Urban Emptiness - soundscapes of Limassol

On Saturday, 4 February 2017, NeMe invites you to Urban Emptiness, a series of events consisting of an exhibition and a performance at the NeMe Arts Centre, a seminar at Pefkios Georgiades Auditorium (Cyprus University of Technology), and in selected locations in the Limassol city centre.

The exhibition and accompanying seminar present the results of the interdisciplinary investigation of emptiness and silence in Limassol and is a parallel project to related actions in various cities such as Athens, Edinburgh, Brussels and New York which all form part of the international network Urban Emptiness, curated by Geert Vermeire.

The artworks, together with the seminar papers, contextualise the importance of real and imaginary/hidden landscapes in the urban environment of Limassol and explore different conditions of intimacy within new understandings. Through actions which involved various methodological strategies, the outcomes contribute to the discourse pivoting around the value of an experiential/performative understanding of silence and emptiness in urban life. Important considerations have been:

- performance events or actions that focus on the relationship of the body and the physical space and its immaterial realms,
- digital/sound mappings of the urban emptiness and silent aura,
- documentation/explorations of the experiential understanding of urban atmospheres that challenge current representational techniques.

Public participation is essential for the full realisation of this project as the self initiated media walks make it possible to move, experiencing an augmented reality which alters the spatial perception by superimposing new layers of audiovisual content to a space, allowing the creation of parallel realities and makes them accessible (walking the data) through a smartphone. To experience the artworks please download the Ojoo app on your iPhone or Android devices.

The exhibited works were created within walking exchange projects between students of Cyprus University of Technology Limassol, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies (led by Dr. Angeliki Gazi & Dr. Yiannis Christidis), the University of the Aegean, Department of Cultural Technology and Communication (led by Dr. Nikos Bubaris), the Parsons New School of Design, New York (led by Dr Lydia Matthews), Drama School of the Athens Conservatoire (led by Adonis Volanakis), RITCS School of Arts – Radio Dept Brussels (led by Dr Guy Debievre), National Technical University of Athens – School of Architecture (led by Dr Georgios Parmenidis, Dr. Nelly Marda and Olga Ioannou), Edinburgh College of Arts – ESALA (led by Dr. Christos Kakalis, Stella Mygdali) and Marielys Burgos Melendez, Stefaan van Biesen, Geert Vermeire, Ismini Gatou, Andromachi Vrakatseli. Documentation of the media walks created by the participating artists mentioned above will also be part of the exhibition. Further works have been created by the Cyprus based artists: Elena Pillakouri, Evdokia Georgiou, Maria Andreou and the Mind the Gap collective.

Seminar speakers: Dr. Nikos Bubaris (Aegean University), Haris Pellapaisiotis (University of Nicosia), Dr. Yiannis Christidis (Cyprus University of Technology), Stefaan van Biesen (sound artist/ walking artist, Brussels), Marielys Burgos Melendez (dance artist/researcher, Puerto Rico) Via Skype: Dr. Christos Kakalis (Urban Emptiness Network organizer, University of Newcastle) and Stella Mygdali (Urban Emptiness Network organizer, University of Edinburgh).

Seminar: 04/02/2017, 17:00-20:00
Seminar language: English
Venue: Pefkios Georgiades Auditorium, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol

Exhibition Opening: 04/02/2017, 20:30 pm
Venue: NeMe Arts Centre
Duration: 04/02/2017 – 04/03/2017

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