Marlands Project, co-funded by Creative Europe Program of the European Union, is formed by a community of Contemporary Artists and Scientists motivated to address cultural and ecological issues pertinent to the Mediterranean islands. Within the framework of this program, the first Biennale of Contemporary Art of Mediterranean Islands is presented.
Bringing together multiple partners (Catholic University of Valencia (Spain), Art Made Association (Spain-France), Spazju Kreattiv (Malta), Es Baluard Museu (Mallorca), Isola Catania and Tree (Sicily) Cyprus University of Technology (Cyprus) and associated partners CSIC-IMEDEA (Mallorca), Legambiente (Sicily), Jardi Botanic Soller (Mallorca), TACA Foundation (Palma), Loop Festival (Spain) and 4Goodcause (Sicily)), the project aims to implement collaborations between arts and sciences and raise awareness on environmental and ecological concerns pertinent to the region. Marlands focus on the Mediterranean Islands will aim to uncover, show and contribute to the circulation and awareness of the islands’ issues, creating a collective and hybrid network.
By placing the role of scientific research, artistic creation and cultural exchange at the heart of its mission, the project further intends to strengthen and facilitate exchanges between the scientific and cultural actors and to revitalize the audiences’ participation. More specifically, by selecting distinguished artists and scientists who have created a significant and recognized work that corresponds to the theme of Marlands Project, it manages to develop an expanded interdisciplinary practice.
For the first edition selected artists are Edgar Sarin, Lucy Orta, Max Fouchy, Olga Sabko, and Klitsa Antoniou. Following open calls, hybrid artists’ residencies and cross disciplinary collaborations between scientists, artists, crafts people and cultural makers, the outcomes are exhibited at the newly formed Mediterranean Islands Contemporary Art Biennale spreading on all selected islands. The exhibitions will be accompanied by talks, workshops, and conferences, both on the involved islands and throughout Europe. The project is curated and managed by Elena Posokhova.
In this frame, Klitsa Antoniou on January 11th, 2023, will present her project Hydor_is_Land at Theatro Polis/Nimac in Nicosia. The project is a collaboration with Dr José Rafael García March/Scientific Consultant, George Lazoglou/Technological Design, Ruben Solar Ru/Sound Composition, Kyriacos Kousoulides/Video Editing and supported by Art Seen Gallery and CYENS-Centre of Excellence. Hydor_is_Land is a research-based installation which insinuates the location of a coastal landscape or a seascape and reveals the vastness of the underwater space characterized by an alternating transparency and material tension.
Following the thematic parameters of Marlands Project and the Eco-environmental focus of Creative Europe Program, the artwork addresses issues pertinent to the case of Cyprus and more specifically the invasion of alien species to its coast as a result of climate change and human activities and confirms the magnitude of the devastation of human impact. Cyprus is one of the first EU states affected by the “Lessepsian migration”, the movement of marine species across the Suez Canal, from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. The increase in sea water temperature, occurring both globally and even more rapidly in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, as a result of climate change, offers an increasingly suitable environment for the distribution of this species. This invasion greatly affects the marine ecosystem causing the decline of local species and biodiversity.
Mediterranean Islands Contemporary Art Biennale takes place concurrently at parallel locations: Spazju Kreattiv, Valetta, Malta, Isola Catania, Catania, Sicily, TACA Studio, Palma and Mallorca and Es Baluard Museu, Palma, Mallorca, Spain.
The opening will take place on 11th of January 2023 at 19.30 at Theatro Polis/Nimac, Nicosia and the exhibition Hydor_is_Land will be accessible to the public for the next four days 12 to 15 January 2023 and from 11.00 to 14.00 and 17.00 to 20.00
Source: Cyprus News Agency