Works

UCA lecturers to participate in
Installation Art Festival

M.ARCH Convenor Gabor Stark and Associate Lecturer Emilio Koutsoftides have been invited to participate in the EFE 6th Annual Installation Art Festival 2023 in Cyprus. Organised by E.KA.TE. The Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts, the festival features eight projects in four major cities in Cyprus. Emilio and Gabor are commissioned to realise an urban sound installation in Ktima, the old town of Paphos.

KENOTOPIA
From Greek kenos ‘empty‘ + topos ