FOREIGN Minister Ioannis Kasoulides and Austria’s Ambassador Karl Michael Müller unveiled on Friday a sculpture donated by the Austrian government that symbolises the current political situation on the island.
The sculpture of two mirrors, titled “Stuck Reflexion” by Raphael Haider, has been placed at the outdoor museum of the foreign ministry’s protocol division after the artist’s design won a competition at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.
According to the Austrian ambassador who will soon be completing his tenure in Cyprus, the mirrors represent the divided, separated island of Cyprus, fixed by a concrete block, which symbolises the – temporary, but long-lasting – hardened or “stuck” situation between the two communities. At the same time, the mirrors are opposite each other, they “look” at each other, they come from the same block, there is a strong relationship between them.
“Indeed,” Kasoulides said, “this gift symbolises the struggle of the Cypriots during the last 43 years, a struggle where Austria stood next to Cyprus with its active commitment and continuous presence in Unficyp since its establishment in 1964, for which we are very thankful”.
The Austrian ambassador said that the close and cordial relations between Cyprus and Austria were being “symbolically and literally cemented by this sculpture”. Haider, Müller said, who is a student at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, created the sculpture the last two weeks on site, with special mirrors brought in from Austria.
Referring to the symbolism of the sculpture, Müller said that the spectator, while circling around the sculpture, is left to discover various reflections of himself, single ones or infinite ones. “Even a disc or oval shape, symbolises the complexity, the various perspectives and aspects as well as possible outcomes connected with this issue. It allows one to view the reality and existence of a multitude approaches and visions – you name it. It all depends where you are coming from, approaching the sculpture, and how close to it you get,” he said.
The artist, who was present at the unveiling, said that he was motivated for this work from the first moment. “It is really hard to understand how such a great island like Cyprus, a nice city like Nicosia, is still divided,” he said. “For me it is a thing that I cannot understand; I am really sad that we have this situation in Nicosia”.
Haider offered Kasoulides a symbolic gift; an electric concrete demolition hammer and expressed the hope that soon the island would be united and “we will break up the concrete, putting the mirrors together”.
