CyprusToday, October-December 2010 (1.8 MB).pdf
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Cyprus<br />
TODAY<br />
Volume XLVIII, No 4, <strong>October</strong>-<strong>December</strong> <strong>2010</strong>
Volume XLVIII, No 4, <strong>October</strong>-<strong>December</strong> <strong>2010</strong><br />
A quarterly cultural review of the Ministry of Education and<br />
Culture published and distributed by the Press and Information<br />
Offi ce, Ministry of Interior, Nicosia, Cyprus.<br />
EDITORIAL BOARD<br />
Chairperson: Pavlos Paraskevas<br />
Chief Editor: Michalis Papantonopoulos<br />
E-mail: mpapantonopoulos@gnora.com<br />
Gnora Communication Consultants<br />
Tel: +357 22441922 Fax: +357 22519743<br />
Website: www.gnora.com<br />
Editor: Polly Lyssiotis<br />
E-mail: plyssioti@pio.moi.gov.cy<br />
Tel: +357 22801181<br />
Fax: +357 22663730<br />
Address: Ministry of Education and Culture<br />
Kimonos & Thoukididou Streets<br />
1434 Nicosia, Cyprus<br />
http://www.moec.gov.cy<br />
Press and Information Offi ce<br />
Apellis Street<br />
1456 Nicosia, Cyprus<br />
http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio<br />
Translator: Christine Georghiades<br />
Design: Gnora Communication Consultants<br />
Photographic<br />
credits: Leventis Municipal Museum<br />
PIO<br />
Pavlos Vrionides<br />
George and Ritsa Kyriacou Archive<br />
Stelios Votsis Archive<br />
Andreas Karayan Archive<br />
Andreas Menelaou Archive<br />
Andreas Malecos<br />
Nikos Charalambides<br />
http://gezett.de<br />
Printed by: Konos Ltd<br />
Front cover: Scene from the artistic program during the<br />
Flagship Event on 1st <strong>October</strong><br />
Back cover: Andreas Karayan, “Personae”<br />
(work exhibited at the 2001 Venice Biennale)<br />
PIO 4 – <strong>2010</strong><br />
ISSN (print) 0045-9429<br />
ISSN (online) 1986-2547<br />
Note: If you no longer wish to receive the magazine or if you<br />
have changed your address please could let us know at the<br />
following email address so that we can update our subscribers’<br />
list: iathanasiou@pio.moi.gov.cy<br />
Please include your current address for easy reference.<br />
Editor’s note: Articles in this magazine may be freely<br />
quoted or reproduced provided that proper acknowledgement<br />
and credit is given to “Cyprus Today” and the<br />
authors (for signed articles).<br />
Disclaimer: Views expressed in the signed articles are those<br />
of the authors and not necessarily those of the publishers.<br />
The magazine can also be found on the Press and Information<br />
Offi ce website at: www.moi.gov.cy/pio<br />
Contents<br />
Editorial ............................................................................3<br />
The Flagship Event of 1st <strong>October</strong> ..................................4<br />
Awards for Excellence in Letters, Arts and Sciences ......12<br />
“Cyprus in Venice, 1968-2009”: 40 Years<br />
of Participation in the Venice Biennale of Art ...............18<br />
“50 Years of Visual Arts Creation” ................................22<br />
XVII Biennale de Paris in Nicosia .................................26<br />
Ara Gevorgian Performed on the Occasion of the<br />
50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus ..................31<br />
“xperimental 9.0” ...........................................................34<br />
“Re-Envisioning Cyprus”: An Exhibition and Book<br />
Launch ............................................................................38<br />
The Press and Information Offi ce Commemorated<br />
the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus ...........40<br />
2nd Dancecyprus Gala – “Dance for a Better Life” .......44<br />
Piano Recital by Cyprien Katsaris for the 50th<br />
Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus .........................45<br />
“50 Years Society – Culture – Life in the Republic of<br />
Cyprus” ..........................................................................46<br />
Myrto Azina Chronides Was Awarded<br />
the <strong>2010</strong> EU Prize for Literature ....................................48<br />
Exhibition for the 82 Years of the British Rule<br />
of Cyprus ........................................................................50<br />
Cyprus Symphony Orchestra: Concerts Dedicated to the<br />
50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus ..................54<br />
“No_Body”: 2nd Dance, Movement<br />
& Performance Arts Festival ...........................................58<br />
Christophoros A. Pissarides won the <strong>2010</strong> Nobel Prize<br />
in Economic Sciences ....................................................61<br />
A Literary Evening with Kyriakos Charalambides<br />
at the European Commission ..........................................67
Editorial<br />
Although Cyprus gained its independence from Britain on August 16, 1960, the offi cial celebration<br />
has been moved to <strong>October</strong> 1. Thus, this issue is mostly dedicated to the series of events<br />
which were held during <strong>October</strong>-<strong>December</strong> <strong>2010</strong> both in Cyprus and abroad to commemorate the<br />
50th Anniversary of the declaration of the Republic of Cyprus.<br />
The culmination of the anniversary program was the Flagship Event of 1st <strong>October</strong> which took<br />
place in the Tassos Papadopoulos-Eleftheria Stadium in the presence of more than 2,000 people and<br />
distinguished offi cials from Cyprus and foreign countries as well who had the opportunity to watch<br />
an artistic synthesis of music, song, dance-theatre, visual effects and multimedia highlighting the<br />
achievements of the island on a political, social, scientifi c and cultural level.<br />
Furthermore, “Cyprus Today” displays several events which contributed to the celebrations of the<br />
Republic of Cyprus: the Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts put on the “50 Years of Visual Arts Creation”<br />
exhibition aiming to show contemporary artistic creation as well as the artistic creation of previous<br />
decades which marked the years of the Republic of Cyprus; the second exhibition was a tribute<br />
to the 40 years of participation of Cyprus in the Venice Biennale of Art from 1968 to 2009. In the<br />
musical fi eld, the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra gave a series of concerts in Cyprus and Greece, with<br />
the participation of young talented Cypriot musicians; the Armenian composer Ara Gevorgian with<br />
his Orchestra, the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra and the local “Sipan” Dance Ensemble gave two<br />
spectacular music and dance performances in Nicosia, while the internationally acclaimed pianist<br />
Cyprien Katsaris performed a unique piano recital in Bonn. “Cyprus Today” presents the “50<br />
Years Society – Culture – Life in the Republic of Cyprus” exhibition held at the Leventis Municipal<br />
Museum, “Re-Envisioning Cyprus” – a photography and multimedia exhibition accompanied by<br />
an edited volume, and fi nally “The Cyprus Press 1960-<strong>2010</strong>: An Evolution of 50 Years of Independence”<br />
exhibition and a Multi-theme Exhibition at the Famagusta Gate organised by the Press and<br />
Information Offi ce.<br />
“Cyprus Today” also focuses on the awarded with the <strong>2010</strong> Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences<br />
Professor Christophoros Pissarides. This award was the highest possible honor for Cyprus and its<br />
people and an international recognition for Mr. Pissarides’ excellent scientifi c work and his lifetime<br />
achievements in the area of Economics.<br />
The second international (European) Prize included in this issue is the <strong>2010</strong> EU Prize for Literature<br />
which was given to the writer Myrto Azina Chronides for her book “The Experiment”. A detailed<br />
article describes the special ceremony of the Awards for Excellence in Letters, Arts and Sciences.<br />
Rina Katselli, Michalis Pieris (Letters), Despina Bebedeli (Arts) and Kyriakos Nicolaou (Science)<br />
were the honored personalities of this year’s Awards.<br />
The issue is complemented with the presentation of an exhibition organised by Mr. Andreas Menelaou<br />
in London, presenting more than 2,000 items (newspapers, books, annual colonial reports etc)<br />
related to the 82 years of the British Rule in Cyprus; of the 9th International Xperimental Film and<br />
Animation Festival; the 17th Biennale de Paris which took place in Nicosia; the 2nd Dancecyprus<br />
Gala – “Dance for a Better Life”; the 2nd Dance, Movement & Performance Arts Festival entitled<br />
“No_Body”; and of a literary evening with the Cypriot poet Kyriakos Charalambides at the European<br />
Commission.<br />
3
The<br />
Flagship<br />
Event<br />
of 1st<br />
<strong>October</strong>
The Flagship Event of 1st<br />
<strong>October</strong> in Nicosia constituted the<br />
culmination of the anniversary<br />
program, which the Republic of<br />
Cyprus organised in Cyprus and<br />
abroad in order to celebrate its<br />
50th Anniversary. The Republic<br />
aimed to illustrate the history<br />
of the island since 1960 and<br />
highlight the achievements of<br />
the country on a political, social,<br />
scientifi c and cultural level.
The Flagship Event of 1st <strong>October</strong> took place in<br />
the Tassos Papadopoulos-Eleftheria Stadium.<br />
It was attended by more than 2,000 people and was<br />
a synthesis of music, song, dance-theatre, visual<br />
effects and multimedia. In the performance part,<br />
many well-known Cypriot artists, mostly young,<br />
contributed with their talent and creativity on stage.<br />
The Event was based on an idea by Andy Partzili,<br />
who was assigned the artistic direction of all Flagship<br />
Events in Cyprus and abroad, with the exception<br />
of the Washington DC exhibition. The 1st<br />
<strong>October</strong> celebration was performed under the stage<br />
direction and choreography of Machi Demetriadou-Lindal<br />
and Elena Christodoulidou. Consultant<br />
director was Evis Gavrielides, and costume designers<br />
were Elena Katsouri and Lakis Genethlis. Re-<br />
6<br />
Celebrations to Mark the 50th Anniversary<br />
of the Republic of Cyprus<br />
President Christofi as addresses the event<br />
sponsible for the direction of screenings for the fi rst<br />
part was Alexia Roider and Nicos Synnos for the<br />
stage/photography/video direction of screenings in<br />
the second part.<br />
The digital processing/editing and the three-dimensional<br />
processing of the fi lms of the fi rst part belonged<br />
to Vera Papastavrou, while Christos Georgiou<br />
was in charge of the digital processing/frame<br />
of the fi lms in the second part. Music, composed<br />
by George Kolias, Demetris Zavros, Michalis Hadjiyannis,<br />
Roman Kariolou and Savvas Savva, was<br />
a major component of the event. Tony Solomou,<br />
Sona Gargaloyan, Michalis Tterlikkas and other<br />
important Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot singers<br />
and musicians also participated, alongside many<br />
other dancers, presenters, actors and children.
Michalis Hadjiyannis at the event<br />
Scenes from the artistic program<br />
The Artistic Part of the Event<br />
In particular, in the fi rst part, the last 50 years of<br />
Cyprus’ history were presented in a performance<br />
that recalled the past, but also kindled hope<br />
about the future. The performance began with traditional<br />
music of all the communities of Cyprus,<br />
starting with monodies and then culminating in<br />
combination to show the participation of all in the<br />
newly-constituted state of 1960. Then the dancetheatre<br />
work “The Thread of Time”, a journey in<br />
history, with emphasis on the human dimension,<br />
began. The movement inspired by Machi Demetriadou<br />
and the performance of the 13 dancers,<br />
the amazing epic music of Yorgos Kolias, projections,<br />
multi-media and visual effects, composed a<br />
20 minute, emotionally charged, stroll through the<br />
Cyprus of the last 50 years. Michalis Hadjiyannis<br />
sang the song “Beloved Cyprus” which he had<br />
composed to lyrics by Andreas Paraschos, which<br />
Gurgenc Korkmazel recited in Turkish, conveying<br />
an optimistic message for the island and its people.<br />
7
The second part was symbolic and alluded to the<br />
abolition of the dividing line, as well as the development<br />
of Cypriot society into a society for all, under<br />
conditions of equality, justice, mutual acceptance<br />
and respect. The main item was the performance<br />
of the multi-media and dance-work entitled “Horizons<br />
without Lines”, which projected the ideal of<br />
the dismantling of the wall and then the future in<br />
an ideal Cyprus where all the inhabitants co-exist<br />
peacefully and the people prosper. The images and<br />
the movements of the dancers were the brain-child<br />
of Elena Christodoulidou and the inspired music of<br />
Demetris Zavros embraced them perfectly. The fi -<br />
nale of the event was also powerful. The sopranos<br />
Katerina Mina and Vasfi ge Tzakirtas sang as a duet<br />
in two languages the inspiring hymn “Peace Comes<br />
Like a Dream”, which was composed by the very<br />
talented young composer Roman Kariolou to words<br />
by Neşe Yaşın. As they sang “Cyprus will fi nd joy/<br />
in my beautiful light” tens of young children from<br />
the primary schools of Phaneromeni and Ayios Kassianos<br />
“fl ooded” the stage with their smiles, leading<br />
everyone to applaud and the President of the Republic,<br />
Demetris Christofi as, to go on to the stage and<br />
embrace all the performers, one by one.<br />
View of the crowd who attended the Flagship Event<br />
8<br />
It should be mentioned that an exhibition of photographic<br />
documentation on the history of Cyprus,<br />
with emphasis on the 50 years of the Republic of<br />
Cyprus, welcomed the visitors at the two entrances<br />
of the Stadium, with various images being projected<br />
simultaneously on built-in screens.<br />
Speeches and Distinguished Guests<br />
Between the two parts of the Flagship Events<br />
speeches were addressed to the public. The<br />
main speaker was the President of the Republic,<br />
Mr. Demetris Christofi as. Among other things, Mr.<br />
Christofi as thanked all those present, especially the<br />
President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr Karolos<br />
Papoulias, for attending the event and made special<br />
mention of Greece, expressing the gratitude of<br />
Cyprus for supporting the endeavour of the Cypriot<br />
people for a solution and reunifi cation. President<br />
Christofi as renewed his promise to continue<br />
the struggle for a solution of the Cyprus problem<br />
and an end to the occupation, stressing anew that<br />
the Greek Cypriot side will exhaust every possibil-
President Demetris Christofi as at the Flagship Event<br />
ity offered by the current process for a solution of<br />
the Cyprus problem, within the framework of the<br />
United Nations Resolutions.<br />
Looking back over the 50 years of the independence<br />
of Cyprus, the President of the Republic said:<br />
“We gained our independence and freedom from<br />
the colonial yoke by means of the struggles and<br />
sacrifi ces of the Cypriot people which lasted for<br />
decades,” and went on: “The heroes of this struggle<br />
offered their lives in sacrifi ce so that our beloved native<br />
land should not be deprived of freedom and democracy.<br />
To the heroes of the Freedom of Cyprus,<br />
to the heroes who sacrifi ced themselves in the defence<br />
of democracy and legality, we devoutly bend<br />
our knees and bow to the greatness of their sacrifi<br />
ce.” As President Christofi as said: ”By putting to<br />
good use these special gifts, we acquired our freedom,<br />
our independence, albeit with commitments,<br />
which is an achievement of the entire people, Greek<br />
Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians<br />
and Latins. By putting to good use these gifts, we<br />
stood erect, rebuilding our economy and our country<br />
after the biblical catastrophe which the illegal<br />
invasion by Turkey brought to our island in 1974.<br />
By putting to good use these gifts,” he continued,<br />
“we have safeguarded our State, the Republic of<br />
Cyprus, in conditions of occupation and partition.<br />
We have contributed, through the Non-Aligned<br />
Movement and the United Nations Organisation,<br />
with Ethnarch Makarios in a leading role, to the<br />
struggle for world peace and cooperation for a<br />
better world. We have become a member of the<br />
European Union and we are playing an equal and<br />
creative role. For 36 years we have been fi ghting<br />
for the liberation and reunifi cation of our country<br />
and our people, keeping the hope alive. We have<br />
established democracy and equality of rights.” In<br />
conclusion, the President of the Republic urged us<br />
“all to work together, united, for a Cyprus that is<br />
free, reunifi ed, an island of peace, joy and prosperity<br />
for her people, for Cyprus to become a bridge<br />
of peace, meeting and cooperation for Europe, the<br />
Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.”<br />
9
Addresses were also delivered by the President<br />
of the Hellenic Republic Karolos Papoulias, the<br />
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium, Yves<br />
Leterme, and the Minister of Petroleum of the Arab<br />
Republic of Egypt Sameh Fahmy on behalf of the<br />
Egyptian President.<br />
The President of the Hellenic Republic<br />
called on Turkey to show “real political<br />
will” for a settlement to the Cyprus problem,<br />
and highlighted that Cyprus membership to the<br />
European Union defi nes the basic aspects of the<br />
solution. “Today is a day to remember the important<br />
achievements of the Cypriot people, but also<br />
to recollect our course,” Mr. Papoulias said, adding<br />
“this is a day of remembrance and honor to President<br />
Makarios, a symbolic fi gure and a point of reference<br />
for all of us.” Noting that Nicosia remains the<br />
only divided capital in Europe, the President of the<br />
Hellenic Republic said that this is “a daily reminder<br />
of the connivance of the international community<br />
to the violation of international legality and of human<br />
rights.” Turning to President Christofi as, Mr.<br />
Papoulias reassured him of Greece’s active support<br />
10<br />
in his efforts and his initiatives for a just, viable and<br />
functional solution to the Cyprus problem on the basis<br />
of the UN Security Council resolutions and the<br />
EU principles and values.<br />
The Prime Minister of Belgium, Mr. Yves Leterme,<br />
expressed his support for the reunifi cation<br />
of Cyprus, during his address at the Flagship<br />
Event. Mr. Leterme said he was impressed by<br />
the “determination and vigour with which your<br />
population has overcome some severe ordeals in<br />
the history of the Republic.” Moreover, he stated<br />
that this Anniversary also marked fi fty years of<br />
relations between the Republic of Cyprus and<br />
the Kingdom of Belgium. The Prime Minister<br />
remarked that the links between the populations<br />
of Cyprus and Belgium “are much older than the<br />
respective states,” adding that the strategic position<br />
and rich natural resources of Cyprus attracted<br />
settlers and merchants, conquerors and crusaders<br />
from the east and west, north and south. “Amongst<br />
them were people from our shores,” Leterme added.<br />
He also said that “in view of the many threads<br />
