Seeing Through Melancholia

Exhibition at the House of Hadjigeorkakis Kornesios

Seeing Through Melancholia: Transcultural Melancholias / Hüzün in the Eastern Mediterranean

Exhibition at the House of Hadjigeorkakis Kornesios

Date: 25 October to 19 November 2023
Curators: Dr. Alev Adil, Dr. Gabriel Koureas
Production: Catherine Louis Nikita

From the work of Romantic writers and artists to Eugène Atget’s photography of Parisian streets, the melancholic gaze of the artist captured portraits, landscapes and cityscapes throughout the history of modern art.

This exhibition introduces modern and contemporary transcultural melancholias in the Eastern Mediterranean. In addition to the international contributions of the renowned Parisian photographers Eugène Atget and Edith Guerin, Armenian-Turkish photographer Ara Güler and Lithuanian photographer Arūnas Baltėnas, this exhibition will bring together contemporary artists from Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean to the House of Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios, a space of transcultural memories, encounters and histories.

Two aspects of the exhibition make it unique in curatorial practices in the context of Cyprus:

Firstly, the exhibition brings together artists and poets from the Eastern Mediterranean. This inter-medial approach provides additional opportunities that the single medium of poetry or visual arts working within the strict confines of their medium could not have provided on their own. Additionally, using the space of the House of Hadjigeorgakis provides an additional dimension of experience through its Ottoman architecture and transcultural memory exchanges to bring to a museum going public a new experience that is usually confined to the gallery space.

Participating International Artists:

Eugène Atget (1857-1927) — France
Arūnas Baltėnas - Lithuania
Edith Guérin (1910-1998) — France
Ara Güler (1928-2018)— Τurkey
Leslie Hakim-Dowek - United Kingdom/Lebanon
Mustafa Hulusi - United Kingdom/Cyprus

Artists-Poets Collaborations:

Etel Adnan
Alev Adil - Lily Michaelides
Katerina Attalidou - Niki Marangou (1948-2013)
Asli Bolayir - Filiz Naldöven (1953-2016)
Kyriaki Costa - Stephanos Stephanides
Peter Eramian - Stelios Kallinikou - Haytham el-Wardany
Lia Lapithi - Daphne Nikita - Elena Fitikidou Alonefti
Alexandros Pissourios - Lyssandros Pitharas (1960-1992)
Leontios Toumpouris - Mehmet Yashin
Natalie Yiaxi

The exhibition is organised by BPRarts Cultural Management in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities and is funded by the Department of Modern and Contemporary Cultures of the Deputy Ministry of Culture of Cyprus. The exhibition is also supported by the PIO, the Institut Français de Chypre and the British High Commission.

The opening ceremony will be held by the Deputy Minister of Culture, Dr. Lina Kassianidou, at 7:30 pm, Wednesday, October 25, 2023.

During the opening, a joint performance by artist Lias Lapithi and poet Alev Adil will be presented.