIA 2010 Festival 

and in collaboration with the Municipality of 

Thessaloniki, and on 14 October at the Art Centre 

of the Municipality of Veria, in collaboration with 

the Municipality of Veria, the Public Benefi t Mul- 

ti-Development Municipal Organisation of Veria, 

the Cyprus Society of Veria and the Federation of 

Cypriot Organisations in Greece. 

The Program 

Solon Michaelides: “In Memoriam” – A tribute 

to the imprisoned tombs for string orchestra 

(Lento dolente) 

In the “imprisoned tombs”, a narrow cemetery 

with tall stone walls in the internal part of the 

state prisons, there lie the bodies of the thirteen 

young men, symbols of the revolt for the exemption 

of Cyprus from the British colonisers. 

Nowadays, this place constitutes a tribute to 

those young people who sacrifi ced their lives 

for a better future for Cyprus. “In Memoriam” 

was written after a visit of the composer to the 

place. For him, a visit there was “a prayer, a 

simple-frugual intellectual memorial.” The

Concert in Thessaloniki 

Concert in Veria 

piece was written on 29th January 1974, almost 

six months before the Turkish invasion 

in Cyprus. It was fi rst performed on 4th March 

1974, in the 15th concert of Thessaloniki State 

Orchestra with Solon Michaelides as conductor. 

The work is written in ternary form (ABA) 

where section B contains another ternary form. 

R. Schumann (1810-1856): “Piano Concerto 

in A minor, Op. 54” 

Two years after marrying his beloved Clara, 

Schumann ventured to compose a work for piano 

and orchestra, which he envisioned as “a 

compromise between a symphony, a concerto 

and a huge sonata.” The work, titled “Fantasia”, 

was completed in 1841 and, despite the fact 

that it was one of his fi rst attempts in orchestral 

writing, Schumann was confi dent enough 

to offer it for publication, only to face repeated 

55

ejection by publishers. Discouraged, he left the 

work aside until 1845, when he fi nally transformed 

it into a fully fl edged concert, by adding 

an intermezzo and a fi nale. The complete concerto 

was premiered in Dresden in December 

1845 with Clara as a soloist, instantly becoming 

one of Schumann’s most popular and frequently 

performed works. 

W. A. Mozart (1756-1791): “Symphony No. 40 

in G minor” 

Although this is one of the most famous works 

by Mozart, accurate historical details regarding 

the composition of Symphony No. 40, are yet to 

be established. Relevant evidence indicates that 

the Symphony was composed almost simultaneously 

with Symphonies 39 and 41 in the summer 

of 1788, and Mozart entered its theme in 

his catalogue of works on 25th July. The four 

movements of the symphony are arranged in the 

standard fast – slow – minuet/trio – fast series, 

and all are structured in sonata form, apart from 

the minuet and trio, which is constructed in ternary 

form. 

56 

The Artists 

Yorgos Kountouris was born in Nicosia in 

1980. He graduated with honors from the St 

Petersburg State Conservatory in 2006 studying 

conducting with Alexander Alexeev and 

violin with Antonina Kazarena. Prior to his 

years in St Petersburg, Mr. Kountouris graduated 

as a violinist from the National Music 

School of Cyprus, and studied violin in Vienna 

with Arkadi Winokurov and in Germany 

with Stelios Kafantaris. During his studies in 

Russia, Yorgos Kountouris conducted numerous 

performances with the conservatory’s 

Symphony Orchestra, Opera and Ballet Orchestra 

and Choir. In 2005 he conducted the 

St Petersburg Chamber Philharmonia, and 

in the same year he made his début in opera 

conducting, followed by numerous performances 

in the following months. In 2006, Mr. 

Kountouris was appointed at the University of 

California, Los Angeles as the assistant conductor 

of the UCLA Philharmonia and UCLA 

Symphony orchestras. He was simultaneously 

engaged with research programs related to his 

doctorate studies under Professor Neal Stulberg 

and was also appointed as one of the 

fi ve members of Dr. Robert Winter’s research 

team. At UCLA he also appeared as a pianist 

with chamber ensembles. In 2008, Kountouris 

conducted the Siberian Philharmonic Orchestra 

of Tomsk, the St Petersburg State Philharmonic 

Orchestra and the St Petersburg State 

Symphony Orchestra. In November 2009, Mr. 