which have bound Cyprus to Europe for so many
centuries, it was totally normal and fi tting that the<br />
Republic of Cyprus should become a member of<br />
the European Union.” The Belgian Prime Minister<br />
said that Cyprus made another important contribution<br />
to the European Union, as the birthplace<br />
of Aphrodite. Concluding, he said in the Greek<br />
language: “Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen,<br />
we wish the Republic of Cyprus a bright future<br />
and a successful EU presidency.”<br />
Video messages with the addresses of the President<br />
of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and<br />
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso<br />
were also displayed.<br />
Mr. Van Rompuy said that the settlement of the<br />
Cyprus issue is important for the European Union,<br />
as it is all about ending divisions in Europe<br />
and strengthening the stability of the region. He<br />
commented that “in only a few years the young<br />
Republic reached high levels of social and economic<br />
growth,” adding that Cyprus has developed<br />
competitive sectors of the economy. The President<br />
of the European Council went on to say that the<br />
country’s rich cultural heritage, combined with the<br />
people’s profound belief in freedom and commitment<br />
to the rule of law, provided a natural foundation<br />
for Cyprus’ integration into the European<br />
Union in 2004. Mr. Rompuy added that the last 50<br />
years have been “a successful ride, but certainly not<br />
an easy one.” Moreover, he said that “today is a day<br />
of celebration, which has to be marked with pride<br />
for what was achieved, as well as with hope.” Before<br />
concluding his message, the President of the<br />
European Council said that he cherishes the memories<br />
of his recent visit to Cyprus and expressed his<br />
regret for not being able to join the celebrations.<br />
“I am certainly there in spirit and with my heart<br />
and I extend my warmest wishes to all Cypriots on<br />
the occasion of this important anniversary,’’ Van<br />
Rompuy said and concluded in Greek by saying<br />
“Congratulations to the Republic of Cyprus.”<br />
The President of the European Commission expressed<br />
his wish for a quick reunifi cation of Cyprus,<br />
saying that such a historic step would be<br />
welcomed by all Europe. He congratulated the<br />
Republic of Cyprus on the 50th Anniversary of its<br />
establishment and said that he asked Cypriot Commissioner<br />
Androulla Vassiliou to represent him<br />
and the European Commission at the festivities.<br />
“Cyprus is a country that I admire for its long and<br />
varied history, and for its very rich cultural heritage,”<br />
the European Commission President said<br />
and added that the Republic has a lot to be proud<br />
of and to celebrate. He went on by saying that the<br />
achievements in the last 50 years have seen Cyprus<br />
becoming a Member State of the European Union,<br />
extending the borders of the European Union to<br />
its furthest south eastern part. Barroso went on to<br />
say that Cyprus faces today one of the major challenges<br />
of the last 50 years. “I can assure you, the<br />
European family and the international community<br />
is looking at you,” he noted and said that “the leaders<br />
of the two communities in Cyprus are fully<br />
engaged in fi nding a solution to the Cyprus division<br />
once for all.” Concluding, he said in the Greek<br />
language “I congratulate you with all my heart on<br />
your National Day.”<br />
Offi cial guests at the Flagship Event to commemorate<br />
the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus<br />
also included the President of the Republic of<br />
Malta George Abela, the President of the Republic<br />
of Serbia Boris Tadic, the Vice President of the<br />
Republic of Bulgaria Angel Marin, the Minister of<br />
Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Spain Miguel<br />
Angel Moratinos, and the Minister of Defence of<br />
the Slovak Republic Lubomir Galko. Moreover,<br />
the event was attended by the State Minister of the<br />
Republic of Lebanon Mona Ofeish, the Minister of<br />
State, Foreign and Commonwealth Offi ce of the<br />
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern<br />
Ireland Lord David Howell, the Deputy Minister<br />
for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Italy Alfredo<br />
Mantica, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of<br />
Cuba Dagoberto Rodriguez Barreras, the Deputy<br />
State Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic<br />
of Hungary Janos Hovari, the Deputy Secretary<br />
General of the Commonwealth Ransford Smith,<br />
the Commissioner for Education of the European<br />
Commission, representing the President of the European<br />
Commission, Androulla Vassiliou and the<br />
Vice-President of the European Investment Bank<br />
Plutarchos Sakelaris.<br />
11
Αt a special ceremony held on 18 <strong>October</strong><br />
<strong>2010</strong> in the Hall of the University of<br />
Cyprus, the Ministry of Education and Culture<br />
Awards for Excellence in Letters, Arts and Sciences<br />
were given to Rina Katselli, Michalis<br />
Pieris, Despina Bebedeli and Kyriakos Nicolaou.<br />
Specifi cally, Rina Katseli and Michalis Pieris<br />
were honored with the Award for Excellence in<br />
Letters, Despina Bebedeli with the Award for<br />
Excellence in Arts and Kyriakos Nicolaou with<br />
the Award for Excellence in Sciences.<br />
The Awards were presented by the President of<br />
the Republic, Mr. Demetris Christofi as, while<br />
the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on<br />
the Awards and former Rector of the University<br />
of Cyprus, Mr. Stavros Zenios, analysed the<br />
grounds for the award to each of the recipients.<br />
In his address, the President of the Republic referred<br />
to the award winners, emphasising that<br />
“with hard work and dedication, they have contributed<br />
valuable services and new knowledge.<br />
Each of them has opened paths and they have<br />
left their indelible mark with their contribution.<br />
Their work, the fruit of many years of labour,<br />
hard work and self-denial, is now the common<br />
heritage of us all.” Mr. Christofi as went<br />
on to say: “Tonight’s ceremony is a historic<br />
milestone in the course of this institution since<br />
it is dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of the<br />
Republic of Cyprus, refl ecting the evolutionary<br />
course of the contemporary culture of our country<br />
through high intellectual achievements. [...]<br />
Cyprus, an integral piece of the world cultural<br />
heritage, is a crucible of cultures through its<br />
long history and also through the personal toil<br />
and creative struggle of her visionaries. Resisting<br />
the trends of globalisation and of Might is<br />
Right, Cyprus must protect its cultural identity<br />
and upgrade and further promote scientifi c<br />
research so that our country can take up the<br />
12<br />
Awards for Excellence in Letters, Arts and Sciences<br />
position that befi ts her within the great European<br />
family in the fi eld of scientifi c progress<br />
and cultural recognition.” Finally, addressing<br />
the award winners, Mr. Christofi as said: “You<br />
are the model for the Cypriot citizen. We are<br />
proud because you have succeeded in overcoming<br />
individual, geographical and intellectual<br />
boundaries in order to see and show us, each<br />
of you through the perspective of your own<br />
knowledge, Man as an entity that is continuously<br />
evolving, beyond the conventional and<br />
the accomplished, ever more simplifi ed and unadulterated.<br />
We are certainly aware of the diffi<br />
culties you have faced and face today as creators<br />
and scientists due to the small size of our<br />
country. We know that it has often been necessary<br />
for you to work in adverse conditions, with<br />
meagre means, for the most part, and with personal<br />
sacrifi ces, reaping only the joy of creation,<br />
quest and contribution to society. It is for<br />
this reason that the State is honoring you today,<br />
not simply and solely as recognised labourers<br />
of the intellect and of science. Today we are<br />
also rewarding your struggles and your anxieties,<br />
your arduous occupations, your toil and<br />
your zeal, the self-denial which you showed for<br />
the benefi t of the progress of science and the<br />
development of the letters and arts.”<br />
On receiving the Award, Rina Katselli, clearly<br />
moved, said that “our language and cultural<br />
heritage have not allowed us to vanish in all the<br />
years of being refugees,” noting that the honor<br />
to her for her effort to preserve memories of her<br />
native town, of Kyrenia, also belongs to many<br />
worthy men and women, such as the members<br />
of the Folklore Society of Kyrenia. “This collective<br />
memory, not only of the occupied areas<br />
but also of the whole of Cyprus, is the all-embracing<br />
past of us all which sets the seal on our<br />
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<br />
rectly, without fanaticism, so that we can act<br />
more effectively in the hope that our State will<br />
see better days, unifi ed without refugees,” she<br />
added.<br />
For his part, Michalis Pieris said that the Award<br />
to a researcher and academic teacher means<br />
nothing other than that the State is rewarding<br />
primarily his original work, which, as he added,<br />
he served with assiduous research and study<br />
over many years and with loyalty. He declared<br />
himself deeply moved and expressed his warm<br />
thanks to the Advisory Committee.<br />
On receiving her Award for Excellence in Arts,<br />
Despina Bebedeli said she was happy and<br />
grateful for the honor done to her by the Ministry<br />
of Education and Culture and the Republic<br />
of Cyprus. “Cyprus has given me a great deal<br />
and I have not yet repaid my debt to her,” she<br />
said, stating that Cyprus, as her second motherland<br />
had embraced her, accepted her, gave<br />
sustenance to her dreams and the opportunity<br />
to fulfi l them.<br />
“I am proud that with my colleagues and the<br />
help of the State we have managed to raise the<br />
Cypriot theatre to high standards, worthy to<br />
carry out its social role,” she said, adding that<br />
“the theatre and all the arts are for a country<br />
a weapon of defence and attack against every<br />
form of ugliness, cheapness and violence. The<br />
theatre and art in a country are the herald, vehicle<br />
and voice of universal human values,” she<br />
said, noting that every artist should always be<br />
fi ghting for his country. Finally, Mrs. Bebedeli<br />
said a great “thank you” to the people of Cyprus<br />
who, as the audience, had given her indescribable<br />
joys. At the same time she promised that<br />
as long as she is master of her body and mind<br />
she will always be present in body and in deed.<br />
Finally, Professor Kyriakos Nicolaou made<br />
special mention of his unforgettable teacher<br />
of Chemistry at the Pancyprian Gymnasium,<br />
Telemachos Charalambous, who, as he said, had<br />
fi lled his mind with his knowledge and his personality.<br />
“Intellectually, this inspiration was my<br />
13
greatest ally in my career as a scientist. And for<br />
this reason I thank him, even though he is not<br />
here,” he said. In conclusion, he expressed the<br />
wish that “the new opening in the geopolitical<br />
developments in the area around our island will<br />
lead to the longed-for freedom of our country.”<br />
The members of the Advisory Committee on<br />
the Awards for Excellence in Letters, Arts and<br />
Sciences were: Stavros Zenios (Chairman),<br />
Takis Adam, Evis Gavrielides, Vassos Karageorgis,<br />
Elpida Keravnou, Yorgos Kotsonis,<br />
Nicos Papamichael, Costas Papanicolas, Panayiotis<br />
Persianis, Christoforos Pissarides and<br />
Kyriakos Charalambides.<br />
The ceremony –which opened with classical<br />
music played by the String Quartet of the Cyprus<br />
Symphony Orchestra composed of Wolfgang<br />
Schroeder (violin), Sorin Allexandru Horlea<br />
(violin), Vladimir Tkachenko (viola) and<br />
Petros Gospodinov (cello)– was followed by a<br />
reception.<br />
14<br />
The Award Winners<br />
Rina Katselli was born in 1938 and is a refugee<br />
from Kyrenia. She has written studies on<br />
Kyrenia as well as literary works. Among them<br />
stands out the novel “Blue Whale”, the chronicle-testament<br />
“A Refugee in My Own Country”<br />
and the Byzantine two-part work “On the Seven<br />
Hills – On the Mountains of Tramontana”.<br />
She has also written plays and poetry. Her<br />
works have been awarded the State Prize for<br />
Literature. From 1981-1996 she was a member<br />
of the House of Representatives. She was the<br />
fi rst woman to be elected to the House of Representatives.<br />
Grounds for the Award<br />
Rina Katselli, a distinguished fi gure in our cultural<br />
affairs, was uprooted from Kyrenia by the<br />
Turkish invasion. The stamp of the bitterness of<br />
being a refugee is expressed for the fi rst time<br />
in her book “A Refugee in My Own Country”,<br />
which she signed symbolically<br />
as “A Woman of Kyrenia”. Essentially,<br />
her person became<br />
one with the country and this<br />
shows her conscious choice<br />
to serve in multifarious ways<br />
her own town, preserving with<br />
dedication and careful research<br />
precious elements of history<br />
and culture.<br />
The writer has the gift of functioning<br />
on two levels: on the<br />
one hand, on the purely creative<br />
or author’s level (mainly<br />
in novels and plays) and on<br />
the other hand in the research,<br />
the gathering and preserving of<br />
the material of memory. Without<br />
her faith and enthusiasm,<br />
her knowledge and hard work,<br />
very many facts about old and<br />
modern Kyrenia would have<br />
been lost. Apart from her book<br />
“Kyrenia – Historical and Folk-
lore Research”, as well as<br />
the testament, covering<br />
many aspects and in the<br />
form of a novel “Kyrenia<br />
from the Lips of the Old”,<br />
the writer brought back to<br />
life with systematic and<br />
hard work, emblematic<br />
fi gures of Kyrenia, publishing<br />
bulky monographs<br />
on them, which are testaments<br />
of the soul. These,<br />
in combination with her<br />
activity in the freedom<br />
struggle of 1955-59, her<br />
active participation in<br />
politics and in the foundation<br />
by her of the very<br />
active “Folklore Society<br />
of Kyrenia”, of which she<br />
was secretary for 40 years,<br />
show the breadth of her<br />
love for her country.<br />
For Cyprus Rina Katselli<br />
symbolises sleepless dedication<br />
to one’s native land<br />
and is a vivid example of intellectual perseverance<br />
and resistance.<br />
Michalis Pieris was born in 1952 in the Limassol<br />
district. He studied Greek Literature in<br />
Thessaloniki and Theatre at the Macedonian<br />
Conservatory of Thessaloniki. He has a doctorate<br />
from Sydney University. He worked in<br />
the capacity of researcher and teacher at many<br />
research centres in Greece and other European<br />
countries, in America and in Australia.<br />
Since 1992 he has been teaching Medieval and<br />
Modern Greek Literature at the University of<br />
Cyprus. His contribution to the study of medieval,<br />
renaissance and modern Greek literature<br />
is very important, while his tens of studies on<br />
the work of Makhairas, Cavafy, Seferis, Montis<br />
and Sinopoulos are a point of reference in<br />
international bibliography. His literary work is<br />
also important.<br />
Grounds for the Award<br />
Professor Michalis Pieris is an internationally<br />
distinguished student of Greek culture and<br />
Cypriot literature. With a deep education in the<br />
humanities, he serves Greek letters with sincerity<br />
and passion and has opened new horizons<br />
for intellectual Cyprus, while he has written<br />
and published studies which project internationally<br />
works that are milestones of Cypriot<br />
literature. He played a leading role in the establishing<br />
of the Department of Philosophy,<br />
the School of the Greek Language, the Cultural<br />
Centre and the Theatre Workshop of the University<br />
of Cyprus. He has been the director of<br />
the Theatre Workshop for years. His pioneering<br />
theatrological method with which he has approached<br />
and made known the vernacular texts<br />
of the fringes of Hellenism, such as the Cypriot<br />
folk songs and the medieval “Chronicle of Cyprus”<br />
of Leontios Makhairas, has contributed to<br />
15
the international reception of Cypriot literature.<br />
Michalis Pieris is numbered amongst the most<br />
eminent students of the poetry of Cavafy and<br />
Seferis and has contributed seminal work to the<br />
fi eld of literary research and interpretation. His<br />
literary work (poetry, short stories, plays, translations<br />
and adaptations) has been well-received<br />
throughout Greece and internationally. In particular,<br />
in his poetry he shows a rare ability to<br />
reveal and make universally intelligible his personal<br />
moods, experiences and intuitions. His<br />
poetical discourse is controlled by a lofty sense<br />
of poetic ethics, with which he fi ghts against<br />
every device of alienation.<br />
Despina Bebedeli-Kafkaridou was born in<br />
Athens and studied at the Pelos Katselis Drama<br />
School, at the French Institute of Athens and at<br />
the Athens Conservatory. She worked for many<br />
years as an actress in Greece and Cyprus and<br />
has also taken part in fi lms and television series.<br />
She has produced plays for the Cyprus Theatre<br />
16<br />
Organisation (THOC) and the Satirico Theatre.<br />
She has won various distinctions including the<br />
THOC prize for Artistic Contribution and the T.<br />
Anthias-Th. Pierides Prize for Contribution to<br />
Culture from the Central Committee of AKEL.<br />
Grounds for the Award<br />
Despina Bebedeli has made a multifarious,<br />
distinguished and outstanding contribution<br />
to the representational arts, particularly to<br />
the theatre, for about half a century. Her fi rst<br />
professional appearance in the theatre was in<br />
1962, at the Greek Laiko Theatro of Manos<br />
Katrakis, in Mikis Theodorakis’ work “The<br />
Song of the Dead Brother”. She went on to<br />
appear with tens of other important companies.<br />
Her performance as Mrs. Alving in the<br />
“Vampires”, as Hecuba, Electra, Jocasta, Andromache<br />
and many other roles won her excellent<br />
reviews for her instinctive talent and<br />
her stirring interpretations.<br />
Without doubt, the work which sealed her career<br />
was “Mother Courage and Her Children”<br />
by Brecht. Apart from her<br />
career in the theatre, Despina<br />
Bebedeli has a signifi cant<br />
presence in fi lm as well and<br />
on Greek and Cypriot television.<br />
She has produced plays<br />
for THOC and the Satirico<br />
Theatre and has taught at<br />
the Satirico Theatre School<br />
and the Drama School of Y.<br />
Kimoulis. For her great cultural<br />
and artistic contribution<br />
she has been awarded many<br />
distinctions and prizes. The<br />
Award for Excellence in Arts<br />
is the recognition and crowning<br />
of the multi-faceted contribution<br />
of Despina Bebedeli<br />
to the representational arts<br />
which she has served with<br />
dedication and has promoted<br />
in Cyprus and in the wider<br />
Greek world for about half a<br />
century.
