Exhibition ‘IDENTITY OBJECTS’ by Christos Symeonides
On 9 March 2023, the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation will inaugurate the ‘IDENTITY OBJECTS’ audio-visual installation by artist Christos Symeonides. Alongside the ‘Rethinking Craftsmanship: Craftsmanship in progress’ exhibition, ‘IDENTITY OBJECTS’ redefines and examines the concept of identity through characteristic examples of intangible cultural heritage.
Digitization, customs, oral traditions, dances, music, songs, skills or techniques that constitute evidence of traditional, popular and scholarly culture are transformed into oversized faces in an identity frame.
The passage of heritage in digital time and place highlights the timelessness of objects, motifs and ideas found in different forms of expression such as embroidery, weaving, silversmithing objects, pottery representations, folk songs, etc.
The source of inspiration for these works of art is nature, man, the body, admiration – and, at the same time, fear – of the universe, life and death. From Cyprus to the West, from the West to the East, the North and the South, there are similar motifs and expressions, a fact that highlights their universal character, their personal and universal expression of life and humanity.
The artist invites the viewer to explore their own identity. Through these digital ‘masks’ they can discover new dynamics in the relationship between the ‘inside’ and the ‘outside’, the past and the present, the local and the global. Faces become the means of projecting an ‘intangible cultural heritage’ and, in synergy with it, they highlight the direct relationship with the creator. How does the human being constantly change, recreate and reshape itself?
The exhibition will run from 9 March 2023 to 28 May 2023
Venue: Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation
Opening hours: 10:00-19:00 (weekdays and weekends)
The exhibition is organised in the context of the Horizon 2020 research programme ‘Redefining the Future of Culture Heritage, through a disruptive model of sustainability’ (ReInHerit).
Christos Symeonides was born in Nicosia, Cyprus, and lives permanently in Athens. His visual work is characterised by the use of multimedia and photography and deals most of the time with the themes of memory-remembrance-existence. He graduated from the Athens School of Fine Arts in 2015 and, since then, he has been working as a set designer, photographer and video-artist in small-scale productions, theatre performances and films, as well as in productions of the National Theatre of Greece, the Athens – Epidaurus Festival and the Onassis Cultural Centre.