Kountouris conducted the legendary St Petersburg 

State Academic Philhramonia, Russia’s 

oldest orchestra and the choir “Lege Artis” 

in a program of works by Alkinoos Ioannides 

who participated in the concert as soloist. He 

made his Cyprus debut in June 2008 as a guest 

conductor with the Cyprus Symphony Or-

chestra which he conducted again in February 

2010. Since December 2007, Mr. Kountouris 

resumes his research at the St Petersburg Conservatory 

under the artistic guidance of Professor 

Alexander Alexeev and the scientifi c 

supervision of Dr. Natalia Braginskaya. His 

musicological works have been published in 

USA, Russia, Cyprus and Greece. In June 

2010, Russia’s most prestigious musicological 

journal Moscow Musical Academy published 

a paper by Yorgos Kountouris on Manolis Kalomoiris. 

He has participated in various musicological 

forums such as at the St Petersburg 

International Musicology Conference devoted 

to Rimsky-Korsakov and the International 

Musicology Forum in Moscow. 

Elena Mitella was born in Nicosia in 1980. 

At the age of fi ve she began her piano studies 

at the National Music School of Cyprus, under 

Mary Ioannou and later on, with Marios Ioannou. 

At the same time she also studied violin 

as a second instrument, becoming a member 

of the 1st violins of the Cyprus State Youth 

Orchestra. At the early age of sixteen she received 

the Advanced Certifi cate in piano by the 

Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music 

with outstandingly high marks, having obtained 

the previous year the Grade 8 in violin. 

She was also recommended for a scholarship 

twice by the same Board. The same year Elena 

won the 1st Prize and Grand Prix at the Evangelia 

Tjiarri Music Foundation. She was also 

honored as the “First Student with the Highest 

Achievements” after the 50 years celebration 

of the National Music School of Cyprus. Elena 

Mitella received her Piano Diploma at the 

amazingly young age of fourteen. At the age 

of eighteen Elena was accepted at the Royal 

Academy of Music in London, graduating in 

2002 with a BMus in Piano Performance – 

Honors. While at the Academy, she studied under 

Patsy Toh and received excellent remarks 

during master classes held by famous pianists 

Alexander Satz and Murray Perahia, frequent 

visiting professors at RAM. The following 

year Mitella obtained her MMus in Piano Performance 

and Related Studies at Goldsmith’s 

College, where she was awarded a Distinction 

with her fi nal performance. At present she is 

completing her PhD in Piano Performance at 

Goldsmith’s College, and her research thesis 

is due to be presented in 2011. Since March 

2006, Elena is an active piano teacher at the 

Music School of Nicosia. Elena Mitella has 

participated in concerts as a soloist in Greece, 

Cyprus, Austria and England. In Cyprus, she 

appeared as soloist with the Cyprus Symphony 

Orchestra in 2007 under the baton of Kypros 

Markou. After recent piano auditions held by 

the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Elena won 

the 1st place with very high marks. “Elena is 

a brilliantly gifted musician with exceptional 

artistry and technical command, and her performances 

have a special quality of charisma, 

magic and communicative force,” Alexander 

Ivashkin, an outstanding person in present day 

music activities, has commented on her. 

57

November 20th and 21st, 2010, saw the organization 

by Dance Gate Cyprus of “No_body”, 

the 2nd Dance, Movement & Performance Arts 

Festival, at the Pallas Theatre and Melina Mercouri 

Hall in Nicosia. The whole event was kindly 

placed under the auspices of the First Lady of the 

Republic of Cyprus, Mrs. Elsi Christofi a, while the 

Mayor of Nicosia, Mrs. Eleni Mavrou, offered her 

generous and indispensable collaboration. 