Kyriakos Nicolaou was born in 1946 at Karavas.<br />
He studied Chemistry in London and<br />
wrote his doctoral thesis at University College.<br />
He worked as a post-doctoral scientist at Colombia<br />
University. His academic career began<br />
at the University of Pennsylvania where he rose<br />
to the position of Rhodes-Thompson Professor<br />
of Chemistry. Today he is working at the University<br />
of California as Professor of Chemistry<br />
and at the same time as Director of the Chemistry<br />
Department of the Scripps Research Institute.<br />
He has been voted a member of the New<br />
York Academy of Scientists, of the U.S.A. Society<br />
for the Promotion of Science and of the<br />
Academy of Athens. He has received Honorary<br />
Doctorates from twelve universities across the<br />
world. His research career numbers almost 700<br />
publications and four books.<br />
Grounds for the Award<br />
Professor Kyriakos Nicolaou is<br />
one of the most eminent scientists<br />
in the world in the fi eld of<br />
organic chemistry and one of<br />
the prominent academics Cyprus<br />
has produced. He studied<br />
Chemistry at London University<br />
and graduated with distinction.<br />
Three years after graduating<br />
he received a doctorate in<br />
Chemistry. He worked at the<br />
University of Colombia in the<br />
United States of America as a<br />
post-doctoral researcher. He<br />
was appointed to the Chair of<br />
Rhodes-Thompson Professor<br />
of Chemistry at the University<br />
of Pennsylvania in 1983 and as<br />
Director of the Chemistry Department<br />
in 1989.<br />
Kyriakos Nicolaou brings<br />
honor to Cyprus internationally<br />
with his major contribution<br />
to the development of<br />
synthetic organic chemistry<br />
and particularly to total synthesis<br />
of molecules with pharmaceutical<br />
action. He gained distinction as<br />
a model researcher and teacher and created<br />
a school for scientists. Kyriakos Nicolaou<br />
specialises in the synthesis of complex molecules<br />
of major biological and pharmaceutical<br />
value. His pioneering research has found<br />
many practical applications in chemistry,<br />
biology and medicine. His achievements include<br />
the creation of various antibiotics and<br />
medicines for the treatment of cancer and<br />
AIDS. The creation of taxol, one of the most<br />
important chemotherapeutics produced to the<br />
present day has given him international recognition.<br />
The work of Kyriakos Nicolaou has<br />
changed the lives of countless patients, while<br />
he has been honored with a great number of<br />
distinctions and prizes from academic institutions<br />
all over the world.<br />
17
Ιn the framework of the program commemorating<br />
the 50th Anniversary of Cyprus’<br />
Independence, a large retrospective exhibition<br />
was organised as a tribute to the 40 years<br />
of participation of Cyprus in the Venice Biennale<br />
of Art, from 1968 to 2009.<br />
Marking 115 years since its inauguration, the<br />
Venice Biennale of Visual Arts is still considered<br />
to be one of the most signifi cant artistic<br />
events on the calendar, and every two years<br />
the city of Venice becomes the epicenter of<br />
the international art world, the media and the<br />
art-loving public.<br />
Cyprus fi rst joined this massive art celebration<br />
in 1968 with six young artists, demonstrating<br />
all the cultural and artistic dynamism<br />
of a new State. The intractable socio-polit-<br />
18<br />
“Cyprus in Venice, 1968-2009”: 40 Years<br />
of Participation in the Venice Biennale of Art<br />
Yorgos Skotinos next to his paintings inside the Cyprus pavilion, in 1968<br />
ical circumstances on the island during the<br />
following period led to a long absence, until<br />
1986 when the national participation resumed,<br />
continuing almost uninterrupted until<br />
today, under the responsibility of the Cultural<br />
Services of the Ministry of Education and<br />
Culture.<br />
This exhibition primarily sought to acquaint a<br />
wider local audience with the institution of the<br />
Venice Biennale, and the works of the artists<br />
who have represented Cyprus up until today.<br />
On another level, it attempted to place these<br />
contributions in a historical context, in relation<br />
to the course of contemporary art in Cyprus<br />
during the post-independence period as<br />
well as in relation to the developing course of<br />
the Biennale. Furthermore, it investigated prevailing<br />
narratives and discourses, both within
Christoforos Savva at the Cyprus pavilion, in 1968<br />
works in the national pavilion and in connection<br />
with international debates in theory and<br />
criticism; and fi nally, it collected and reconstituted<br />
“lost” sources and archival material associated<br />
with the Cypriot participation, while<br />
trying to outline the distinctive profi le of the<br />
event itself.<br />
This retrospective followed a multi-level approach,<br />
including a historical section, a series<br />
of theoretical discussions, and a subsequent<br />
extensive publication. The conscious<br />
effort here was not to faithfully reproduce<br />
all the national pavilion shows, but rather to<br />
convey the essence of the original presentations,<br />
while highlighting the historicity of the<br />
whole course.<br />
For this reason, the exhibition unfolded on a<br />
chronology and a descriptive narrative that<br />
guided the visitor through four decades of<br />
participation. In effect, it drew on the Venice<br />
Biennale theme in order to identify research<br />
and question issues around the Cypriot artistic<br />
scene of the last 50 years, juxtaposing<br />
them to the complex dynamics of the global<br />
arena.<br />
The event was co-organised by the Ministry<br />
of Education and Culture, Cultural Services,<br />
and the Pierides Foundation. The inauguration<br />
ceremony was held on 3 <strong>December</strong> <strong>2010</strong><br />
and the exhibition will remain open for the<br />
public until 27 March 2011 at the Nicosia<br />
Municipal Arts Centre. Moreover, on 27 <strong>December</strong>,<br />
a lecture on “Aesthetic Cosmopolitanism”<br />
was given by Nikos Papastergiades,<br />
Professor at School of Culture and Communication,<br />
University of Melbourne.<br />
The curators of “Cyprus in Venice, 1968-<br />
2009” were Louli Michaelidou and Yannis<br />
Toumazis.<br />
19
20<br />
Venice Biennale: The History<br />
Ιt is a major contemporary art exhibition<br />
that takes place once every two years (in<br />
odd years) in Venice. The fi rst Biennale was<br />
held in 1895; during the fi rst editions, decorative<br />
arts played an important role. The event<br />
became more and more international in the<br />
fi rst decades of the 20th century: from 1907<br />
on, several countries started installing national<br />
pavilions at the exhibition. After World<br />
War I, the Biennale showed increasing interest<br />
in innovative traditions in modern art. Between<br />
the two World Wars, many important<br />
modern artists had their work exhibited there.<br />
In the 1930s, several new sections of the<br />
event were established: the Music Festival in<br />
Cypriot Participation 1968-2009<br />
1968 – Stelios Votsis, Costas Joachim, George Kyriakou,<br />
Christoforos Savva, Yorgos Skotinos, Andreas Chrysochos<br />
1972 (contribution to the Graphic Arts Section) – Costas<br />
Averkiou, Stelios Votsis, Angelos Markides, Nikos Kouroussis,<br />
Mikis Finikarides<br />
1986 – Maria Loizidou<br />
1988 – Angelos Makrides<br />
1990 – Nikos Kouroussis<br />
(Venice Aperto) – Theodoulos Gregoriou<br />
1993 – George Sfi kas<br />
1997 – Theodoulos Gregoriou, Lefteris Olympios, Nikos<br />
Charalambides, Savvas Christodoulides<br />
1999 – Glavkos Koumides<br />
2001 – Andreas Karayan<br />
2003 – Nikos Charalambides<br />
2005 – Panayiotis Michael, Konstantia Sofokleous<br />
2007 – Haris Epaminonda, Mustafa Hulusi<br />
2009 – Socratis Socratous<br />
(Parallel Projects) – Yioula Hadjigeorgiou<br />
1930, the International Film Festival in 1932<br />
and the Theatre Festival in 1934. From 1938,<br />
Grand Prizes were awarded in the art exhibition<br />
section.<br />
After a six-year break during World War II,<br />
the Biennale was resumed in 1948 with renewed<br />
attention to avant-garde movements in<br />
European, and later worldwide, movements<br />
in contemporary art. Abstract expressionism<br />
was introduced in the 1950s, pop art in the<br />
1960s.<br />
The protests of 1968 marked a crisis for the<br />
Biennale; the Grand Prizes were abandoned<br />
and more emphasis went to thematic exhibitions<br />
instead of monographic ones. The 1974<br />
edition was entirely dedicated to Chile, as a<br />
major cultural protest against the dictatorship<br />
of Augusto Pinochet. New prizes were<br />
Leafl et for the Cypriot participation in the<br />
34th Venice Biennale, 1968
A work by Angelos Makrides, 1988 Façade of the Cypriot pavilion in the 2003 Venice Biennale<br />
installed; postmodern art entered the scene<br />
with increasingly varied and popular exhibitions.<br />
In 1980 Achille Bonito Oliva and Harald<br />
Szeemann introduced “Aperto”, a section of<br />
the exhibition designed to explore emerging<br />
art. A three-year gap was left afterwards to<br />
make sure that the 1995 edition would coincide<br />
with the 100th Anniversary of the Biennale.<br />
In 1999 and 2001, Szeemann directed<br />
two editions in a row (48th and 49th) bringing<br />
in a larger representation of artists from Asia<br />
and Eastern Europe and more young artists<br />
than usual and expanded the show into several<br />
newly restored spaces of the Arsenale.<br />
The 50th edition had a record number of<br />
seven co-curators involved, including Hans<br />
Ulrich Obrist, Catherine David, Igor Zabel,<br />
Hou Hanru and Massimiliano Gioni. The 51st<br />
Biennale, opened in June 2005, was curated,<br />
for the fi rst time, by two women: Maria de<br />
Corral and Rosa Martinez. In 2007, Mexico<br />
made its offi cial debut at the Biennale with an<br />
exhibition by artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer<br />
at the Van Axel palace.<br />
The Venice Film Festival is part of the Biennale,<br />
as is the Venice Biennale of Architecture,<br />
which is held in even years. A dance<br />
section, the “International Festival of Contemporary<br />
Dance” was established in 1999.<br />
The formal Biennale is based at a park, the<br />
Giardini, which houses 30 permanent national<br />
pavilions. The Giardini includes a large<br />
exhibition hall which hosts a themed exhibition<br />
curated by the Biennale’s Director. The<br />
“Aperto” began as a fringe event for younger<br />
artists and artists of a national origin not represented<br />
by the permanent national pavilions.<br />
This is usually staged in Arsenale and has become<br />
part of the formal Biennale program.<br />
21
Costas Averkiou, “Fishing in the Karpass”, 1968, oil on canvas, 97x137cm<br />
Adamantios Diamantis, “When the World of Cyprus First Heard the Bad News”, 1975, acrylic, 21x227cm<br />
22<br />
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<br />
“50 Years of<br />
Visual Arts Creation”<br />
The Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts put on the major<br />
retrospective exhibition “50 Years of Visual Arts Creation”<br />
dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus.<br />
23
Ismet V. Guney, “Halal Sultan Tekke”, 1960, oil on canvas (private collection)<br />
The aim of the exhibition “50 Years<br />
of Visual Arts Creation” was to<br />
show contemporary artistic creation as<br />
well as the artistic creation of previous<br />
decades which marked the years of the<br />
Republic of Cyprus, with works dating<br />
from 1950 to the present day.<br />
The exhibition involved the organising<br />
of three autonomous exhibitions which<br />
functioned in parallel as parts of one<br />
large sum of artistic production, numbering<br />
more than 230 works. Many of<br />
these works, from collections of artists<br />
and foundations, had never been shown<br />
in an open exhibition before.<br />
The fi rst exhibition, entitled “Cyprus<br />
1950-1975”, presented the artistic creation of the<br />
years before and after the founding of the Republic<br />
of Cyprus, through the work of about 60<br />
artists. The Minister of Education and Culture,<br />
Mr. Andreas Demetriou, opened this exhibition<br />
on <strong>October</strong> 8th at Casteliotissa. The exhibition<br />
remained open to the public till <strong>October</strong> 30th.<br />
The second exhibition, entitled “1974 – A Milestone<br />
in Politics and Art” showed the artistic creation<br />
pivoting on approaches to the tragic events<br />
of 1974. Works of that period, and also modern<br />
24<br />
Telemachos Kanthos, “Women’s Bazaar IV”, 1978, oil on canvas, 97x130cm<br />
(Kanthos’ family collection)<br />
ones, covered the way in which Cypriot artists<br />
faced –and face– the events of 1974, with all the<br />
parameters and aspects which were created. The<br />
events of 1974, which infl icted a grave blow to<br />
the body of Cyprus, naturally also infl uenced the<br />
course of contemporary art. An additional reason<br />
for the wealth in quantity and quality of artistic<br />
creation was the fact that the decade of the 70s<br />
found Cyprus at a very dynamic stage of artistic<br />
research and creation. This exhibition was<br />
opened by the President of the Republic of Cy-
Andreas Ladommatos, “Broken Window of ’74”, 1975,<br />
oil on canvas<br />
Eleni Nicodemou, “Black Work”, 1987, acrylic on canvas, 2x1.5m<br />
prus, Mr. Demetris Christofi as, on <strong>October</strong> 6th<br />
at the Famagusta Gate. The exhibition remained<br />
open to the public till <strong>October</strong> 30th.<br />
The third exhibition, entitled “Artistic Rhythms”,<br />
was the result of the open invitation of the Chamber<br />
of Fine Arts to the artists to present their<br />
recent work. About 100 artists took part with<br />
paintings, videos, sculptures etc. The Minister of<br />
the Interior, Mr. Neoclis Silikiotis, opened this<br />
exhibition on <strong>October</strong> 4th. The ceremony was<br />
followed by a reception in the exhibition area of<br />
the Kaimakli Mills.<br />
Within the framework of the exhibition, a catalogue/book<br />
was published with text covering the<br />
three parts of the exhibition. In addition to the<br />
works in the exhibition, the book includes works<br />
which it was not possible to secure for the exhibition.<br />
The research, design and the writing<br />
of the text was undertaken by the art historian<br />
Marina Schiza. The assistant curator was Argyro<br />
Toumazou, who also undertook the organisation/<br />
coordination of the exhibition.<br />
The organiser was the Cyprus Chamber of Fine<br />
Arts with the support of the Cultural Services of<br />
the Ministry of Education and Culture, and also<br />
with sponsorship of Kykko Monastery and the<br />
Press Organisation “O Phileleftheros”.<br />
Costas Argyrou, “Cyprus in Chains”, 1981<br />
25
XVII Biennale de Paris in Nicosia<br />
The 17th Biennale de Paris took place where<br />
things… were occurring. From 19 to 25 <strong>October</strong><br />
<strong>2010</strong>, it was in Nicosia in partnership with<br />
ARTos Foundation and sponsored by the Ministry<br />
of Education and Culture, Cultural Services.<br />
The headlight project of this Biennale de Paris<br />
edition was to reinvent the terminology of art by<br />
the following outline:<br />
Art was built by successive liberations from its<br />
own values. New practices appeared along with<br />
new terms. Literally, it is by the terminology that<br />
these changes partly wrote the history of art. A<br />
term always arises from an existing practice and<br />
defi nes it thus that it was hitherto indefi nable.<br />
Name it, is to have it, exist.<br />
Moreover it allows a progression and an extension<br />
of the practice from which it is deriving. The<br />
terminology of art has become richer since its<br />
beginnings –the Renaissance– and has changed<br />
very little over the last 50 years. Accepting the<br />
immobility of the terminology of art would be admitting<br />
the impossibility of historical continuity.<br />
On the contrary, a renewed terminology is an encouraging<br />
sign that art is being transformed. This<br />
is why an update has become essential. The nature<br />
of the Biennale de Paris constitutive steps means<br />
that the usual art words are insuffi cient to realize,<br />
to identify or to describe them. In that, new words<br />
or terms are necessary. These terms are laying the<br />
foundations of a new art terminology.<br />
Within this framework a series of Conferences<br />
and art exhibitions were organised in Nicosia.<br />
The Round Table Discussions<br />
At this round table, different points of views on<br />
the need to update the art terminology were presented<br />
publicly. Participants tackled the subject<br />
in various manners. They actually presented a<br />
selection of new terms of art.<br />
The open to the public Conference was held on<br />
21 <strong>October</strong> at the ARTos Foundation. Its program<br />
included:<br />
• Welcome by Alexandre Gurita (Biennale de<br />
Paris)<br />
• Welcome by Achilleas Kentonis (ARTos Foundation)<br />
• Greeting by Ms. Louli Michaelidou, Cultural<br />
Services, Ministry of Education and Culture,<br />
on behalf of Mr. Pavlos Paraskevas, Director of<br />
Cultural Services.<br />
• Greeting by Ms. Eleni Mavrou, Mayor of Nicosia<br />
• Greeting by Elpida Keravnou, President of<br />
CUT Governing Board<br />
• Introduction of the international projects participating<br />
in the 17th Biennale de Paris by the<br />
artists<br />
• Conference speeches<br />
• Question and Answer session with the public,<br />
coordinated by Foivos Liasides.<br />
“Neology is the art to form new words for new or badly expressed ideas.<br />
Neologism is a mania to use new words without any need or taste. Neology<br />
has its own rules; neologism is only guided by a vain whim.”<br />
Louis Sébastien Mercier, 1801<br />
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The Conference speakers and titles of their presentations<br />
were as follows:<br />
Alexandre Gurita: Invisual (A. G. – Strategist<br />
in the fi eld of art. Director of the Biennale de<br />
Paris since 2000. Refl ections associated with his<br />
practice: “Art is a suffi cient reason in itself to do<br />
without it”, “The object of art is the modifi cation<br />
of the idea art”, “Art is the art of art”.)<br />
Loïc Depecker: Terminology and real (L. D. –<br />
Linguist and terminologist. Founder and President<br />
of the French terminology company.)<br />
Ghislain Mollet-Vieville: Art agent & nonartistic<br />
art (G. M.-V. –Art agent. Art critic. Art<br />
collector. Expert adviser, expert with the Paris<br />
Court of Justice. Refl ections associated with his<br />
practice: “I have nothing to show and I’m showing<br />
it”.)<br />
Genevieve Breerette: Art by terminology (G.<br />
B. – Art critic and journalist. President of the<br />
French section of the International Association<br />
of Art Critics.)<br />
Achilleas Kentonis: Data Cities/Meta-environments<br />
(A. K. – Artist. Researcher, Founder and<br />
Artistic Director of the ARTos Foundation.)<br />
Jean-Baptiste Farkas: To operate in real [J.-<br />
B. F. – Artistic activities. Professor at the Fine<br />
Art School in La Reunion. He has created two<br />
identities with which he is still performing today:<br />
Ikhéa (1998 became Ikhea© services in<br />
2004) and Glitch, much more less! (2002) Initiator<br />
of the Amicale de la Biennale de Paris<br />
(2006).]<br />
The closed to the public Conference was held on<br />
22 <strong>October</strong> at the ARTos Foundation:<br />
10:00HRS | Discussion by the small group of<br />
guests and artists concerning the Conference –<br />
Preliminary suggestions.<br />
16:00HRS | Introduction to the Round Table<br />
Discussion by Conference Coordinator.<br />
