Revolv.er

Phytorio, hub of the Visual Artists Association, will host the group exhibition “Revolv·er”, from April 28 until May 26 2012, curated by Maria Efstathiou.

Participating artists: Antoniou Antonis, Savva Andreas, Savvidou Koula, Hadjiandreou Alkis, Chaholiadou Ismini and Kokia Gabriella.

Can a revolution, personal or collective, trigger creation?

We become witnesses of extreme social changes and "revolutions", one could say. People, however, are primarily responsible for these, as societies are governed by vanity, intolerance, selfishness; and yet, somewhere along this destructive scenery, one may detect heroism and solidarity.

The revolver has been selected as a symbol, as a characteristic of self-destruction, of struggle to depict rebellion, resistance, revolution. If one were to delve into an analysis of the word “revolver”, they would unravel a multitude of hidden meanings the word moght conceal. "Revolve”, “revolt” and “rebel” originate from the Latin verb “revolvere” (to trun back) and “volvere” (to roll, turn around), and are contained therein. The word itself derives from “evolution” entailing change, re-creation and re-generation. With these in mind, the narratives that might derive can take countless forms.

Identities -whether collective, personal or ethnic- are made up of the History that precedes them. We revolve around events, which marred our ancestors -our grandparents and our parents- who in turn have allowed their personal stigmas of their History interfere in the upbringing of their offspring. Therefore, one could say, we are partly -and inevitably- a manifestation of the psychoses and the problems of our parents. In the scenario where “the dream” is inherited be everyone (“the dream” that there is always something better ahead which everyone has the right to pursue), people currently come to lose this vision amidst the current political and economic unrest. And one may realise that society is currently moving in a retrograte tragectory, beginning to resemble an era characterised by the onset of a new “class division” of increased poverty and social unrest. This ‘small death’, however, creates a disposition for change. The political turmoil along with the rebellious acts that have befallen upon the world, are the elements that trigger potential changes.

The works presented in the group exhibition “Revolv·er”, can be divided into two categories: the purely personal interpretations (fed by personal issues) of artists, and those that are centered around individuals.

Art, and more specifically Cypriot art, has always described the social and political situations framing everyday life. Art claims that one of its most basic functions is to comment on, and record, life itself. In the era we are treading, the fact that the political situations in various parts of the world are shifting altering society, as well as, transforming banal reality, is becoming reality. What will be left behind to portray people of this era, are the creative and artistic productions. At this given time during which we are called to exist, we make History: a (hi)story followed by an uncertain future, and therefore prospective. The revolutions that spring up in every corner of the world, constitute this potentiality. The era in which we enter triggers, at the least, (re)creation.

If we are not defined by the moment in time in which we exist, then what?

The exhibition opens on the 28th of April at 12:00pm (noon).

Opening hours
Tuesday-Friday: 10:00-13:00 and 17:00-20:00
Saturday: 10:00-13:00