During the Festival weekend a variety of activities 

was organised in the afternoon sessions at 

Melina Mercouri Hall leading up to the evening 

performances at the Pallas Theatre. A total of 

nine groups presented newly created interdisciplinary 

pieces of work while a further six interactive 

presentations showcased their inspiration 

on the theme “No_Body” in the form of lectures, 

video presentations and improvisations. At both 

venues, audiences were treated to a richly diverse 

selection of artistic and intellectual expres- 

Ekpnoe: “Kouponi Allagis” 

58 

“No_Body”: 2nd Dance, Movement & 

Performance Arts Festival 

By Aristos Papachristofi 

sion about the human body and what it is possible 

to create through movement, music, visual 

art, fi lm, architecture, and theatre. 

This article’s scope is not to comment on or do 

justice to all the work presented –space would 

not allow it– but it must be said that the display 

of artistic voyages, by experienced as well as 

younger artists, was genuine and innovative. 

In fact, this endeavour carries the promise that 

dance, especially contemporary dance, begins to 

create its own identity as an art form in Cyprus. 

And this is something that needs to continue 

until it becomes a “decree” in order to witness 

more of the magic of the art of dance. 

The aims and aspirations of the “No_Body” Festival 

contribute to the convergence of a variety of 

artistic forms where dance is the principal expression. 

The ultimate goal is that the dynamic created 

by human expressions and experiences will 

present itself through original work that emerges

Pascal Caron with Young Actors Unlimited: “To Queue Is to Quake” 

out of contemporary concepts in the performing 

arts. In order to assist this goal, certain criteria 

were set for participation, such as: the applicant 

should be an artist; the director need not necessarily 

be a choreographer; one of the main performers 

must be a dancer/performer and the piece is 

required to be an original and new piece of work. 

Mrs. Arianna Economou, director of Dance Gate 

Cyprus, opened the Festival, in a welcoming 

speech that strongly emphasized the event’s scope: 

“‘No_Body’ is a festival that features original and 

distinct works, the result of artistic dialogue and 

creative collaborations. This display of the diversity 

and individuality of the contemporary artistic 

landscape of Cyprus is one of the Festival’s major 

objectives. Our goal as organisers is to encourage 

and deepen the creative process and break new 

ground in artistic expression. The thinking body 

remains the axis of our creative work.” 

Dance Gate Cyprus was founded in 2007. Since 

then, diverse choreographers, musicians, actors and 

generally people of the arts, have collaborated closely 

to achieve a remarkable output of artistic activity 

with a focus on performance work that has made a 

major contribution to the island’s artistic progress. 

Selas Dance Company: “You Step on Me” 

Dance Gate Cyprus is a nonprofi t organization 

working for the promotion and development 

of dance as a contemporary and interactive art 

form. One of its principal aims which are slowly 

now giving results is the creation of a Dance 

Centre, Dancehouse, in the form of a building in 

Nicosia that the state and the town of Nicosia are 

now intending to undertake for the whole community 

of Nicosia. This centre is to act as a home 

for dance in form of a building to host dance inter-activities 

and act as a meeting place for all 

the contemporary dance organizations currently 

59

Fibre Performing Arts Company: “On_Body” And, Company: “Copy.Paste.” 

in Cyprus and their activities and so to empower 

their projects. Dance Gate has been an affi liate 

member of the European Dance House Network 

since 2009, functioning within the aims and objectives 

of the European Dance Network. Very 

important is its partnership with the European 

Funded Program “Modul-Dance”, a four year 

program (2010-2014), a professional association 

that consolidates the international relations 

of Cyprus with the European Dance community. 

Dance Gate Cyprus has offered the experience 

of an artistic voyage, presented and witnessed 

with great interest. In the organization of the 

“No_Body” Festival inspiration will continue 

to fl ow through artistic channels, thereby giving 

fresh impetus for creative productions to move 

us with their magnifi cence. 

Complete list of participants in the Festival: 

Pallas Theatre: 

Fibre Performing Arts Company/ “On_Body” 

60 

Theatre Group Mitos/ “Silenced” 

And, Company / “Copy.Paste.” 