16:15HRS | Short presentation by artist Paul<br />
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Jean-Baptiste Farkas (France):<br />
O. O. Workshop: “Useless, impractical, embarrassing?<br />
Give us the objects you want to get rid of!”<br />
Ricardo Mbarkho (Lebanon):<br />
National Lebanese Tabbouleh Day<br />
Robert entitled Public of Indifference.<br />
16:30HRS | Part A of the discussion and proposals<br />
on New Terminology. Coordinator: Caroline<br />
Keppi-Gurita (assistant offi cer at the Biennale de<br />
Paris. In charge of the project “Reinventing the<br />
Terminology of Art”.)<br />
18:00HRS | Coffee break<br />
18:15HRS | Part B of the discussion and proposals<br />
on New Terminology. Coordinator: Ellada<br />
Evangelou.<br />
20:00HRS | Final Remarks – Closing
International Projects<br />
Jean-Baptiste Farkas (France): O. O. Workshop:<br />
“Useless, Impractical, Embarrassing? Give<br />
us the Objects you Want to Get Rid of!” – 20 <strong>October</strong><br />
at the ARTos Foundation<br />
The O. O. Workshop invited the public to empty<br />
its overloaded daily life. The preliminary phase,<br />
consisting of talking about the why (and the how,<br />
a genuine moment of refl ection on “less”) of the<br />
destruction of the object, was essential. Excerpt<br />
from an IKHEA letter describing the realisation<br />
of the O. O. Workshop during the 2003 Nuit<br />
Blanche (an all-night cultural event in Paris):”<br />
... with IKHEA©SERVICES, devoted to reducing<br />
productive consumption, we have turned to<br />
the idea of “subtractive services” which openly<br />
attack merchandise. Services which, because<br />
they are theoretically executed without a public<br />
(directly in the client’s home and in that person’s<br />
presence alone), should permit those who realise<br />
them to do without intermediaries (the market,<br />
the stage) as much as possible. By defi nition,<br />
however, the Nuit Blanche (a high-visibility op-<br />
Patrizio Travagli (Italy): “Talking Bulbheads”<br />
eration open to a very large public) precluded a<br />
number of circumstances favourable to the realization<br />
of the services indicated above (working<br />
without an audience, modestly, in direct<br />
relationship with the client). To keep the O. O.<br />
Workshop from turning into a spectacle, it was<br />
necessary to adopt an extremely diligent attitude<br />
during the execution of the service and remain<br />
both measured and precise in the destructive act.<br />
Ricardo Mbarkho (Lebanon): National Lebanese<br />
Tabbouleh Day – 20-24 <strong>October</strong> at the AR-<br />
Tos Foundation<br />
In April 2001, the Lebanese artist Ricardo<br />
Mbarkho decides unilaterally that the fi rst Saturday<br />
of July would be the National Tabbouleh<br />
Day. Right after, he informs by email thousands<br />
of Lebanese that he does not necessarily know,<br />
and invites them to transfer the message everywhere<br />
to the world… It is the snowball that<br />
starts! The Lebanese and foreign press mobilizes<br />
with articles announcing the news. The 15th<br />
edition of the Biennial of Paris presents the National<br />
Tabbouleh Day since 2006. The Lebanese<br />
Ministry of Tourism offi cially gives its approval<br />
and its patronage for the 2007 edition; The National<br />
Tabbouleh Day is henceforth celebrated<br />
each year by all the Lebanese. This new form of<br />
art has started: The Celebration Art.<br />
The Tabbouleh is the most famous Lebanese traditional<br />
dish. During this day, Lebanese and their<br />
friends everywhere in the world meet in private<br />
or in public around this king of the mezzé. This<br />
artistic, cultural, gastronomic and touristy feast<br />
presents them an opportunity to show and to reinforce<br />
their attachment to their country and to<br />
their roots.<br />
Patrizio Travagli (Italy): “Talking Bulbheads”<br />
– 20-25 <strong>October</strong> at Peace Room, Ledra Street<br />
“Talking Bulbheads” is the latest new media<br />
experiment by Patrizio Travagli. While seated<br />
in a Tuscan villa, a passage light blinking out<br />
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of weak transmission became interpreted as a<br />
signal; a blinking light which became a Morse<br />
code, transferring secret messages to the visual<br />
receiver. A dialogue began to unravel through<br />
the systematised light, and the hosting website<br />
kept track and hosted all sentences designed<br />
through this project.<br />
Creating a network of Morse codes connected<br />
with a dialogue of blinking lights, “Talking<br />
Bulbheads” mapped the world through the independently<br />
conjoined light sentences.<br />
Paul Robert (France): “The Runner” – 23 <strong>October</strong><br />
at the Peace Room, Ledra Street<br />
Paul Robert gave a very interesting description<br />
of the project he performed in Nicosia. On the<br />
brochure published for the XVII Biennale de<br />
Paris he introduced “The Runner” as it follows:<br />
“To say: ‘there will be art’, it considers the spectator<br />
to be an idiot or an incompetent. Institutions<br />
know very well how to do that. They use all<br />
sorts of signs indicating the arts (special exposition<br />
places, invitation cards, gold frames, visual<br />
habits, articles in the press under the headings of<br />
‘culture’ rather than ‘political’ or ‘sport’, etc.).<br />
Each of these signs warns the public that they<br />
will have to think about art in<br />
one context or in one situation<br />
but not in another, when one<br />
is looking at one object but<br />
not another. It degrades the<br />
spectator; it denies them of<br />
the ability to think uninhibited<br />
about the world around<br />
them. Friday, <strong>October</strong> 23rd, in<br />
the morning, I will be in the<br />
streets of Nicosia to conduct<br />
an experiment, which interests<br />
me when I think about<br />
it in an artistic point of view.<br />
That, I promise. The experiment<br />
will take place in the<br />
city openly. In my mind, I call<br />
this experience ‘one-sided’ or<br />
‘without symmetry,’ to distin-<br />
30<br />
guish it from my other experiments. But I refuse<br />
to say more for now, out of respect for people<br />
who will be there that day. I will talk about it in<br />
the discussions in the afternoon.”<br />
Cyprus Project<br />
“Imbalanced Echoeing: Accidental Private<br />
Feedback” – 23 <strong>October</strong> at the Peace Room, Ledra<br />
Street<br />
This project was curated and created by Achilleas<br />
Kentonis and it was open to artists or<br />
groups who were willing to experiment, add<br />
or evolve the existing platform. The creation<br />
of this open platform was a basis for artistic<br />
practices of interfering with the ambience of<br />
the living environment on public space. This<br />
project was a system which violated the element<br />
of personal space in any public space and<br />
created a post-environment situation which<br />
worked as a feedback to the person which accidentally<br />
passed by. Artists or artists groups<br />
could observe and propose additional elements<br />
which will be presented as a collective work in<br />
other places in Cyprus and Europe. This project<br />
could have taken many forms and many versions<br />
according to the artist who evolved it.<br />
“Imbalanced Echoeing: Accidental Private Feedback”
Ara Gevorgian Performed on the Occasion<br />
of the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus<br />
The world renowned Armenian composer<br />
Ara Gevorgian with his Orchestra and<br />
the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra and the local<br />
“Sipan” Dance Ensemble performed on the occasion<br />
of the 50th Anniversary of the Republic<br />
of Cyprus. Two spectacular music and dance<br />
performances took place under the auspices of<br />
H.E. President of the Republic Mr. Demetris<br />
Christofi as, who honored the event with his<br />
presence on the 20th November.<br />
The music of Ara Gevorgian and the dances, under<br />
the music direction of the famous conductor<br />
Karen Durgaryan took the audience on a journey<br />
and witnessed the tragedy, but also the determination,<br />
the struggle and the will of the Armenian<br />
nation to survive. The performances were held<br />
at Strovolos Municipal Theatre, Nicosia, on 20<br />
and 21 November. The concerts were organised<br />
by the Armenian Representative Offi ce in collaboration<br />
with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra<br />
Foundation and sponsored by the Ministry of<br />
Education and Culture – Cultural Services, the<br />
House of Representatives and many others.<br />
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32<br />
Ara Gevorgian<br />
Ara Gevorgian<br />
The composer was born in Yerevan in 1960.<br />
He is the son of Valya Samvelyan – a famous<br />
singer of Armenian folk and popular songs.<br />
From 1987-1989 he studied to become conductor<br />
at the Armenian Pedagogical Institute<br />
and was the leader of the local pop orchestra.<br />
Over the years he was awarded several prizes:<br />
in 2004 he was awarded the title of Honorary<br />
Actor of the Republic of Armenia by President<br />
Robert Kocharian, in 2006 he was awarded a<br />
prize for his contribution to the development<br />
of Armenian instrumental music and participated<br />
in the Opening Ceremony of the Cultural<br />
Year of Armenia in the Russian Federation,<br />
hosted at the Moscow Kremlin Music Hall in<br />
the presence of the Presidents of Armenia and<br />
Russia Robert Kocharyan and Vladimir Putin,<br />
respectively, and the famous singer<br />
Charles Aznavour. He was awarded<br />
the “Mikhail Lomonosov” Medal of<br />
Honor from the government of Russia.<br />
The composer has co-operated<br />
with famous Armenian and foreign<br />
musicians and participated in a series<br />
of festivals. He has performed<br />
in different countries such as Russia,<br />
USA, France, Canada, Australia,<br />
Lebanon, Syria etc.<br />
Karen Durgaryan<br />
Born in Yerevan, he graduated from the<br />
Yerevan State Conservatory in 1996. In<br />
1995 he was appointed Associate Conductor<br />
of the Armenian State Philharmonic<br />
Orchestra and was the Resident<br />
Conductor of the Yerevan Symphony<br />
Orchestra. In 1996 he became the Music<br />
Director of “Britten and Armenia”<br />
International Music Festival in Yerevan<br />
and since 1997 he has been the Music<br />
Director and Conductor of the Yerevan<br />
State Music Chamber Theater. In March<br />
2001, Durgaryan assumed the position<br />
of Principal Conductor of the Armenian<br />
National State Opera and Ballet Theatre.<br />
He has collaborated with various orchestras around<br />
the world such as: the Symphony Orchestra of<br />
Cagliari Lyric Theater (Italy), the Portuguese Sym-<br />
Karen Durgaryan
SIPAN Dance Ensemble<br />
phony Orchestra, the Sao Carlos National Opera<br />
Company Choir in Lisbon, the St Petersburg Philharmonic<br />
Orchestra at the 11th International Musical<br />
Olympus Festival, the Silantiev State Academic<br />
Orchestra in the Moscow Kremlin Grand Hall and<br />
the Orchestra of Carlo Felice Theatre in Genoa. He<br />
has appeared in prestigious concert halls such as<br />
the Thessaloniki Opera, the Mariinsky Theatre, St<br />
Petersburg etc.<br />
SIPAN Dance Ensemble<br />
In the year 2000 the Armenian Cultural and Educational<br />
Association Hamazkayin Cyprus formed<br />
the SIPAN Dance Ensemble composed of 45<br />
members, which celebrated its 10th anniversary<br />
this year. SIPAN performs annually and takes<br />
part in various local and international festivals<br />
around the island. Mrs. Janna Tahmizian, a well<br />
known dancer and choreographer from Armenia,<br />
with her huge contribution and dedication, made<br />
young Cypriot Armenian boys and girls embrace<br />
this beautiful side of the rich Armenian culture<br />
despite present day diffi culties. She was able to<br />
bring the Ensemble to its present formidable level,<br />
through a great deal of sacrifi ce and consistent<br />
hard work. Mrs. Tahmizian presently teaches at<br />
the State Institute of Dance of Yerevan and also<br />
works as Assistant Stage Director and Choreographer<br />
at the Yerevan State Opera.<br />
Hamazkayin owes a huge debt of gratitude to<br />
the Cyprus government for its contribution<br />
and help in keeping the Armenian culture alive<br />
through the Ministry of Education and Culture.<br />
By this opportunity, SIPAN expressed its<br />
heartfelt appreciation to the great support of<br />
the Armenian Representative in the House Mr.<br />
Vartkes Mahdessian and to all other organizations<br />
and individuals, who have encouraged the<br />
Ensemble to continue its existence.<br />
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34<br />
“xperimental 9.0”<br />
Continuing to pioneer within the “xperimental”<br />
scene of Cyprus, the Pantheon<br />
Cultural Association organised the 9th International<br />
Xperimental Film & Animation Festival<br />
on 19 November at Pantheon Gallery.<br />
The Festival was sponsored by the Ministry<br />
of Education and Culture, Cultural Services.<br />
Pantheon Association strives to enforce its<br />
annual Festival into a globally established<br />
entity which keep standards and give a<br />
niche to those interested in the fi eld. This<br />
year the Festival has been spread out into<br />
a day during which the Pantheon Gallery<br />
was transformed into an “xperimental”<br />
cinema, where viewers were able to enjoy<br />
the screenings. The selection progress of<br />
fi lms was based on the proposed concepts<br />
and its audiovisual interpretation as well as<br />
on the level of the creativity, authenticity<br />
and experimentation in an effort to bring<br />
these works closer to the wider public.<br />
The participants in “xperimental 9.0” Festival<br />
were as follows:<br />
Part A<br />
All of My Time<br />
NAME: Nefeli Misuraca<br />
DURATION: 12:00<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 01/09<br />
FORMAT: video<br />
COUNTRY: Cyprus<br />
SYNOPSIS: All of my time or how to<br />
write a poem.<br />
Teslavision<br />
NAME: H. Nordholt & F. Steingrobe<br />
DURATION: 3:00<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 03/10<br />
FORMAT: Video<br />
COUNTRY: Germany<br />
SYNOPSIS: The engineer Nikola Tesla<br />
speaks about his ideas of photographing<br />
thoughts and about television. I expect that<br />
in the future thoughts can be photographed.<br />
Soaked Recall<br />
NAME: Chrysanthi Christoforou
DURATION: 5:03<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 05/10<br />
FORMAT: Video<br />
COUNTRY: Cyprus<br />
SYNOPSIS: The artist uses the past to reinterpret<br />
and face it in the present. Direct and mediated<br />
experiences create a random otherness. The self<br />
requires the other to defi ne itself as we belong<br />
outside of ourselves, elsewhere. Thus when experiencing<br />
the dislocation from the other we realize<br />
the subject (I) and the image of ourselves (ego).<br />
I Wanna Be a Mama<br />
NAME: Hyo Jung Kwag<br />
DURATION: 2:38<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 09/09<br />
FORMAT: 2d computer animation<br />
COUNTRY: Cyprus<br />
SYNOPSIS: Yes I wanna be a mama. Yes I wanna<br />
have a baby. Yes I wanna…<br />
Eventually<br />
NAME: Gareth Hudson<br />
DURATION: 3:30<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 09/09<br />
FORMAT: Digital Video<br />
COUNTRY: UK<br />
SYNOPSIS: An outlook on the struggle for ascension<br />
and the persistence of loss.<br />
Aanaatt<br />
NAME: Max Hattler<br />
DURATION: 4:45<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 10/08<br />
FORMAT: HD camera<br />
COUNTRY: UK<br />
SYNOPSIS: The ever-shifting shape of analogue<br />
futurism.<br />
Private Refl ection<br />
NAME: Tasos Anastasiades<br />
DURATION: 1:56<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 01/10<br />
FORMAT: Video<br />
COUNTRY: Cyprus<br />
SYNOPSIS: Nazi vs. child’s play. To me the<br />
idea of Nazism is never truly gone. It watches<br />
our every move waiting to fi nd a weak spot so it<br />
can fl ourish again. The child’s play reminds us,<br />
the grownups, how innocent we once were. To<br />
me the answer to life is innocence.<br />
The Apple<br />
NAME: Maria Christoforou<br />
DURATION: 1:18<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 07/10<br />
FORMAT: Video<br />
COUNTRY: Cyprus<br />
SYNOPSIS: The animation conveys the different<br />
emotional roles played by contemporary<br />
women. It juxtaposes Eve’s temptation to<br />
consume the apple in the Garden of Eden with<br />
Snow White’s innocent desire. The apple symbolizes<br />
the taboos and temptations of modern<br />
life and its cutting symbolizes the loss of innocence.<br />
A Movement Towards<br />
NAME: David Anthony Sant<br />
DURATION: 6:53<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 06/10<br />
FORMAT: Video<br />
COUNTRY: Malta<br />
SYNOPSIS: The fi lm is an experiment in associated<br />
imagery. Within each sequence are images<br />
of water as it is pulls and pushes against<br />
and together with a diverse but considered range<br />
of materials, surfaces and objects.<br />
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36<br />
Part B<br />
Handmade<br />
NAME: Boris<br />
Franco<br />
DURATION: 11:39<br />
DATE COMPLET-<br />
ED: 10/09<br />
FORMAT: Video<br />
COUNTRY: Spain<br />
SYNOPSIS: “Handmade” is a refl ection on<br />
the work of an artist. It shows a work made by<br />
hands trying to transform some materials as if<br />
an ancient ritual of magic is involved.<br />
Mirrors<br />
NAME: Demetra Englezou<br />
DURATION: 3:00<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 05/10<br />
FORMAT: Widescreen 16:9 PAL<br />
COUNTRY: Cyprus<br />
SYNOPSIS: “Mirrors” is a motion graphics<br />
video that refl ects energy of the movement,<br />
sound, harmony, space and gravity. The fi lm<br />
guides you through a journey where you are<br />
listening openly and accept the feelings that<br />
refl ect on your instant emotion. Mirrors are a<br />
doorway to another world. It is a metaphor of<br />
possible imaginative worlds.<br />
Moment One<br />
NAME: Jung-Chul Hur<br />
DURATION: 05:53<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 07/10<br />
FORMAT: Video<br />
COUNTRY: Korea<br />
SYNOPSIS: Every<br />
moment consists<br />
of a sequence of<br />
hidden movements<br />
and interactions.<br />
An ordinary nightclub<br />
dance scene has been transformed into a<br />
painterly and poetic form of moving images.<br />
Body movements and shifts in light become<br />
synchronized with carefully chosen classical<br />
music.<br />
Danger<br />
NAME: Nicoleta Avgousti<br />
DURATION: 05:02<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 07/10<br />
FORMAT: Video<br />
COUNTRY: Cyprus<br />
SYNOPSIS: The danger of losing the “glocal”<br />
–global and local– beauty. A collage of original<br />
and found video.<br />
Cheval Blême<br />
NAME: Philippe Rouy<br />
DURATION: 3:55<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 08/09<br />
FORMAT: 35mm<br />
COUNTRY: France<br />
SYNOPSIS: On the 17th of July 1939 a man was<br />
guillotined in public in front of a camera. The<br />
eyes of a horse will never know anything of it.<br />
Dance 0-19<br />
NAME: Stuart<br />
Pound<br />
DURATION: 3:22<br />
DATE COM-<br />
PLETED: 08/09<br />
FORMAT: adobe<br />
after effects...<br />
COUNTRY: UK<br />
SYNOPSIS: Both audio channels are represented<br />
visually as integer numbers correspond<br />
to the amplitude of a soundtrack, music from<br />
the island of Bali: Gamelan Semar Pegulingan/<br />
Gamelan of the Love God.<br />
The Sealed World<br />
NAME: Toby Tatum<br />
DURATION: 6:00<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 07/09<br />
FORMAT: Video<br />
COUNTRY: UK<br />
SYNOPSIS: Mist parts to reveal two young<br />
women surrounded by wild fl owers. Detached<br />
from the outside world they transform everyday<br />
activities into private rituals of mysterious, esoteric,<br />
design.
