A startling exhibition in Larnaca jolts the viewer into thought
EVANGELIA Zachariadou has been dreaming about this exhibition for five years. Sound, movement, light, all elements that can touch our mind and soul through art, all elements that are finally brought together at the Municipal Exhibitions Hall in Larnaca with the help of the Nicosia and Larnaca municipalities.
Last week, Evangelia’s dream turned into reality, as a group of selected artists brought their work together at the Exhibition Hall in Larnaca. Together in the space, you can see installations that revolve around the three elements, sound, movement, light. The artists on display are Panicos Tembriotis, Nicolas Panayi, Christiana Megalemou, Michail Ilia, Savvinos Paraskevas, Paris Manolis, Naia Evangelou, Christiana Charalambous, Costas Rousias, Eirini-Maria Christou, Yiannis Terentis, and Dimitris Neocleous.
Savvinos Paraskevas, for example, addresses all three elements through his installation, ‘A circus out of trash’. He created an installation with the aim of “expanding his ideas”, as he puts it, and to reach his viewers at a deeper level. His installation incorporates the media, and the ‘bad news’ that we receive from our televisions and radios every day. He also makes his stance on American politics and war very clear through his works and inspires the viewers to contemplate these subjects. His installation attempts to give a circus-like atmosphere and although sound is the focal point in the atmosphere, light and movement also contribute to creating a very intrusive mood and atmosphere.
Paraskevas seeks to include his viewers by enabling them to “come inside the circus and sit on couches and enjoy all three elements of the exhibition”. By doing this, he says, they are taking part in the very themes he is trying to portray.
And, he points out, trash is not just in the title, it’s real trash that makes up the installation.
“I find trash art very interesting and this time I had the chance to expand my work by using iron, canvas, paint cartons, wires, nylon, and other stuff that I found interesting.”
Using the same ideas as a starting point, other artists took a very different approach. Dimitris Neocleous, for instance, uses the idea of what he calls the “movement of mankind” to express his opinions about nomadism and how it still exists today. He uses images of mobile homes to bring out what he believes to be a “serious humanistic subject”.
On a completely different note, Yiannis Terendis seeks to bring up themes of movement in the universe and the harmony that it creates. He draws in the viewers by metaphorically moving them through the universe and then incorporates light to bring them in touch with certain emotions so that they can connect with a new state of mind.
Nicolas Panayi was chosen to participate in this exhibition because he has consciously been focusing on light and the themes that revolve around it for years now. He has installations that physically include lights and ones where the idea of light is “illuminated through different and indirect mediums”. His works create what he refers to as a “false impression of space” due to his use of decolorised fabrics that enable light to shine through them, “symbolising spiritual existence” due to their transparency, as the artist says. He hopes to underline the “fleeting nature of our existence” through his work, as he sees elements of spirituality in different lights – his inspiration for art in the first place.
Like Savvinos Paraskevas, Michail Ilia includes all three elements of this exhibition in his work. Viewers enter a dark room, where they look through a window to see his installation – a city from above. He was inspired to create this piece by Costas Hadjis’ song Otan Koitas Apo Psila (When you look from above), and has used boards, wood, fluorescent acrylics, and black light to create a miniature that is seen from above. When you look down on this installation, you can easily imagine the busy noise and movement in a bustling city, and thus, the artist manages through suggestion to include sound, movement, and light.
Thank God Evangelia Zachariadou saw through her inspiration. This is an exhibition that literally jumps out at you and envelops you in all its themes and ideas. You may not like it all, but you cannot help but be jostled by its thought-provoking approach.
Sound, Movement, Light. A group exhibition around a joint theme. April 15-May 20. Municipal Exhibitions Hall, Larnaca. Tel: 24-657745/24-629333
