Michael Anastassiades - Reload the Current Page

For the next three months Point Centre for Contemporary Art will be exhibiting Michael Anastassiades’ latest work Reload the Current Page, an installation of conceptual objects produced for the occasion of the artist’s solo exhibition in Cyprus.

Anastassiades’ work is characterized by an elegant simplicity that encapsulates poetic and philosophical suggestions, displaying a fine balance between art and design. His creative approach follows a reductive process that removes any excess information and distills the essence of the object. His work is both functional and conceptual: it addresses practical and emotional needs while suggesting a multilayered reading of symbolic associations.

Reload the Current Page explores what Anastassiades calls the “contemporary anxieties of the modern Cypriot”. In this installation he celebrates the optimized freedom of creative expression offered by the gallery space, while remaining consistent with his design principles of subtraction, complexity and simplicity. Inspired by natural landscapes and cutting-edge technology, Anastassiades creates a series of objects embodying personal experiences and anxieties. Materials, forms and titles allude to the sociopolitical events that have recently defined Cypriot society and, at the same time, suggest more symbolic, nuanced connections; the artist amplifies the ambiguity evoked by his objects, which remain free from any nostalgic or didactic references.

Anastassiades experiments with a variety of stones from the local geological landscape, such as diabase and sandstone, which he pairs with materials that are often present in his work, such as bronze, glass and wood. Basic geometric forms such as the sphere are constantly used as metaphoric references.

Realistic sculptural landscapes, miniaturized geomorphological elements and glowing glass spheres compose new sceneries that the visitor is invited to experience at multiple levels. Reload the Current Page is rather an invitation than a command. An invitation to embrace the versatility of the structures and to approach them with a somewhat meditative mood, to re-examine them and re-appropriate them.

Michael Anastassiades launched his studio in 1994 to explore contemporary notions of culture and aesthetics through a combination of product, furniture and environmental design. Positioned between fine art and design, his work aims to provoke dialogue, participation and interaction. He creates objects that are minimal, utilitarian and almost mundane yet full of a vitality one might not expect. Anastassiades' work is featured in permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Crafts Council in London, the FRAC Centre in Orleans France and the MAK in Vienna. Recent solo exhibitions include Time and again at the Geymüllerschlössel/MAK in Vienna, To be perfectly Frank at Svenskt Tenn in Stockholm, Norfolk House Music room at the Victoria & Albert museum in London, Cyprus Presidency at the European Parliament in Brussels - Belgium. He has designed products with various leading manufacturers including FLOS, Puiforcat, Lobmeyr and Svenskt Tenn. In 2007 he set up MICHAEL ANASTASSIADES the company to produce his signature pieces, a collection of lighting, furniture, jewellery and tabletop objects. The studio's philosophy is a continuous search for eclecticism, individuality, and timeless qualities in design. Michael trained as a civil engineer at London's Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine before taking a masters degree in industrial design at the Royal College of Art. He lives and works in London.

Opening on Friday 31st of January at 19:00.

Opening Hours:
Tuesday - Friday 11:00 - 18:00 | Saturday 11:00 - 15:00
Exhibition can be also viewed by appointment outside opening hours