Part C<br />
Still Burnt<br />
NAME: M. Nestora & G. Salameh<br />
DURATION: 8:00<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 03/10<br />
FORMAT: Video<br />
COUNTRY: Greece/Italy<br />
SYNOPSIS: The fall she settles in, as well as<br />
amnesia, after the fi res. Collective indifference<br />
repeats itself and allows for the repetition of destruction.<br />
A dance in the burnt forest.<br />
An Omen<br />
NAME: Constantinos Chondros<br />
DURATION: 0:55<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 12/09<br />
FORMAT: miniDV<br />
COUNTRY: Greece<br />
SYNOPSIS: Uncertain movement, time, space,<br />
percussion sounds, poetry.<br />
Scrutinize Express<br />
NAME: Antonis Antoniou<br />
DURATION: 3:37<br />
DATE COM-<br />
PLETED: 01/10<br />
FORMAT: Digital<br />
Video<br />
COUNTRY:<br />
Cyprus<br />
SYNOPSIS: Scrutinize = to examine or inspect<br />
closely and thoroughly. Express = operating at<br />
high speed. Scrutinize Express = to examine or<br />
inspect closely and thoroughly at a high speed<br />
through the condensed texture, colour, tone and<br />
emotion of abandoned spaces.<br />
Urban Triptych<br />
NAME: Mar Garrido Roman<br />
DURATION: 04:03<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 07/10<br />
FORMAT: DV PAL 16:9<br />
COUNTRY: Spain<br />
SYNOPSIS: Advancing along a reality which is always<br />
changeable, uncertain and increasingly unpredictable.<br />
The uncertainty corresponds to the transformations<br />
of the sonorous rhythms: the laughs, the<br />
violin, the rain, interlace with the fragmentation and<br />
the fragility of the individual in the city.<br />
Why Do You Have a Beard?<br />
NAME: Ocusonic O’ Donoghue<br />
DURATION: 6:00<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 04/10<br />
FORMAT: Video<br />
COUNTRY: Ireland<br />
SYNOPSIS: Morphing animation tightly to<br />
music. Although “Why Do You Have a Beard?”<br />
has no linear narrative, it has a simple straightforward<br />
message. We are not all the same, we<br />
are different, and that is a good thing.<br />
Found Footage<br />
NAME: Patrizia Monzani<br />
DURATION: 6:00<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 03/10<br />
FORMAT: Found footage<br />
COUNTRY: Italy<br />
SYNOPSIS: Water as a symbol of nature, water<br />
as the origin of life and therefore of man.<br />
The video, entirely realized with open source<br />
material from the internet movie database (also<br />
the music is a copyleft song from the internet),<br />
shortly narrates the history of humanity and its<br />
relationship with our planet earth.<br />
The Polymoids<br />
NAME: Tina Willgren<br />
DURATION: 2:50<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 06/10<br />
FORMAT: Video<br />
COUNTRY: Sweden<br />
SYNOPSIS: A contemplation on the possible occurrence<br />
of smart junk in vacant city areas. Waste,<br />
garbage, rubbish, leftovers, dead matter, smart junk,<br />
new species, biopoesis, biotopes of vacant city areas.<br />
The Movement of Live<br />
NAME: Fatima Tocornal<br />
DURATION: 3:10<br />
DATE COMPLETED: 11/09<br />
FORMAT: Video<br />
COUNTRY: Spain<br />
SYNOPSIS: Complex strategies give the vital<br />
pulse it forms.<br />
37
Artists and academics joined forces in a<br />
common effort to “re-envision” Cyprus.<br />
The result was an edited volume and a photography<br />
and multimedia exhibition.<br />
The authors of “Re-envisioning Cyprus” came<br />
from different disciplines – such as anthropology,<br />
social sciences, art history, literature, cultural<br />
theory and visual arts. They used various<br />
methods – some excavated past images, and<br />
some produced or commented on new ones.<br />
They exploited all kinds of materials – such<br />
as press, studio or vernacular photos, statues,<br />
landmarks, urban constructions and religious<br />
spaces. What united them was fi rst their wish<br />
to see Cyprus with their own eyes and with<br />
Nicos Philippou. From the series “Easter Bonfi res”, 2009<br />
Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert: “Constructing Memories of Family<br />
Fun”, Video still. From the series “Tourists who Shoot”, <strong>2010</strong><br />
38<br />
“Re-Envisioning Cyprus”:<br />
An Exhibition and Book Launch<br />
their own minds, rather than through offi cialising<br />
lenses, or narratives. Second, they were<br />
rather interested in photography, and how it<br />
could help our conceptual understanding of the<br />
island.<br />
The images each author had selected or produced<br />
were included in the accompanied exhibition.<br />
The exhibition featured the work of<br />
visual artists from Cyprus and abroad and was<br />
inaugurated by the Minister of Education and<br />
Culture, Mr. Andreas Demetriou on <strong>December</strong><br />
8 at Pantheon Gallery. The exhibition remained<br />
open until <strong>December</strong> 23.<br />
The participating authors and artists were as follows:<br />
Loucas Antoniou, Melita Couta, Johanna<br />
“Children Carrying Placards Supporting the Strike of their<br />
Miner Parents. One Placard Is in Greek, Another Is in<br />
Turkish”, P.E.O. Archives
From the collection of Charalambos Mavromatis (Four<br />
Generations Photography), circa 1965<br />
Diehl, Anandana Kapur, Phanos Kyriacou,<br />
Orestis Lambrou, Chrystalleni Loizidou, Peter<br />
Loizos, Miriam Paeslack, Haris Pellapaisiotis,<br />
Nicos Phillipou, Sondra Sainsbury, Stephanos<br />
Stephanides, Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert,<br />
Constantinos Taliotis, Demetris Taliotis and Ellene<br />
Tsangarides.<br />
The exhibition was organised by the University<br />
of Nicosia (organiser) and the Cyprus University<br />
of Technology (partner) and was part of the<br />
celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Republic<br />
of Cyprus. The book was published by<br />
the University of Nicosia Press and was available<br />
at the exhibition opening. The editors/curators<br />
of “Re-Envisioning Cyprus” were Peter<br />
Loizos (London School of Economics), Nicos<br />
Philippou (University of Nicosia) and Theopisti<br />
Stylianou-Lambert (Cyprus University<br />
of Technology).<br />
Haris Pellapaisiotis. From the series “Mutant Spaces and<br />
Parasitic Objects. 2001-2005”<br />
Peter Loizos: “A Greek Cypriot Family, Displaced from<br />
Argaki, near Morphou”, 1975<br />
Johanna Diehl: “Karavas”, C-Print, 95x122cm.<br />
From the series “Displace”, 2009<br />
39
40<br />
The Press and Information Offi ce Commemorated<br />
the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus<br />
The Cyprus Press 1960-<strong>2010</strong>:<br />
An Evolution of 50 Years of Independence<br />
On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary<br />
of Cyprus’ Independence, the Press and<br />
Information Offi ce and the Mass Media and<br />
Communication Institute (IMME) of the University<br />
of Nicosia organised an exhibition entitled<br />
“The Cyprus Press 1960-<strong>2010</strong>: An Evolution<br />
of 50 Years of Independence”.<br />
The exhibition was inaugurated on 12 <strong>October</strong><br />
<strong>2010</strong> by the Government Spokesman Mr. Stefanos<br />
Stefanou who referred in his speech to the<br />
struggles of the people of Cyprus from 1960 till<br />
today which are refl ected in the various headlines<br />
of the Cyprus Press, and expressed his desire<br />
for a future exhibition of the Turkish Cypriot<br />
Press, which also is part of the Cypriot Press.<br />
The Government Spokesman, Mr. Stefanos Stefanou, and other personalities at the exhibition<br />
Referring to the Cyprus Problem, Mr. Stefanou<br />
stated that the key for a solution to that is Turkey.<br />
He also pointed out that Cyprus has managed<br />
to become a full member of the United Nations<br />
and the European Union. On the other<br />
hand, he said, “nothing has changed, in the<br />
sense that the same problem that has haunted<br />
us, the Cyprus Problem, is still haunting us today.<br />
We must be realistic and optimistic as regards<br />
the solution to the Cyprus Problem; because<br />
a nation without optimism cannot hope<br />
for anything at all.”<br />
Addresses were also delivered by the Director<br />
of the Press and Information Offi ce Dr. Eleonora<br />
Gavrielides and the Director of Communication<br />
of the IMME Dr. Andreas Cl. Sophocleous.<br />
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<br />
the Press and Information Offi ce, Dr. Eleonora Gavrielides with visitors at the exhibition on the Cyprus Press<br />
fi ce Dr. Eleonora Gavrielides noted that the exhibition<br />
“clearly shows the course of the Press<br />
these fi fty years and also the course of the island.”<br />
Dr. Gavrielides mentioned that “the only thing<br />
certain is that these 50 years since the proclamation<br />
of Cyprus’ Independence were fi lled<br />
with major events which directly infl uence our<br />
lives over and over again.”<br />
She added that “at the same time these 50 years<br />
were years where the Press was upgraded both<br />
technologically and in essence in such a way<br />
that older issues of newspapers seemed strange<br />
both visually and linguistically and also from<br />
a point of the content layout and hierarchy of<br />
news.”<br />
The Director of Communication of the IMME<br />
Dr. Andreas Sophocleous said that the exhibition<br />
would bring back memories of what the<br />
newspapers’ fi rst pages looked like in the past.<br />
“We will remember again incidents and developments,<br />
we will study again the main events<br />
of modern history and we will notice the developments<br />
in the design.”<br />
Journalists, researchers and Press and Information<br />
Offi ce personnel were present at the opening<br />
ceremony.<br />
Multi-theme Exhibition<br />
by the Press and Information Offi ce<br />
The opening on <strong>December</strong> 27th of the Multi-theme<br />
Exhibition organised at the Famagusta<br />
Gate by the Press and Information Offi ce<br />
was crowned with success. The exhibition was<br />
held under the aegis of the President of the Republic,<br />
Mr. Demetris Christofi as, to complete<br />
the series of events organised by the PIO within<br />
the framework of the festivities marking the<br />
50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus.<br />
The event was attended by the Minister of the Interior,<br />
Mr. Nikos Silikiotis, the Minister of Trade,<br />
Industry and Tourism, Mr. Antonis Paschalides,<br />
members of the House of Representatives, ambassadors<br />
of foreign countries to Cyprus and<br />
other offi cials. The exhibition was opened by<br />
the Government Spokesman, Mr. Stefanos Stefanou,<br />
on behalf of the President of the Republic.<br />
In his address, Mr. Stefanou said: “The event is<br />
the climax of a series of events which the Press<br />
and Information Offi ce organised on the occasion<br />
of the 50th Anniversary of the founding of<br />
the Republic of Cyprus. As an introduction to<br />
the event, we chose the cultural intervention by<br />
the two communities and three religious groups<br />
41
in Cyprus. The message of this introduction is<br />
clear and plain. Together, Greek Cypriots, Turkish<br />
Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins<br />
honor their common achievement, their common<br />
native land, the Republic of Cyprus, which in the<br />
half-century of its life has met with obstacles and<br />
tragedies. The Cypriot people have survived the<br />
tragedies. But they have not yet reached their<br />
Ithaca, despite the successes and achievements<br />
they have recorded. Our people will reach their<br />
Ithaca when the Turkish occupation ends, when<br />
the de facto partition of the island comes to an<br />
end and Greek and Turkish Cypriots join one<br />
another in song and dance in a free, common native<br />
land within the framework of a bi-zonal, bicommunal<br />
federation, as the two communities<br />
have agreed since 1977.”<br />
Referring to the photographic exhibition-itinerary<br />
which was part of the Multi-media Exhibition<br />
of the PIO, Mr. Stefanou said: “With<br />
the lights of photography we can illuminate the<br />
course of history and see how we arrived at the<br />
point where we are now, where we made mistakes<br />
and what went wrong, so that we ended up<br />
with the double crime of the traitorous, fascist<br />
coup d’état by the Junta in Athens and EOKA B<br />
and then the Turkish invasion which followed<br />
fi ve days later. The exhibition is an opportunity<br />
for us to look at the past critically and to assess<br />
42<br />
what we should avoid and what we should do<br />
or not do so that we do not fall into the traps of<br />
foreigners hostile to the well-intentioned interests<br />
of Cyprus. Or even, for Turkey not to be<br />
allowed to invade.”<br />
He added: “The purpose of history is not to read<br />
just the facts and to say how things would have<br />
been if we had not done this or that. The purpose<br />
of history is, through the mental reconstruction<br />
of the facts, decisions and actions, to see our mistakes,<br />
to see our shortcomings and to go forward<br />
and not remain rooted in the past, especially a<br />
past that is distorted and distortive. The role of<br />
history has been aptly described as that of a car<br />
rear-view mirror. The driver glances behind him<br />
in order to drive forwards safely. This is what we<br />
must do. The exhibition organised by the Press<br />
and Information Offi ce for the citizens of Cyprus<br />
modestly contributes to this.” In conclusion, the<br />
Government Spokesman thanked all those who<br />
had contributed to the exhibition.<br />
Next, the Director of the Press and Information<br />
Offi ce, Dr. Eleonora Gavrielides, gave a<br />
short speech in which, having thanked those<br />
contributing to the exhibition, she said the<br />
PIO exhibition was multi-themed “because<br />
the course of the Republic of Cyprus is so<br />
comprehensive and on so many levels that it<br />
could not be conveyed in a strictly conserva-<br />
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<br />
Address by the Director of the Press and Information Offi ce, Dr.<br />
Eleonora Gavrielides<br />
tive and linear way. For precisely this reason<br />
we chose for the event a combination of photographic<br />
documents in an artistic rendering<br />
of discourse, music, audio-visual productions<br />
and visual interventions with the aim of avoiding<br />
narrative on one level or strictly chronological.”<br />
She also said that a great part of the<br />
audio-visual material was projected for the<br />
fi rst time at the opening of the exhibition and<br />
that it would go on to be widely used both in<br />
Cyprus and abroad.<br />
During the event, Cypriot artists from the communities<br />
and religious groups of Cyprus made<br />
their own distinctive contribution with poetry,<br />
music and song. In the artistic intervention<br />
which was entitled “Cyprogeneia”, excerpts<br />
were heard of hymns from the communities and<br />
religious groups of Cyprus, coordinated and<br />
orchestrated by Larkos Larkou, with imageprocessing<br />
by Christoforos Larkou and lighting<br />
by AMS Sound Control.<br />
The Government Spokesman, Mr. Stefanos Stefanou, with the<br />
Director of the Press and Information Offi ce, Dr. Eleonora<br />
Gavrielides, at the exhibition<br />
There followed a showing of the fi lms produced<br />
by the PIO: “A Place in History: 50 Years of the<br />
Republic of Cyprus”, with research and text by<br />
Costas Yennaris, produced by Media Box Ltd<br />
and with montage/direction by Michalis Georgiades,<br />
and “The Republic of Cyprus: 50 Years of<br />
Creation”, produced by AMP Film Works Ltd.<br />
As the epilogue to the offi cial events of the 50th<br />
Anniversary, the exhibition aspired in different<br />
ways and with a particularly original presentation,<br />
to show the milestones in the history of the Republic<br />
of Cyprus through a spectrum of thematic<br />
unities and visual and artistic interventions.<br />
The exhibition remained open till <strong>December</strong><br />
31st. It was then transferred to the exhibition<br />
area of the Nicosia Multi-purpose Municipal<br />
Centre “Pallouriotissa Old Market” where,<br />
from January 3rd to February 9th, it may be<br />
visited by groups from schools and educational<br />
institutions of Cyprus.<br />
43
Dancecyprus presented an exciting program<br />
chosen by the artistic director<br />
Carolina Constantinou, with a variety of classical<br />
and contemporary repertoire by famous<br />
choreographers with professional dancers<br />
from leading ballet companies such as Staatsballett<br />
Berlin (Germany), Victor Ullate Ballet<br />
(Spain), Centre Choreographique National<br />
de Nantes (CCNN – France). Amongst them<br />
Cypriot professional dancers who excelled<br />
abroad, Natalia Krekou (Ballett St Pölten Austria<br />
and Moscow City Ballet), Dafni Mouyiassi<br />
(Formerly Bejart Ballet Lausanne), Anastasia<br />
Paschali (Formerly Royal Danish Ballet),<br />
and Loizos Constantinou (Formerly Athens<br />
National Opera).<br />
The performances were held from 10 to 12<br />
<strong>December</strong> <strong>2010</strong> in Limassol (Rialto Theatre),<br />
Larnaca (Municipal Theatre) and Nicosia (Pallas<br />
Municipal Theatre). The Ministry of Education<br />
and Culture, Cultural Services were the<br />
principal sponsorship of this dance meeting.<br />
This year Dancecyprus had the honor of welcoming<br />
Andrei Batalov, First soloist of the<br />
Mariinsky Ballet (Kirov). Other dancers included:<br />
Gianluca Battaglia (Soloist at Victor<br />
Ullate Ballet – Spain), Vincent Blanc and Benjamin<br />
Lamarche (Soloists from Centre Choreographique<br />
National de Nantes – France),<br />
Rainer Krenstetter (Soloist at Staatsballett<br />
Berlin), and François Mauduit (Compagnie<br />
Choregraphique Francois Mauduit).<br />
The attendance of famous artists from various<br />
countries showed the dedication to the cause<br />
of fi ghting social exclusion, which follows<br />
the European Union’s nomination of <strong>2010</strong><br />
44<br />
2nd Dancecyprus Gala – “Dance For a Better Life”<br />
In collaboration with the European Commission Representation in Cyprus<br />
and the Press and Information Offi ce, within the framework<br />
of “<strong>2010</strong> European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion”<br />
as the European Year for Combating Poverty<br />
and Social Exclusion. The Dc Scholarship to a<br />
deserving ballet student has been inaugurated<br />
this year and will be permanent.<br />
The repertoire consisted of choreographies<br />
from Petipa’s “Le Corsaire” and “Don Quixote”<br />
as well as neoclassical and contemporary<br />
pieces by Bejart, Brumachon, Demetriadou<br />
Lindahl, Lao, Pandis, Tichy, Mauduit and<br />
Ullate. Carolina Constantinou has choreographed<br />
“Echos” for Dancecyprus Junior Co<br />
with Evelthon Michaelides on drums.<br />
It is worthy to mention that part of the proceeds<br />
has been donated to charity.