MRA Dance Company/ “Nowhere: No Body” 

X-It Dancetheatre/ “Spiegel Im Spiegel” (“Mirror 

in the Mirror”) 

Selas Dance Company/ “You Step on Me” 

aRttitude/ “Untitled #1” 

Pascal Caron with Young Actors Unlimited/ “To 

Queue Is to Quake” 

Ekpnoe/ “Kouponi Allagis” 

Melina Mercuri Hall: 

Noema Dance Works-Alexandra Waierstall/ 

“Mapping the Wind” 

Christodoulos Christodoulou/ “The Only On[c]e” 

Stephanie Kanna/ “Traces of Movement” 

Stavros Stavrou Karayianni/ “Terpsichore in 

Cyprus” 

Arianna Economou-Echo Arts/ “One Square 

Foot” 

Christina Papakyriakou/ “Drawing Performance”.

Christophoros A. Pissarides Won 

the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 

On 11 October 2010, the Royal Swedish 

Academy of Sciences announced its decision 

to award the 2010 Sveriges Riksbank Prize 

in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred 

Nobel to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen 

(both from USA) and the Cypriot Christophoros 

A. Pissarides “for their analysis of markets with 

search frictions.” 

The Royal Swedish Academy highlighted: “On 

many markets, buyers and sellers do not always 

make contact with one another immediately. This 

concerns, for example, employers who are looking 

for employees and workers who are trying to 

fi nd jobs. Since the search process requires time 

and resources, it creates frictions in the market. 

On such search markets, the demands of some 

buyers will not be met, while some sellers can- 

Christophoros Pissarides was awarded the Nobel Prize 

Professor Christophoros A. Pissarides 

61

not sell as much as they would wish. Simultaneously, 

there are both job vacancies and unemployment 

on the labor market. 

This year’s three Laureates have formulated a 

theoretical framework for search markets. Peter 

Diamond has analyzed the foundations of search 

markets. Dale Mortensen and Christophoros 

Pissarides have expanded the theory and have 

applied it to the labor market. The Laureates’ 

models help us understand the ways in which 

unemployment, job vacancies, and wages are affected 

by regulation and economic policy. This 

may refer to benefi t levels in unemployment insurance 

or rules in regard to hiring and fi ring. 

One conclusion is that more generous unemployment 

benefi ts give rise to higher unemployment 

and longer search times. 

Search theory has been applied to many other areas 

in addition to the labor market. This includes, 

in particular, the housing market. The number of 

homes for sale varies over time, as does the time 

62 

it takes for a house to fi nd a buyer and the parties 

to agree on the price. Search theory has also 

been used to study questions related to monetary 

theory, public economics, fi nancial economics, 

regional economics, and family economics.” 

This was the fi rst time a Cypriot won the Nobel 

Prize. Mr. Pissarides expressed joy at the Royal 

Swedish Academy of Sciences’ decision to 

award him. The Professor received the news on 

a telephone call from Sweden, one hour before 

the offi cial release of the decision to the Nobel 

Prize Organization’s website. 

“I did not expect it. It was big surprise, a great 

honor for me, my family and Cyprus and for my 

University. It was a great honor and it has not 

sunk in yet,” Mr. Pissarides said, adding that the 

great interest shown in Cyprus and elsewhere 

was a pleasant surprise. 

The President of the Republic Mr. Demetris 

Christofi as stressed that the award of the Nobel 

Prize in Economic Sciences to Professor Pis-

sarides constitutes the highest possible honor 

for Cyprus and its people. President Christofi as 

praised the Cypriot born Nobel Laureate claiming 

that this award is an international recognition 

both for Mr. Pissarides’ excellent scientifi c work 

as well as for his lifetime achievements in the 

demanding area of Economics. 

The Award Ceremony 

Christophoros Pissarides delivered his Prize 

Lecture on 8 December at Aula Magna, at Stockholm 

University. On 10 December he received 

the Nobel Prize from His Majesty the King Carl 

XVI Gustaf of Sweden at the offi cial Nobel 

award ceremony. He was introduced by Professor 

Bertil Holmlund, Member of the Royal 

Swedish Academy of Sciences and Chairman of 

the Economics Prize Committee. Among others, 

Prof. Holmlund commented: 

“Peter Diamond, Dale Mortensen and Christopher 

Pissarides have developed a theory 

of markets with search frictions. This theory 

is relevant in many markets. For example, it 

applies to the housing market, where many 

households are searching for new homes at 

the same time as a large number of houses and 

fl ats are being offered for sale. Search theory 

can also be used to study how spatial frictions 

and transport costs affect residential patterns 

and business location decisions, and even how 

matching takes place in the marriage market. 

