Two Worlds

Two Worlds is a project co-organised by NeMe, the Cyprus University of Technology (School of Fine and Applied Arts) and the Department of Audio and Visual Arts of the Ionian University focusing on some of the of issues related to migration. The project commenced two years ago by way of discussions between Iannis Zannos, Yiannis Christides and Yiannis Colakides which initiated a framework that eventually expanded into an interactive sound installation, where the voices of migrants and displaced people are the protagonists.

The recent global developments such as the current rise of militarised violence in 51 United Nations member states has catapulted the number of forcibly displaced people, now exceeding 59,500,000 – almost three times more to the numbers in 2014 being the highest number ever recorded. Within this tragic context and existential urgency, Two Worlds has now become an, albeit small, contribution toward the compassionate understanding and support of displaced people.

On September 2, the widely circulated photographs of the drowned toddler who was trying to enter Europe with his family shocked the world. On the same day, Nicholas Mirzoef twitted: “The photo of the drowned toddler from Kos is a pieta for the era of militarized financial globalization.” Accepting that media coverage of conflict and human suffering is fraught with ethical problems, the consequential absence of further images of the dead from conflict zones and within Europe – such as the 71 refugees who suffocated in the back of a track in Austria renders other’s suffering remote with the intended outcome of keeping public opinion muted in order to prevent additional instigation of much needed change and action, or perhaps and equally disturbing, indicating compassion fatigue.

The Two Worlds installation curated by Yiannis Colakides avoids pictorial descriptions and monosemantic references to emotions in its search to evoke a participatory experience that distances itself from the aesthetisation of suffering. The visitors of the site on http://larigot.avarts.ionio.gr/projects/2worlds/ and the installation at the NeMe Arts Centre are invited to enter in dialogue and to explore sound recordings gradually through a system that connects and transforms them.

All software developed for this project will be available on github as open source using the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Two Worlds will be accompanied by a series of workshops on SuperCollider and related interactive arts tools by Iannis Zannos, as well as a seminar moderated by Antonis Danos on October 31st, at the Pefkios Georgiades Auditorium of the Cyprus University of Technology with short talks by Antonis Antoniou, Kleitos Papastylianou, Yiannis Christides and Iannis Zannos.

There are limited places for the workshops and those who are interested to attend are required to contact NeMe to book a seat.

Exhibition
Venue: NeMe Arts Centre
Opening: 31/10/2015 at 21.00
Duration 31/10/2015 – 30/11/2015

Opening Times:
Tuesday-Friday: 17:30-20:30
Saturday: 10:00-13:00

Seminar (in Greek)
Venue: Pefkios Georgiades Theatre, Cyprus University of Technology
Date/Time: 31/10 18:00-20:30