Piano Recital by Cyprien Katsaris<br />
for the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus<br />
On 26 November, at the Chamber Music Hall<br />
of the Beethoven House in Bonn, the internationally<br />
acclaimed pianist Cyprien Katsaris performed<br />
a unique piano recital on the occasion of<br />
the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus.<br />
The distinguished composer –and one of the<br />
greatest pianists of the 20th century as has been<br />
remarked by the musicologists– performed a<br />
classical program presenting works of Franz<br />
Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin,<br />
Robert Schumann and Louis Moreau<br />
Gottschalk. Cyprien Katsaris impressed his<br />
audience with his outstanding performance and<br />
technique, as well as with his artistic brilliance<br />
and musical qualities.<br />
Cyprien Katsaris performed the world premiere<br />
of “… if Aphrodite”, a sonata for piano composed<br />
by Fedros Cavallaris. Inspired by Sappho’s<br />
poetry, the Cypriot composer wrote this<br />
musical work on the prosody and the rhythm of<br />
the ancient Greek lyric poetry.<br />
Among the 200 people attending the concert<br />
were the Honorary Consul of the Republic of<br />
Cyprus in Bonn, Mr. Ioannis Vassiliou, who addressed<br />
the audience, the former Ambassador<br />
of Germany in Cyprus, Mr. Rolf Kaiser, and Dr.<br />
Brigitte Kaiser-Derenthal, the General Consuls<br />
of Poland, Korea and Congo, the Honorary<br />
Consul of France, the Cultural Attaché of the<br />
Cyprus Embassy in Berlin, Mrs. Georga Solomontos,<br />
the Cypriot composer Fedros Cavallaris,<br />
editor of German music magazines, and<br />
German and Greek journalists.<br />
The concert, followed by a reception, was organised<br />
by the Cultural Offi ce of the Cyprus Embassy<br />
in Berlin, in collaboration with the Honorary<br />
Consulate of the Republic of Cyprus in Bonn.<br />
45
46<br />
“50 Years Society – Culture – Life<br />
in the Republic of Cyprus”<br />
On 8 November, the President of the Republic,<br />
Mr. Demetris Christofi as, inaugurated<br />
the exhibition entitled “50 Years Society – Culture<br />
– Life in the Republic of Cyprus” which<br />
was held at the Temporary Exhibition Hall of<br />
the Leventis Municipal Museum in Nicosia.<br />
The exhibition was organised on the occasion of<br />
50-year Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus.<br />
The exhibition focused on a retrospective presentation<br />
of the past 50 years in Cyprus through the<br />
collections of the Leventis Municipal Museum<br />
and with the cooperation of the Cyprus State Archives,<br />
the Press and Information Offi ce, the Cyprus<br />
Telecommunications Authority, the Cyprus<br />
Broadcasting Corporation, the Cyprus Central<br />
Bank and other private collections. It aimed to<br />
present the course through the fi rst 50 years of<br />
the Republic of Cyprus, since 16 August 1960,<br />
when the newly-established Republic set out<br />
with steady steps on its diffi cult road. This course<br />
through time, as well as the memories of those<br />
who have lived and grew up in Cyprus during<br />
the last fi ve decades were presented in the exhibition:<br />
memories and points of reference from each<br />
decade; memories and reminiscences of historical<br />
events, social and cultural activities, and a record<br />
Mayor Mavrou addresses the audience at the exhibition. Right: From the inauguration ceremony<br />
of the Cypriot society and its everyday life.<br />
During the inauguration ceremony, the Mayor of<br />
Nicosia, Mrs. Eleni Mavrou, delivered a greeting<br />
speech and after that President Christofi as inaugurated<br />
the exhibition, which included items such as<br />
the fi rst “Government Gazette”, the fi rst speech of<br />
Archbishop Makarios after the establishment of<br />
the Republic of Cyprus, coins from the Leventis<br />
Municipal Museum and Cyprus Central Bank<br />
collections, as well as private objects belonging to<br />
the Presidents of the Republic of Cyprus.<br />
On the occasion of the exhibition, “Pandora’s<br />
Box” and other spaces of the Museum hosted<br />
works of art, including installations and projections,<br />
by Kyriaki Costa –infl uenced by the recent<br />
history of Cyprus– under the title “This Is<br />
My Country and It’s Unexpectedly Beautiful”.<br />
Other events, special tours and educational programs<br />
for children and adults also took place<br />
within the framework of the exhibition.<br />
Sponsors of the “50 Years Society – Culture<br />
– Life in the Republic of Cyprus” were the<br />
Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education<br />
and Culture, Cyta and the Association of The<br />
Friends of the Leventis Municipal Museum.
Part of the exhibition<br />
47
48<br />
Myrto Azina Chronides Was Awarded<br />
the <strong>2010</strong> EU Prize for Literature<br />
Eleven authors have been awarded the <strong>2010</strong><br />
European Union Prize for Literature. Among<br />
them, the Cypriot writer Myrto Azina Chronides<br />
for her book “The Experiment” published in 2009<br />
by Armida Publications.<br />
The award ceremony was held at the Royal Flemish<br />
Theatre in Brussels on 18 November. The<br />
prizes have been awarded by Androulla Vassiliou,<br />
the Commissioner for Education, Culture,<br />
Multilingualism and Youth, together with Doris<br />
Pack, Chairwoman of the European Parliament’s<br />
Committee on Education and Culture, and Fadila<br />
Laanan, the Minister for Culture of the French<br />
Community of Belgium, representing the Presidency<br />
of the Council of the European Union.<br />
The European Union Prize for Literature is jointly<br />
organised by the European Commission with the<br />
European Writers’ Council, the Federation of European<br />
Publishers and the European Booksellers<br />
Federation. It is co-funded through the EU Culture<br />
Program which also offers funding for the translation<br />
literary works. The objective of this Program<br />
is to achieve three main goals: to promote crossborder<br />
mobility of those working in the cultural<br />
sector; to encourage the transnational circulation<br />
of cultural and artistic output; and to foster intercultural<br />
dialogue.<br />
The EU Prize for Literature puts the spotlight on<br />
new and emerging authors. The eleven winners<br />
this year were selected by national juries in Belgium,<br />
Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany,<br />
Luxembourg, Romania, Slovenia, Spain<br />
and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.<br />
The aim of the EU Prize for Literature is to<br />
increase the visibility of the authors outside their<br />
home country. Each winner receives €5,000 and<br />
their books are given priority for support from the<br />
EU’s literary translation funding scheme. The winners<br />
also benefi t from other promotional activities,<br />
including publicity at the Frankfurt Bookfair.<br />
Myrto Azina Chronides (on the right) was awarded by<br />
Androulla Vassiliou<br />
The <strong>2010</strong> winners are:<br />
Belgium: Peter Terrin, “De Bewaker” (“The<br />
Guard”) – Publishing House: De Arbeiderspers<br />
Cyprus: Myrto Azina Chronides, “To Peirama”<br />
(“The Experiment”) – Publishing House: Armida<br />
Publications<br />
Denmark: Adda Djørup, “Den mindste modstand”<br />
(“The Least Resistance”) – Publishing<br />
House: Samleren<br />
Estonia: Tiit Aleksejev, “Palveränd” (“The Pilgrimage”)<br />
– Publishing House: Varrak<br />
Finland: Riku Korhonen, “Lääkäriromaani”<br />
(“Doctor Novel”) – Publishing House: Sammakko<br />
Germany: Iris Hanika, “Das Eigentliche” (“The<br />
Bottom Line”) – Publishing House: Droschl Verlag<br />
Luxembourg: Jean Back, “Amateur” – Publishing<br />
House: Ultimomondo<br />
Romania: Răzvan Rădulescu, “Teodosie cel<br />
Mic” (“Theodosius the Small”) – Publishing<br />
House: Polirom<br />
Slovenia: Nataša Kramberger, “Nebesa v robidah:<br />
roman v zgodbah” (“Heaven in a Blackberry<br />
Bush: Novel in Stories”) – Publishing House: Javni<br />
sklad RS za ljubiteljske dejavnosti
Spain: Raquel Martínez-Gómez, “Sombras de<br />
unicornio” (“Shadows of the Unicorn”) – Publishing<br />
House: Algaida Editores<br />
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: Goce<br />
Smilevski, “Сестрата на Зигмунд Фројд” (“Sigmund<br />
Freud’s Sister”) – Publishing house: Kultura.<br />
Myrto Azina and “The Experiment”<br />
The Cypriot writer commented on her award: “I<br />
have always regarded literature as an inner need<br />
to communicate my world to others. Literature<br />
is a continuous process of opening gates in the<br />
core substance of the human mind and soul, inviting<br />
the reader to enter and become a part of the<br />
writer. The Prize is the key opening the biggest<br />
gate. Through this Prize, barriers and borders vanish.<br />
I will use the same key as well to discover the<br />
social, cultural and religious background of other<br />
writers. The Prize encourages the right to expres-<br />
The eleven awarded authors<br />
During the award ceremony<br />
sion and dissemination of ideas without frontiers.<br />
It promotes linguistic diversity and stresses also<br />
common values and roots. This Prize is a European<br />
investment in literature and made me proud<br />
of being a European citizen.”<br />
Myrto Azina was born in Nicosia in 1961. Since<br />
her early years, she has written many essays and<br />
poems. She won several literary prizes at the Pancyprian<br />
Gymnasium for poetry and prose, and<br />
published her fi rst book, “Hemerologion” (“Diary”),<br />
at the age of fi fteen. After graduation, she<br />
specialized in General Medicine at the academic<br />
hospital of the University of Bonn in Euskirchen.<br />
Since 2007, she has been working in Cyprus at the<br />
Department of Medical and Public Health Services.<br />
She has received a positive critical reaction<br />
for her modern and unconventional writing style,<br />
while her short stories have featured in many literary<br />
magazines and in two national anthologies.<br />
In short, Myrto Azina’s book<br />
could be described as a study on<br />
erotic love and the soul. A couple’s<br />
sexual relationship forms<br />
the central theme running across<br />
most of the stories. From the beginning,<br />
He and She, the book’s<br />
protagonists, take a pledge to<br />
undergo an “experiment”: to<br />
understand the nature of erotic<br />
love and their relationship by abstaining<br />
from carnal contact so<br />
as to devote themselves to writing.<br />
She is an unbowed woman<br />
who claims her freedom. He<br />
is a wise man, a believer in the<br />
Socratic saying, “All I know<br />
is that I know nothing.” “The<br />
Experiment” is peculiar, subtly<br />
connected narrative houses a<br />
collection of tales that lean towards<br />
the structure of a synthetic<br />
prose piece, neither novella nor<br />
novel. Consequently, the book is<br />
an original work, which does not<br />
fi t easily within any traditional<br />
genre of creative prose.<br />
49
Mr. Andreas Menelaou and his son, Mr.<br />
Menelaos Menelaou, held an exhibition<br />
comprised of more than 2,000 items of original<br />
19th century engravings, photographs, books,<br />
maps, newspapers, magazines, British parliamentary<br />
papers, annual colonial reports, original documents,<br />
old picture postcards, ephemera, prints and<br />
other various printed matter all related to the 82<br />
years of the British Rule of Cyprus 1878-1960,<br />
and its repercussions on the island’s history.<br />
This was the fi rst exhibition of its kind ever held<br />
in the United Kingdom and was deemed a huge<br />
success by all those who visited the event; this was<br />
refl ected in the visitor’s comments book which<br />
was at the exhibition.<br />
The selection of exhibits comprised of more than<br />
50<br />
Exhibition for the 82 Years<br />
of the British Rule of Cyprus<br />
2,000 items from the personal collection of Mr.<br />
Andreas Menelaou, who has resided in London<br />
for over 50 years and has been collecting the above<br />
mentioned items for over half a century.<br />
The exhibition was opened by Dr. Niki Katsaouni,<br />
Cultural Counsellor of the High Commission of<br />
the Republic of Cyprus, on 18 <strong>October</strong> and it ran<br />
for fi ve days – up to 22 <strong>October</strong>. It was held at the<br />
hall of the Greek Orthodox Church of St John the<br />
Baptist, in London.<br />
The event was supported by the Cultural Department<br />
of the High Commission of the Republic of<br />
Cyprus in the United Kingdom and was sponsored<br />
by Haringey Council, from the making the difference<br />
grant.<br />
People arriving from the villages to Nicosia, February 1959, to welcome Archbishop Makarios, returning to Cyprus after<br />
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<br />
Tsioupras, RIK journalist, and Dr. Niki Katsaouni, Cultural Counsellor from the Cyprus High Commission London<br />
The Speech of Mr. Menelaou<br />
Mr. Andreas Menelaou gave an addressing speech at<br />
the exhibition describing the most signifi cant events<br />
of the 82 years of the British Rule as follows:<br />
June 1878 – The Turkish Sultan, Abdul Hammit<br />
II, agreed to assign the island of Cyprus, to be occupied<br />
and administrated by Great Britain, thus<br />
ending the 307 years of the Ottoman rule of the<br />
island. Britain agreed to pay Turkey the amount of<br />
22,936 Purses (equal to £92,799-11-3d) Sterling<br />
per year as an annual tribute for the administration<br />
of Cyprus, as per the confi dential agreement<br />
made on June 4th, 1878. The confi dential agreement<br />
was made between Great Britain and Turkey,<br />
and the amount of 22,936 Purses paid to Turkey<br />
per year, was the equal amount that Turkey was<br />
collecting from the Christian Cypriots each year in<br />
taxes, during the Ottoman rule of Cyprus.<br />
Although the island of Cyprus was administered<br />
by Great Britain, it was under the guardianship of<br />
the Sultan of Turkey. This lasted between 1878 and<br />
1914. When the First World War started in 1914,<br />
Turkey sided with Germany and Britain cancelled<br />
the agreement which was made on the 4th June,<br />
1878, and in November of 1914, declared that the<br />
island of Cyprus will remain British, without the<br />
guardianship of the Sultan of Turkey.<br />
12th July, 1878 – British and Indian troops ar-<br />
rived at Larnaka. The island of Cyprus was offi -<br />
cially surrendered to England and the Union Jack<br />
was hoisted in Nicosia. Τhat was the beginning of<br />
the British Rule of Cyprus.<br />
22nd July, 1878 – Sir Garnet Wolsley arrived in<br />
Cyprus and was appointed the fi rst British High<br />
Commissioner (Governor) of Cyprus.<br />
1881 – The fi rst Cyprus census, under the British<br />
administration of the island, was published. The<br />
population of Cyprus was 186,173 inhabitants.<br />
1884 – Mr. H. Kitchener was appointed as the Director<br />
of the Land Registry of Cyprus, and he undertook<br />
the mapping of the island of Cyprus, with<br />
precise details.<br />
1901 – The population of Cyprus was 237,002 inhabitants.<br />
1905 – In <strong>October</strong>, the Cyprus Railway was<br />
opened to the public, from Famagusta to Nicosia,<br />
which served Famagusta, Prastion Mesaoria, Angastina,<br />
Trachoni, Kythrea, and Nicosia.<br />
1914 – In November, Cyprus became British,<br />
without the guardianship of the Sultan, since Turkey<br />
sided with Germany when the First World<br />
War burst out.<br />
25th March, 1921 – The fi rst referendum took<br />
place in all the villages and towns of Cyprus<br />
claiming Cyprus to be united with Greece. The<br />
referendum was signed by the Greek Cypriot cler-<br />
51
gymen, by the Mukhtars and their councils and by<br />
the teachers and other principals of each community<br />
of the island.<br />
1923 – The Treaty of Lausanne was signed by all<br />
European countries including Turkey. This was<br />
offi cially the end of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey<br />
lost Cyprus and other European countries. Turkey<br />
recognised annexation of Cyprus by Great Britain.<br />
1925 – Cyprus became a British Crown Colony.<br />
Sir Malcolm Stevenson became a British Governor<br />
(before that he was High Commissioner).<br />
1930 – The second referendum took place in all<br />
the villages and towns of Cyprus claiming Cyprus<br />
to be united with Greece.<br />
52<br />
Part of the Exhibition<br />
1931 – On 20th <strong>October</strong>, the Bishop of Citium<br />
(Larnaka), Nicodemos Mylonas, addressed a<br />
large meeting at Limassol and called on the people<br />
to rise up for the liberation of Cyprus, because<br />
only through liberation would “salvation” come.<br />
The news of the meeting spread quickly. The<br />
people of Nicosia spilled onto the streets in their<br />
thousands and the revolution had begun. One of<br />
the fi rst incidents of the revolution was the burning<br />
down of Government House outside Nicosia<br />
where the demonstrators gathered to voice their<br />
grievances. They also burnt down the Commissioner’s<br />
house in Limassol and a custom house,<br />
including other incidents of sabotage in all the<br />
other towns across Cyprus.<br />
Some Greek Cypriots were then sent into exile by<br />
the Cyprus British Government, including Bishop<br />
Nicodemos Mylonas, Makarios, (Bishop of<br />
Kyrenia), George Hadjipavlou, the Reverend Dionyssios<br />
Kykkotis, Evdokos Ioannides and others.<br />
1940 – “The Cyprus Regiment” and “The<br />
Cyprus Volunteer Force” was formed. Many<br />
Greek and Turkish Cypriots joined the British<br />
Army in Cyprus.<br />
1946-1948 – At the end of the Second World War,<br />
thousands of Jews who had survived Germany’s<br />
concentration camps in Europe were immigrat-
ing to Palestine, rather than returning to their fatherland,<br />