However, the most important application is in 

the labor market. 

The Laureates have shown that price and wage 

formation in a search market may sometimes 

lead to outcomes that are radically different from 

what we would expect from conventional theory. 

They have also shown that resource utilisation 

in a search market is generally not socially effi 

cient, since there are ‘indirect’ effects that individual 

agents do not take into account. If one 

unemployed person increases her own search activity, 

it will become more diffi cult for other job 

seekers to fi nd employment. At the same time, it 

Selected Publications 

of Christophoros Pissarides 

“Labour Market Adjustment”, Cambridge 

University Press, 1976 

“Short-Run Equilibrium Dynamics of Unemployment, 

Vacancies and Real Wages”, 

American Economic Review 75 (September 

1985), pp. 676-690 

“Unemployment and Vacancies in Britain”, 

Economic Policy 3 (October 1986), pp. 499- 

540 

“Equilibrium Unemployment Theory”, 

Blackwell (1st edition, 1990), MIT Press 

(2nd edition, 2000 – reprinted, 2008) 

“Job Creation and Job Destruction in the 

Theory of Unemployment” (with Dale 

Mortensen), Review of Economic Studies 61 

(July 1994), pp. 397-415 

“The Impact of Employment Tax Cuts on 

Unemployment and Wages: The Role of 

Unemployment Benefi ts and Tax Structure”, 

European Economic Review 42 (January 

1998), pp. 155-183 

“Looking into the Black Box: A Survey of 

the Matching Function” (with Barbara Petrongolo), 

Journal of Economic Literature 

38 (June 2001), pp. 390-431 

“Structural Change in a Multi-Sector Model 

of Growth” (with L. Rachel Ngai), American 

Economic Review 97 (March 2007), pp. 

429-443 

“The Unemployment Volatility Puzzle: Is 

Wage Stickiness the Answer?”, Econometrica 

Vol.77 No 5 (September 2009), pp. 

1339-1369 

63

will be easier for a recruiting fi rm to fi ll its vacancies. 

Since these indirect effects are not taken 

into account by individual agents, there is generally 

scope for government intervention aimed at 

achieving welfare improvements. 

The Laureates’ model of the labor market characterizes 

the search activity of the unemployed, 

the recruiting behaviour of fi rms and wage formation. 

The model can be used to study how 

the level and duration of unemployment, the 

number of job vacancies and the real wage are 

determined. For example, what role is played by 

the design of unemployment insurance, the effi - 

ciency of employment agencies and regulations 

on fi ring and hiring? 

The effects of unemployment insurance have 

been extensively studied. The theory implies 

that more generous benefi ts bring about longer 

search time for the unemployed and higher unemployment 

− a relationship that has received 

support in many empirical studies. However, 

unemployment insurance can also facilitate effi 

cient matching between job seekers and vacancies, 

so that the ‘right person’ ends up in the 

‘right place.’ 

But questions about how unemployment insurance 

‘should’ be designed can of course not be 

answered without also weighing in the fact that 

this insurance provides income protection to 

those who have been laid off. Search theory has 

also proved to be a highly useful tool for such 

welfare analyses of alternative designs of unemployment 

insurance. 

Dear Professors Diamond, Mortensen and Pissarides, 

your research on markets with search 

frictions has had a profound impact on how 

economists view markets in general and labor 

markets in particular. You have provided 

detailed models of how prices and quantities 

are determined in markets with frictions and 

how frictions affect unemployment and other 

labor market phenomena. Your models have 

become indispensable tools for policy analysis 

and your work has initiated a large empirical 

literature.” 

