Pafos Press 19 January 2024
Preparations have begun for the art exhibition "The Old Past Has Gone" in Paphos. The theme of the exhibition revolves around the changes that will come to the way we live as a consequence of climate change and the interaction this will have with art. According to Giannos Oikonomou on behalf of the artistic group In Sutu, the title of the exhibition refers to the fact that any projections we have had of tomorrow's world will have to be adapted, or even radically changed. The function of Art, he added, is not certain to determine what will be done, but to discuss, problematize and make perceptible in a tangible, material way the situation we are in beyond scientific data or abstract theoretical description.
Asked about the In Sutu group, Mr. Oikonomou noted that it is a new group made up of artists and theorists with the aim of searching for new practices in art, in a world that will necessarily change very soon and very radically. The name said, borrowed from Elizabeth Povinelli's book Geonologies, is the perception of a thing as a suture with all the other individual entities of the world, as opposed to the fixed position of an object in a situation (situation – in situ).
Asked about which artists will participate, Mr. Oikonomou said that Andreas Savva will participate, who will create a three-dimensional installation in the space with security tapes that the viewer can enter, such as the infinite interconnections of the human species with the environment, and applying on a large scale what many other living organisms create by nature, such as spiders and silkworms. In the same field of connections, the young artist Elli Kontou will present linear and equally complex and large-scale drawings in two-dimensional form.
Mr. Oikonomou also said Christoph Brünggel from Switzerland who specializes in the art of sound, and will create a sound installation with the sounds recorded in various power plants in Europe such as geothermal plants in Iceland, hydroelectric generators in Switzerland, and the power plants of Cyprus, including wind turbines and photovoltaic parks, while Patricia Jäggi, also from Switzerland, will present an interactive sound performance with the audience with live sounds from the local environment mixed on site with her own recordings of the flora different regions of Europe.
Also the Elektromoon team, the team known in Europe for their digital creations, will take part in an interactive display of the junk and broken satellites still in orbit around the planet. The application noted by Mr. Economou was created for the needs of this exhibition, and will show the real position of the planet in relation to the sun as well as the thousands of objects that rotate in real time, through the internet. The globe appears on the screen within the viewer's space.
Even Eugenia Vasiloudi. The continued work of the well-known engraver revolves in recent years around the sea and the waves, with all the cultural and semiological dimensions – ecological-social, emotional and political. For this exhibition, he noted, Mr. Economou will stitch together a series of engraving works, each of which is a combination of different materials and processes.
Kyriakos Kallis whose main work of the sculptor will be a game between coal and the presence/absence of the human body, referring us to the role that fire played in the evolution of the human species, and at the same time in its potential self-destruction, due to of our excess in the use of energy and final deposition of the main producer - carbon - in the atmosphere. In the same context is the work of Giola Hatzigeorgiou, who has been using ash for many years, and its multiple symbolisms as a material of expression.
Finally, Mr. Economou also referred to Rahme Vesiroglu, the Turkish Cypriot artist who will present a video with references to the importance of the biosphere, the relationship of humans with the rest of nature, and the resistance that must be shown in order to avoid our destructive path.
Finally, Giannos Economou noted that he will also participate with four synchronized screens with footage shot in Iceland, Cyprus and Bulgaria. Based on five sections, it explores different ways of approaching the relationship of man with the rest of nature.
The exhibition is financially supported by the Deputy Ministry of Culture, under the Culture II Plan (2021 – 2025) for Informal Groups and will collaborate with the Department of Fine Arts of TEPAK, the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, the Center for Studies and Research AKTI and the Municipality Pafos, and the Petrideo Foundation as part of the foundation's 30-year anniversary events.