either because of their sad memories<br />
or because their birthplace had become part of<br />
Eastern Europe, and they were afraid of further<br />
attacks against their lives. At that time, Palestine<br />
was under the British Mandate, and there were political<br />
troubles and fi ghting. Therefore, the British<br />
authorities detained the Jews in Cyprus, until the<br />
disputes were settled.<br />
On the 14th May, 1948, the State of Israel was<br />
formed, and the last British High Commissioner<br />
of Palestine left the country on a British destroyer.<br />
Arrangements were then made by the Cyprus British<br />
Government to release the Jews from Cyprus<br />
into the new state of Israel, as there was now no<br />
longer a bar to the arrival of Jewish refugees.<br />
1955 – On 1 April, EOKA launched its fi ght for<br />
the end of British Rule of Cyprus and for union<br />
with Greece. Sir John Harding was appointed as<br />
the new Governor of Cyprus. Sir John Harding<br />
and Archbishop Makarios had discussions about<br />
the Cyprus question.<br />
“The Illustrated London News” (19.9.1953):<br />
Earthquake at Stroumbi, Paphos, 1953<br />
1956 – Archbishop Makarios and another three<br />
Greek Cypriots, including two clergymen exiled<br />
to Seychelles. Lord Rackliffe’s constitution published<br />
in <strong>December</strong>, but rejected by the Cypriots.<br />
1957 – Sir Hugh Foot was appointed as the new<br />
Governor of Cyprus. Archbishop Makarios was<br />
released from Seychelles and went to Athens.<br />
1959/60 – The Zurich and London Agreement for<br />
the Constitution of Cyprus started with an agreement<br />
on the 19 February 1959 in Lancaster House<br />
in London, between Turkey, Greece, the United<br />
Kingdom and Cypriot community leaders (Archbishop<br />
Makarios III for Greek Cypriots and Dr.<br />
Fazıl Küçük for Turkish Cypriots). On that basis, a<br />
constitution was drafted and agreed together with<br />
two further Treaties of Alliance and Guarantee in<br />
Zurich on 11 February 1960. 15th August 1960<br />
was the last day of the British Rule of Cyprus.<br />
The Union Jack was lowered for the last time. The<br />
Treaty of the Republic of Cyprus was signed in<br />
Nicosia, on the 16th August, 1960. The Republic<br />
of Cyprus was born.<br />
“The Illustrated London News” (24.9.1955):<br />
EOKA – Explosion of a bomb in Nicosia, 1955<br />
53
54<br />
Cyprus Symphony Orchestra: Concerts Dedicated<br />
to the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus<br />
Within the framework of the celebrations<br />
dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of<br />
the Republic of Cyprus, the Cyprus Symphony<br />
Orchestra gave a series of concerts in Cyprus,<br />
Thessaloniki and Veria, with the participation<br />
of young talented Cypriot artists, conductor<br />
Yorgos Kountouris and pianist Elena Mitella.<br />
The program included the works: “In Memoriam”<br />
by Solon Michaelides, Schumann’s “Piano<br />
Concerto in A minor, Op. 54” and Mozart’s<br />
“Symphony No. 40 in G minor”.<br />
The concerts in Cyprus took place at Larnaca Municipal<br />
Theatre on 7 <strong>October</strong> and at Markideion<br />
Theatre, Paphos on 8 <strong>October</strong>. In Greece, the concerts<br />
were held on 13 <strong>October</strong> at the Ceremony<br />
Hall of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,<br />
within the framework of DIMITRIA <strong>2010</strong> Festival<br />
and in collaboration with the Municipality of<br />
Thessaloniki, and on 14 <strong>October</strong> at the Art Centre<br />
of the Municipality of Veria, in collaboration with<br />
the Municipality of Veria, the Public Benefi t Mul-<br />
ti-Development Municipal Organisation of Veria,<br />
the Cyprus Society of Veria and the Federation of<br />
Cypriot Organisations in Greece.<br />
The Program<br />
Solon Michaelides: “In Memoriam” – A tribute<br />
to the imprisoned tombs for string orchestra<br />
(Lento dolente)<br />
In the “imprisoned tombs”, a narrow cemetery<br />
with tall stone walls in the internal part of the<br />
state prisons, there lie the bodies of the thirteen<br />
young men, symbols of the revolt for the exemption<br />
of Cyprus from the British colonisers.<br />
Nowadays, this place constitutes a tribute to<br />
those young people who sacrifi ced their lives<br />
for a better future for Cyprus. “In Memoriam”<br />
was written after a visit of the composer to the<br />
place. For him, a visit there was “a prayer, a<br />
simple-frugual intellectual memorial.” The
Concert in Thessaloniki<br />
Concert in Veria<br />
piece was written on 29th January 1974, almost<br />
six months before the Turkish invasion<br />
in Cyprus. It was fi rst performed on 4th March<br />
1974, in the 15th concert of Thessaloniki State<br />
Orchestra with Solon Michaelides as conductor.<br />
The work is written in ternary form (ABA)<br />
where section B contains another ternary form.<br />
R. Schumann (1810-1856): “Piano Concerto<br />
in A minor, Op. 54”<br />
Two years after marrying his beloved Clara,<br />
Schumann ventured to compose a work for piano<br />
and orchestra, which he envisioned as “a<br />
compromise between a symphony, a concerto<br />
and a huge sonata.” The work, titled “Fantasia”,<br />
was completed in 1841 and, despite the fact<br />
that it was one of his fi rst attempts in orchestral<br />
writing, Schumann was confi dent enough<br />
to offer it for publication, only to face repeated<br />
55
ejection by publishers. Discouraged, he left the<br />
work aside until 1845, when he fi nally transformed<br />
it into a fully fl edged concert, by adding<br />
an intermezzo and a fi nale. The complete concerto<br />
was premiered in Dresden in <strong>December</strong><br />
1845 with Clara as a soloist, instantly becoming<br />
one of Schumann’s most popular and frequently<br />
performed works.<br />
W. A. Mozart (1756-1791): “Symphony No. 40<br />
in G minor”<br />
Although this is one of the most famous works<br />
by Mozart, accurate historical details regarding<br />
the composition of Symphony No. 40, are yet to<br />
be established. Relevant evidence indicates that<br />
the Symphony was composed almost simultaneously<br />
with Symphonies 39 and 41 in the summer<br />
of 1788, and Mozart entered its theme in<br />
his catalogue of works on 25th July. The four<br />
movements of the symphony are arranged in the<br />
standard fast – slow – minuet/trio – fast series,<br />
and all are structured in sonata form, apart from<br />
the minuet and trio, which is constructed in ternary<br />
form.<br />
56<br />
The Artists<br />
Yorgos Kountouris was born in Nicosia in<br />
1980. He graduated with honors from the St<br />
Petersburg State Conservatory in 2006 studying<br />
conducting with Alexander Alexeev and<br />
violin with Antonina Kazarena. Prior to his<br />
years in St Petersburg, Mr. Kountouris graduated<br />
as a violinist from the National Music<br />
School of Cyprus, and studied violin in Vienna<br />
with Arkadi Winokurov and in Germany<br />
with Stelios Kafantaris. During his studies in<br />
Russia, Yorgos Kountouris conducted numerous<br />
performances with the conservatory’s<br />
Symphony Orchestra, Opera and Ballet Orchestra<br />
and Choir. In 2005 he conducted the<br />
St Petersburg Chamber Philharmonia, and<br />
in the same year he made his début in opera<br />
conducting, followed by numerous performances<br />
in the following months. In 2006, Mr.<br />
Kountouris was appointed at the University of<br />
California, Los Angeles as the assistant conductor<br />
of the UCLA Philharmonia and UCLA<br />
Symphony orchestras. He was simultaneously<br />
engaged with research programs related to his<br />
doctorate studies under Professor Neal Stulberg<br />
and was also appointed as one of the<br />
fi ve members of Dr. Robert Winter’s research<br />
team. At UCLA he also appeared as a pianist<br />
with chamber ensembles. In 2008, Kountouris<br />
conducted the Siberian Philharmonic Orchestra<br />
of Tomsk, the St Petersburg State Philharmonic<br />
Orchestra and the St Petersburg State<br />
Symphony Orchestra. In November 2009, Mr.<br />
Kountouris conducted the legendary St Petersburg<br />
State Academic Philhramonia, Russia’s<br />
oldest orchestra and the choir “Lege Artis”<br />
in a program of works by Alkinoos Ioannides<br />
who participated in the concert as soloist. He<br />
made his Cyprus debut in June 2008 as a guest<br />
conductor with the Cyprus Symphony Or-
chestra which he conducted again in February<br />
<strong>2010</strong>. Since <strong>December</strong> 2007, Mr. Kountouris<br />
resumes his research at the St Petersburg Conservatory<br />
under the artistic guidance of Professor<br />
Alexander Alexeev and the scientifi c<br />
supervision of Dr. Natalia Braginskaya. His<br />
musicological works have been published in<br />
USA, Russia, Cyprus and Greece. In June<br />
<strong>2010</strong>, Russia’s most prestigious musicological<br />
journal Moscow Musical Academy published<br />
a paper by Yorgos Kountouris on Manolis Kalomoiris.<br />
He has participated in various musicological<br />
forums such as at the St Petersburg<br />
International Musicology Conference devoted<br />
to Rimsky-Korsakov and the International<br />
Musicology Forum in Moscow.<br />
Elena Mitella was born in Nicosia in 1980.<br />
At the age of fi ve she began her piano studies<br />
at the National Music School of Cyprus, under<br />
Mary Ioannou and later on, with Marios Ioannou.<br />
At the same time she also studied violin<br />
as a second instrument, becoming a member<br />
of the 1st violins of the Cyprus State Youth<br />
Orchestra. At the early age of sixteen she received<br />
the Advanced Certifi cate in piano by the<br />
Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music<br />
with outstandingly high marks, having obtained<br />
the previous year the Grade 8 in violin.<br />
She was also recommended for a scholarship<br />
twice by the same Board. The same year Elena<br />
won the 1st Prize and Grand Prix at the Evangelia<br />
Tjiarri Music Foundation. She was also<br />
honored as the “First Student with the Highest<br />
Achievements” after the 50 years celebration<br />
of the National Music School of Cyprus. Elena<br />
Mitella received her Piano Diploma at the<br />
amazingly young age of fourteen. At the age<br />
of eighteen Elena was accepted at the Royal<br />
Academy of Music in London, graduating in<br />
2002 with a BMus in Piano Performance –<br />
Honors. While at the Academy, she studied under<br />
Patsy Toh and received excellent remarks<br />
during master classes held by famous pianists<br />
Alexander Satz and Murray Perahia, frequent<br />
visiting professors at RAM. The following<br />
year Mitella obtained her MMus in Piano Performance<br />
and Related Studies at Goldsmith’s<br />
College, where she was awarded a Distinction<br />
with her fi nal performance. At present she is<br />
completing her PhD in Piano Performance at<br />
Goldsmith’s College, and her research thesis<br />
is due to be presented in 2011. Since March<br />
2006, Elena is an active piano teacher at the<br />
Music School of Nicosia. Elena Mitella has<br />
participated in concerts as a soloist in Greece,<br />
Cyprus, Austria and England. In Cyprus, she<br />
appeared as soloist with the Cyprus Symphony<br />
Orchestra in 2007 under the baton of Kypros<br />
Markou. After recent piano auditions held by<br />
the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Elena won<br />
the 1st place with very high marks. “Elena is<br />
a brilliantly gifted musician with exceptional<br />
artistry and technical command, and her performances<br />
have a special quality of charisma,<br />
magic and communicative force,” Alexander<br />
Ivashkin, an outstanding person in present day<br />
music activities, has commented on her.<br />
57
November 20th and 21st, <strong>2010</strong>, saw the organization<br />
by Dance Gate Cyprus of “No_body”,<br />
the 2nd Dance, Movement & Performance Arts<br />
Festival, at the Pallas Theatre and Melina Mercouri<br />
Hall in Nicosia. The whole event was kindly<br />
placed under the auspices of the First Lady of the<br />
Republic of Cyprus, Mrs. Elsi Christofi a, while the<br />
Mayor of Nicosia, Mrs. Eleni Mavrou, offered her<br />
generous and indispensable collaboration.<br />
During the Festival weekend a variety of activities<br />
was organised in the afternoon sessions at<br />
Melina Mercouri Hall leading up to the evening<br />
performances at the Pallas Theatre. A total of<br />
nine groups presented newly created interdisciplinary<br />
pieces of work while a further six interactive<br />
presentations showcased their inspiration<br />
on the theme “No_Body” in the form of lectures,<br />
video presentations and improvisations. At both<br />
venues, audiences were treated to a richly diverse<br />
selection of artistic and intellectual expres-<br />
Ekpnoe: “Kouponi Allagis”<br />
58<br />
“No_Body”: 2nd Dance, Movement &<br />
Performance Arts Festival<br />
By Aristos Papachristofi<br />
sion about the human body and what it is possible<br />
to create through movement, music, visual<br />
art, fi lm, architecture, and theatre.<br />
This article’s scope is not to comment on or do<br />
justice to all the work presented –space would<br />
not allow it– but it must be said that the display<br />
of artistic voyages, by experienced as well as<br />
younger artists, was genuine and innovative.<br />
In fact, this endeavour carries the promise that<br />
dance, especially contemporary dance, begins to<br />
create its own identity as an art form in Cyprus.<br />
And this is something that needs to continue<br />
until it becomes a “decree” in order to witness<br />
more of the magic of the art of dance.<br />
The aims and aspirations of the “No_Body” Festival<br />
contribute to the convergence of a variety of<br />
artistic forms where dance is the principal expression.<br />
The ultimate goal is that the dynamic created<br />
by human expressions and experiences will<br />
present itself through original work that emerges
Pascal Caron with Young Actors Unlimited: “To Queue Is to Quake”<br />
out of contemporary concepts in the performing<br />
arts. In order to assist this goal, certain criteria<br />
were set for participation, such as: the applicant<br />
should be an artist; the director need not necessarily<br />
be a choreographer; one of the main performers<br />
must be a dancer/performer and the piece is<br />
required to be an original and new piece of work.<br />
Mrs. Arianna Economou, director of Dance Gate<br />
Cyprus, opened the Festival, in a welcoming<br />
speech that strongly emphasized the event’s scope:<br />
“‘No_Body’ is a festival that features original and<br />
distinct works, the result of artistic dialogue and<br />
creative collaborations. This display of the diversity<br />
and individuality of the contemporary artistic<br />
landscape of Cyprus is one of the Festival’s major<br />
objectives. Our goal as organisers is to encourage<br />
and deepen the creative process and break new<br />
ground in artistic expression. The thinking body<br />
remains the axis of our creative work.”<br />
Dance Gate Cyprus was founded in 2007. Since<br />
then, diverse choreographers, musicians, actors and<br />
generally people of the arts, have collaborated closely<br />
to achieve a remarkable output of artistic activity<br />
with a focus on performance work that has made a<br />
major contribution to the island’s artistic progress.<br />
Selas Dance Company: “You Step on Me”<br />
Dance Gate Cyprus is a nonprofi t organization<br />
working for the promotion and development<br />
of dance as a contemporary and interactive art<br />
form. One of its principal aims which are slowly<br />
now giving results is the creation of a Dance<br />
Centre, Dancehouse, in the form of a building in<br />
Nicosia that the state and the town of Nicosia are<br />
now intending to undertake for the whole community<br />
of Nicosia. This centre is to act as a home<br />
for dance in form of a building to host dance inter-activities<br />
and act as a meeting place for all<br />
the contemporary dance organizations currently<br />
59
Fibre Performing Arts Company: “On_Body” And, Company: “Copy.Paste.”<br />
in Cyprus and their activities and so to empower<br />
their projects. Dance Gate has been an affi liate<br />
member of the European Dance House Network<br />
since 2009, functioning within the aims and objectives<br />
of the European Dance Network. Very<br />
important is its partnership with the European<br />
Funded Program “Modul-Dance”, a four year<br />
program (<strong>2010</strong>-2014), a professional association<br />
that consolidates the international relations<br />
of Cyprus with the European Dance community.<br />
Dance Gate Cyprus has offered the experience<br />
of an artistic voyage, presented and witnessed<br />
with great interest. In the organization of the<br />
“No_Body” Festival inspiration will continue<br />
to fl ow through artistic channels, thereby giving<br />
fresh impetus for creative productions to move<br />
us with their magnifi cence.<br />
Complete list of participants in the Festival:<br />
Pallas Theatre:<br />
Fibre Performing Arts Company/ “On_Body”<br />
60<br />
Theatre Group Mitos/ “Silenced”<br />
And, Company / “Copy.Paste.”<br />
MRA Dance Company/ “Nowhere: No Body”<br />
X-It Dancetheatre/ “Spiegel Im Spiegel” (“Mirror<br />
in the Mirror”)<br />
Selas Dance Company/ “You Step on Me”<br />
aRttitude/ “Untitled #1”<br />
Pascal Caron with Young Actors Unlimited/ “To<br />
Queue Is to Quake”<br />
Ekpnoe/ “Kouponi Allagis”<br />
Melina Mercuri Hall:<br />
Noema Dance Works-Alexandra Waierstall/<br />
“Mapping the Wind”<br />
Christodoulos Christodoulou/ “The Only On[c]e”<br />
Stephanie Kanna/ “Traces of Movement”<br />
Stavros Stavrou Karayianni/ “Terpsichore in<br />
Cyprus”<br />
Arianna Economou-Echo Arts/ “One Square<br />
Foot”<br />
Christina Papakyriakou/ “Drawing Performance”.