64 

Biography and Work 

Christophoros Pissarides was born in Nicosia in 

1948. He received his B.A. in Economics in 1970 

and his M.A. in Economics the following year at 

the University of Essex. He subsequently enrolled 

in the London School of Economics, where he received 

his PhD in Economics in 1973 under the 

supervision of the mathematical economist Michio 

Morishima. 

He is currently a Professor of Economics at London 

School of Economics and Political Science 

(UK) and holder of the Norman Sosnow Chair 

in Economics. On January 2011 onwards he will 

hold the Marfi n Laiki Chair at the University of 

Cyprus. 

Mr. Pissarides was a member of the Monetary 

Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Cyprus 

(2000-2007); he has also served on the European 

Employment Task Force (2003) and has been a 

consultant on employment policy and other labor 

issues for the World Bank, the European Commission, 

the Bank of England and the OECD. 

In 2005 he was awarded the IZA Prize in Labor

................................................................................................... 

2010 Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen, 

Christophoros A. Pissarides 

................................................................................................... 

2009 Elinor Ostrom, Oliver E. Williamson 

................................................................................................... 

2008 Paul Krugman 

................................................................................................... 

2007 Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin, 

Roger B. Myerson 

................................................................................................... 

2006 Edmund S. Phelps 

................................................................................................... 

2005 Robert J. Aumann, Thomas C. Schelling 

................................................................................................... 

2004 Finn E. Kydland, Edward C. Prescott 

................................................................................................... 

2003 Robert F. Engle III, Clive W.J. Granger 

................................................................................................... 

2002 Daniel Kahneman, Vernon L. Smith 

................................................................................................... 

2001 George A. Akerlof, A. Michael Spence, 

Joseph E. Stiglitz 

................................................................................................... 

2000 James J. Heckman, Daniel L. McFadden 

................................................................................................... 

1999 Robert A. Mundell 

................................................................................................... 

1998 Amartya Sen 

................................................................................................... 

1997 Robert C. Merton, Myron S. Scholes 

................................................................................................... 

1996 James A. Mirrlees, William Vickrey 

................................................................................................... 

1995 Robert E. Lucas Jr. 

................................................................................................... 

1994 John C. Harsanyi, John F. Nash Jr., 

Reinhard Selten 

................................................................................................... 

1993 Robert W. Fogel, Douglass C. North 

................................................................................................... 

1992 Gary S. Becker 

................................................................................................... 

1991 Ronald H. Coase 

................................................................................................... 

Nobel Laureates in Economic Sciences 

................................................................................................... 

1990 Harry M. Markowitz, Merton H. Miller, 

William F. Sharpe 

................................................................................................... 

1989 Trygve Haavelmo 

................................................................................................... 

1988 Maurice Allais 

................................................................................................... 

1987 Robert M. Solow 

................................................................................................... 

1986 James M. Buchanan Jr. 

................................................................................................... 

1985 Franco Modigliani 

................................................................................................... 

1984 Richard Stone 

................................................................................................... 

1983 Gerard Debreu 

................................................................................................... 

1982 George J. Stigler 

................................................................................................... 

1981 James Tobin 

................................................................................................... 

1980 Lawrence R. Klein 

................................................................................................... 

1979 Theodore W. Schultz, Sir Arthur Lewis 

................................................................................................... 

1978 Herbert A. Simon 

................................................................................................... 

1977 Bertil Ohlin, James E. Meade 

................................................................................................... 

1976 Milton Friedman 

................................................................................................... 

1975 Leonid Vitaliyevich Kantorovich, 

Tjalling C. Koopmans 

................................................................................................... 

1974 Gunnar Myrdal, 

Friedrich August von Hayek 

................................................................................................... 

1973 Wassily Leontief 

................................................................................................... 

1972 John R. Hicks, Kenneth J. Arrow 

................................................................................................... 

1971 Simon Kuznets 

................................................................................................... 

1970 Paul A. Samuelson 

................................................................................................... 

1969 Ragnar Frisch, Jan Tinbergen 

................................................................................................... 