Christophoros A. Pissarides Won<br />
the <strong>2010</strong> Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences<br />
On 11 <strong>October</strong> <strong>2010</strong>, the Royal Swedish<br />
Academy of Sciences announced its decision<br />
to award the <strong>2010</strong> Sveriges Riksbank Prize<br />
in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred<br />
Nobel to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen<br />
(both from USA) and the Cypriot Christophoros<br />
A. Pissarides “for their analysis of markets with<br />
search frictions.”<br />
The Royal Swedish Academy highlighted: “On<br />
many markets, buyers and sellers do not always<br />
make contact with one another immediately. This<br />
concerns, for example, employers who are looking<br />
for employees and workers who are trying to<br />
fi nd jobs. Since the search process requires time<br />
and resources, it creates frictions in the market.<br />
On such search markets, the demands of some<br />
buyers will not be met, while some sellers can-<br />
Christophoros Pissarides was awarded the Nobel Prize<br />
Professor Christophoros A. Pissarides<br />
61
not sell as much as they would wish. Simultaneously,<br />
there are both job vacancies and unemployment<br />
on the labor market.<br />
This year’s three Laureates have formulated a<br />
theoretical framework for search markets. Peter<br />
Diamond has analyzed the foundations of search<br />
markets. Dale Mortensen and Christophoros<br />
Pissarides have expanded the theory and have<br />
applied it to the labor market. The Laureates’<br />
models help us understand the ways in which<br />
unemployment, job vacancies, and wages are affected<br />
by regulation and economic policy. This<br />
may refer to benefi t levels in unemployment insurance<br />
or rules in regard to hiring and fi ring.<br />
One conclusion is that more generous unemployment<br />
benefi ts give rise to higher unemployment<br />
and longer search times.<br />
Search theory has been applied to many other areas<br />
in addition to the labor market. This includes,<br />
in particular, the housing market. The number of<br />
homes for sale varies over time, as does the time<br />
62<br />
it takes for a house to fi nd a buyer and the parties<br />
to agree on the price. Search theory has also<br />
been used to study questions related to monetary<br />
theory, public economics, fi nancial economics,<br />
regional economics, and family economics.”<br />
This was the fi rst time a Cypriot won the Nobel<br />
Prize. Mr. Pissarides expressed joy at the Royal<br />
Swedish Academy of Sciences’ decision to<br />
award him. The Professor received the news on<br />
a telephone call from Sweden, one hour before<br />
the offi cial release of the decision to the Nobel<br />
Prize Organization’s website.<br />
“I did not expect it. It was big surprise, a great<br />
honor for me, my family and Cyprus and for my<br />
University. It was a great honor and it has not<br />
sunk in yet,” Mr. Pissarides said, adding that the<br />
great interest shown in Cyprus and elsewhere<br />
was a pleasant surprise.<br />
The President of the Republic Mr. Demetris<br />
Christofi as stressed that the award of the Nobel<br />
Prize in Economic Sciences to Professor Pis-
sarides constitutes the highest possible honor<br />
for Cyprus and its people. President Christofi as<br />
praised the Cypriot born Nobel Laureate claiming<br />
that this award is an international recognition<br />
both for Mr. Pissarides’ excellent scientifi c work<br />
as well as for his lifetime achievements in the<br />
demanding area of Economics.<br />
The Award Ceremony<br />
Christophoros Pissarides delivered his Prize<br />
Lecture on 8 <strong>December</strong> at Aula Magna, at Stockholm<br />
University. On 10 <strong>December</strong> he received<br />
the Nobel Prize from His Majesty the King Carl<br />
XVI Gustaf of Sweden at the offi cial Nobel<br />
award ceremony. He was introduced by Professor<br />
Bertil Holmlund, Member of the Royal<br />
Swedish Academy of Sciences and Chairman of<br />
the Economics Prize Committee. Among others,<br />
Prof. Holmlund commented:<br />
“Peter Diamond, Dale Mortensen and Christopher<br />
Pissarides have developed a theory<br />
of markets with search frictions. This theory<br />
is relevant in many markets. For example, it<br />
applies to the housing market, where many<br />
households are searching for new homes at<br />
the same time as a large number of houses and<br />
fl ats are being offered for sale. Search theory<br />
can also be used to study how spatial frictions<br />
and transport costs affect residential patterns<br />
and business location decisions, and even how<br />
matching takes place in the marriage market.<br />
However, the most important application is in<br />
the labor market.<br />
The Laureates have shown that price and wage<br />
formation in a search market may sometimes<br />
lead to outcomes that are radically different from<br />
what we would expect from conventional theory.<br />
They have also shown that resource utilisation<br />
in a search market is generally not socially effi<br />
cient, since there are ‘indirect’ effects that individual<br />
agents do not take into account. If one<br />
unemployed person increases her own search activity,<br />
it will become more diffi cult for other job<br />
seekers to fi nd employment. At the same time, it<br />
Selected Publications<br />
of Christophoros Pissarides<br />
“Labour Market Adjustment”, Cambridge<br />
University Press, 1976<br />
“Short-Run Equilibrium Dynamics of Unemployment,<br />
Vacancies and Real Wages”,<br />
American Economic Review 75 (September<br />
1985), pp. 676-690<br />
“Unemployment and Vacancies in Britain”,<br />
Economic Policy 3 (<strong>October</strong> 1986), pp. 499-<br />
540<br />
“Equilibrium Unemployment Theory”,<br />
Blackwell (1st edition, 1990), MIT Press<br />
(2nd edition, 2000 – reprinted, 2008)<br />
“Job Creation and Job Destruction in the<br />
Theory of Unemployment” (with Dale<br />
Mortensen), Review of Economic Studies 61<br />
(July 1994), pp. 397-415<br />
“The Impact of Employment Tax Cuts on<br />
Unemployment and Wages: The Role of<br />
Unemployment Benefi ts and Tax Structure”,<br />
European Economic Review 42 (January<br />
1998), pp. 155-183<br />
“Looking into the Black Box: A Survey of<br />
the Matching Function” (with Barbara Petrongolo),<br />
Journal of Economic Literature<br />
38 (June 2001), pp. 390-431<br />
“Structural Change in a Multi-Sector Model<br />
of Growth” (with L. Rachel Ngai), American<br />
Economic Review 97 (March 2007), pp.<br />
429-443<br />
“The Unemployment Volatility Puzzle: Is<br />
Wage Stickiness the Answer?”, Econometrica<br />
Vol.77 No 5 (September 2009), pp.<br />
1339-1369<br />
63
will be easier for a recruiting fi rm to fi ll its vacancies.<br />
Since these indirect effects are not taken<br />
into account by individual agents, there is generally<br />
scope for government intervention aimed at<br />
achieving welfare improvements.<br />
The Laureates’ model of the labor market characterizes<br />
the search activity of the unemployed,<br />
the recruiting behaviour of fi rms and wage formation.<br />
The model can be used to study how<br />
the level and duration of unemployment, the<br />
number of job vacancies and the real wage are<br />
determined. For example, what role is played by<br />
the design of unemployment insurance, the effi -<br />
ciency of employment agencies and regulations<br />
on fi ring and hiring?<br />
The effects of unemployment insurance have<br />
been extensively studied. The theory implies<br />
that more generous benefi ts bring about longer<br />
search time for the unemployed and higher unemployment<br />
− a relationship that has received<br />
support in many empirical studies. However,<br />
unemployment insurance can also facilitate effi<br />
cient matching between job seekers and vacancies,<br />
so that the ‘right person’ ends up in the<br />
‘right place.’<br />
But questions about how unemployment insurance<br />
‘should’ be designed can of course not be<br />
answered without also weighing in the fact that<br />
this insurance provides income protection to<br />
those who have been laid off. Search theory has<br />
also proved to be a highly useful tool for such<br />
welfare analyses of alternative designs of unemployment<br />
insurance.<br />
Dear Professors Diamond, Mortensen and Pissarides,<br />
your research on markets with search<br />
frictions has had a profound impact on how<br />
economists view markets in general and labor<br />
markets in particular. You have provided<br />
detailed models of how prices and quantities<br />
are determined in markets with frictions and<br />
how frictions affect unemployment and other<br />
labor market phenomena. Your models have<br />
become indispensable tools for policy analysis<br />
and your work has initiated a large empirical<br />
literature.”<br />
64<br />
Biography and Work<br />
Christophoros Pissarides was born in Nicosia in<br />
1948. He received his B.A. in Economics in 1970<br />
and his M.A. in Economics the following year at<br />
the University of Essex. He subsequently enrolled<br />
in the London School of Economics, where he received<br />
his PhD in Economics in 1973 under the<br />
supervision of the mathematical economist Michio<br />
Morishima.<br />
He is currently a Professor of Economics at London<br />
School of Economics and Political Science<br />
(UK) and holder of the Norman Sosnow Chair<br />
in Economics. On January 2011 onwards he will<br />
hold the Marfi n Laiki Chair at the University of<br />
Cyprus.<br />
Mr. Pissarides was a member of the Monetary<br />
Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Cyprus<br />
(2000-2007); he has also served on the European<br />
Employment Task Force (2003) and has been a<br />
consultant on employment policy and other labor<br />
issues for the World Bank, the European Commission,<br />
the Bank of England and the OECD.<br />
In 2005 he was awarded the IZA Prize in Labor
...................................................................................................<br />
<strong>2010</strong> Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen,<br />
Christophoros A. Pissarides<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
2009 Elinor Ostrom, Oliver E. Williamson<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
2008 Paul Krugman<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
2007 Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin,<br />
Roger B. Myerson<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
2006 Edmund S. Phelps<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
2005 Robert J. Aumann, Thomas C. Schelling<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
2004 Finn E. Kydland, Edward C. Prescott<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
2003 Robert F. Engle III, Clive W.J. Granger<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
2002 Daniel Kahneman, Vernon L. Smith<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
2001 George A. Akerlof, A. Michael Spence,<br />
Joseph E. Stiglitz<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
2000 James J. Heckman, Daniel L. McFadden<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1999 Robert A. Mundell<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1998 Amartya Sen<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1997 Robert C. Merton, Myron S. Scholes<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1996 James A. Mirrlees, William Vickrey<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1995 Robert E. Lucas Jr.<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1994 John C. Harsanyi, John F. Nash Jr.,<br />
Reinhard Selten<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1993 Robert W. Fogel, Douglass C. North<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1992 Gary S. Becker<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1991 Ronald H. Coase<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
Nobel Laureates in Economic Sciences<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1990 Harry M. Markowitz, Merton H. Miller,<br />
William F. Sharpe<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1989 Trygve Haavelmo<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1988 Maurice Allais<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1987 Robert M. Solow<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1986 James M. Buchanan Jr.<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1985 Franco Modigliani<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1984 Richard Stone<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1983 Gerard Debreu<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1982 George J. Stigler<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1981 James Tobin<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1980 Lawrence R. Klein<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1979 Theodore W. Schultz, Sir Arthur Lewis<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1978 Herbert A. Simon<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1977 Bertil Ohlin, James E. Meade<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1976 Milton Friedman<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1975 Leonid Vitaliyevich Kantorovich,<br />
Tjalling C. Koopmans<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1974 Gunnar Myrdal,<br />
Friedrich August von Hayek<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1973 Wassily Leontief<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1972 John R. Hicks, Kenneth J. Arrow<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1971 Simon Kuznets<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1970 Paul A. Samuelson<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
1969 Ragnar Frisch, Jan Tinbergen<br />
...................................................................................................<br />
65
Economics (jointly with Dale Mortensen) for his<br />
work on unemployment and in 2008 he received<br />
the Republic of Cyprus Award for Excellence in<br />
Sciences. In 2009 he served as Vice President of<br />
the European Economic Association, to become<br />
President Elect in <strong>2010</strong> and President in 2011.<br />
Professor Pissarides has served as Head of the<br />
Economics Department at LSE, and he is an elected<br />
Fellow of the British Academy, the Econometric<br />
Society, the European Economic Association<br />
and the Society of Labor Economists. He is also<br />
a member of Council of the European Economic<br />
Association and the Econometric Society and a<br />
former member of Council of the Royal Economic<br />
Society. He is the Chairman of the Economica<br />
board, and a member of other editorial boards, a<br />
research fellow of the Centre of Economic Performance<br />
at LSE (and a former Head of its Macroeconomics<br />
Program), of the Centre for Economic<br />
Policy Research (London), and of the Institute<br />
for the Study of Labor (IZA, Bonn). In addition,<br />
he is a Non-National Senior Associate, Forum for<br />
Economic Research in the Arab Countries, Iran<br />
and Turkey.<br />
Professor Pissarides is mostly known for his contribution<br />
to the search and matching theory for<br />
studying the interactions between the labor mar-<br />
66<br />
ket and the macro economy. He helped develop<br />
the concept of the matching function (explaining<br />
the fl ows from unemployment at a given moment<br />
of time), and pioneered the empirical work on its<br />
estimation. More recently, he has done research<br />
on structural change and growth.<br />
Pissarides’ most infl uential paper is arguably “Job<br />
Creation and Job Destruction in the Theory of<br />
Unemployment” (along with Dale Mortensen),<br />
published in the “Review of Economic Studies”<br />
in 1994. This paper built on the previous individual<br />
contributions that both authors had been making<br />
in the previous two decades.<br />
The Mortensen-Pissarides model that resulted<br />
from this paper has been exceptionally infl uential<br />
in modern macroeconomics. In one or another<br />
of its extensions or variations, today it is part of<br />
the core of most graduate economics curricula<br />
throughout the world.<br />
Professor Pissarides’ book “Equilibrium Unemployment<br />
Theory”, a standard reference in the literature<br />
of the macroeconomics of unemployment,<br />
is now in its second edition, and was revised after<br />
Pissarides’ joint work with Mortensen, resulting<br />
in the analysis of both endogenous job creation<br />
and destruction.
A Literary Evening with Kyriakos Charalambides<br />
at the European Commission<br />
In Berlin, a new series of literary<br />
events has commenced within<br />
the context of European Year of the<br />
Intercultural Dialogue 2008, with<br />
the close collaboration of three institutions:<br />
the European Committee<br />
of Berlin, the European Union<br />
National Institutes of Culture (EU-<br />
NIC) (of which the Cultural Offi ce<br />
of the Cyprus Embassy in Berlin is<br />
an associate member) and the Literary<br />
Workshop of Berlin.<br />
On 9 November, Cyprus presented<br />
–as the last country in this literary<br />
series– one of the most authentic<br />
and pure poetic voices of Cyprus<br />
and Hellenism, the poet Kyriakos<br />
Charalambides.<br />
The event, which was attended by<br />
approximately 180 people –most<br />
of them German– was held in the<br />
site of the European Committee<br />
in Berlin, next to the Gate of<br />
Brandenburg. In their addressing<br />
speeches, both the President of<br />
the E.C., Mr. Matthias Petschke,<br />
as well as the Ambassador of Cyprus<br />
in Berlin, Mr. Pantias Heliades,<br />
highlighted the historical importance of the<br />
date of the event, since on 9 November Germany<br />
celebrates the Anniversary of the Fall of<br />
the Berlin Wall; an event that marked the recent<br />
European history.<br />
The Director of the Literary Workshop and coordinator<br />
of the event, Dr. Thomas Wohlfahrt,<br />
opened his presentation with a historical exposition<br />
of the political events in Cyprus, giving<br />
a clearer image of the poetry of Kyriakos Charalambides<br />
to the German audience. The poet recited<br />
and analyzed various poems in his native<br />
Kyriakos Charalambides signs his books<br />
View of the event<br />
language from the whole range of his work; the<br />
poems were previously performed in German<br />
by a German actor.<br />
The Cultural Offi ce of Berlin had prepared,<br />
especially for this event, a small bilingual edition<br />
with the poetry of Kyriakos Charalambides,<br />
which was offered as a gift to all those<br />
attending and which was positively received<br />
by all the participants. The E.C. decided to<br />
continue this initiative, extending its scope to<br />
all the writers, from every member-state of the<br />
EU, in its second installment of this series of<br />
literary events.<br />
67