65

Economics (jointly with Dale Mortensen) for his 

work on unemployment and in 2008 he received 

the Republic of Cyprus Award for Excellence in 

Sciences. In 2009 he served as Vice President of 

the European Economic Association, to become 

President Elect in 2010 and President in 2011. 

Professor Pissarides has served as Head of the 

Economics Department at LSE, and he is an elected 

Fellow of the British Academy, the Econometric 

Society, the European Economic Association 

and the Society of Labor Economists. He is also 

a member of Council of the European Economic 

Association and the Econometric Society and a 

former member of Council of the Royal Economic 

Society. He is the Chairman of the Economica 

board, and a member of other editorial boards, a 

research fellow of the Centre of Economic Performance 

at LSE (and a former Head of its Macroeconomics 

Program), of the Centre for Economic 

Policy Research (London), and of the Institute 

for the Study of Labor (IZA, Bonn). In addition, 

he is a Non-National Senior Associate, Forum for 

Economic Research in the Arab Countries, Iran 

and Turkey. 

Professor Pissarides is mostly known for his contribution 

to the search and matching theory for 

studying the interactions between the labor mar- 

66 

ket and the macro economy. He helped develop 

the concept of the matching function (explaining 

the fl ows from unemployment at a given moment 

of time), and pioneered the empirical work on its 

estimation. More recently, he has done research 

on structural change and growth. 

Pissarides’ most infl uential paper is arguably “Job 

Creation and Job Destruction in the Theory of 

Unemployment” (along with Dale Mortensen), 

published in the “Review of Economic Studies” 

in 1994. This paper built on the previous individual 

contributions that both authors had been making 

in the previous two decades. 

The Mortensen-Pissarides model that resulted 

from this paper has been exceptionally infl uential 

in modern macroeconomics. In one or another 

of its extensions or variations, today it is part of 

the core of most graduate economics curricula 

throughout the world. 

Professor Pissarides’ book “Equilibrium Unemployment 

Theory”, a standard reference in the literature 

of the macroeconomics of unemployment, 

is now in its second edition, and was revised after 

Pissarides’ joint work with Mortensen, resulting 

in the analysis of both endogenous job creation 

and destruction.

A Literary Evening with Kyriakos Charalambides 

at the European Commission 

In Berlin, a new series of literary 

events has commenced within 

the context of European Year of the 

Intercultural Dialogue 2008, with 

the close collaboration of three institutions: 

the European Committee 

of Berlin, the European Union 

National Institutes of Culture (EU- 

NIC) (of which the Cultural Offi ce 

of the Cyprus Embassy in Berlin is 

an associate member) and the Literary 

Workshop of Berlin. 

On 9 November, Cyprus presented 

–as the last country in this literary 

series– one of the most authentic 

and pure poetic voices of Cyprus 

and Hellenism, the poet Kyriakos 

Charalambides. 

The event, which was attended by 

approximately 180 people –most 

of them German– was held in the 

site of the European Committee 

in Berlin, next to the Gate of 

Brandenburg. In their addressing 

speeches, both the President of 

the E.C., Mr. Matthias Petschke, 

as well as the Ambassador of Cyprus 

in Berlin, Mr. Pantias Heliades, 

highlighted the historical importance of the 

date of the event, since on 9 November Germany 

celebrates the Anniversary of the Fall of 

the Berlin Wall; an event that marked the recent 

European history. 

The Director of the Literary Workshop and coordinator 

of the event, Dr. Thomas Wohlfahrt, 

opened his presentation with a historical exposition 

of the political events in Cyprus, giving 

a clearer image of the poetry of Kyriakos Charalambides 

to the German audience. The poet recited 

and analyzed various poems in his native 

Kyriakos Charalambides signs his books 

View of the event 

language from the whole range of his work; the 

poems were previously performed in German 

by a German actor. 

The Cultural Offi ce of Berlin had prepared, 

especially for this event, a small bilingual edition 

with the poetry of Kyriakos Charalambides, 

which was offered as a gift to all those 

attending and which was positively received 

by all the participants. The E.C. decided to 

continue this initiative, extending its scope to 

all the writers, from every member-state of the 

EU, in its second installment of this series of 

literary events. 

67

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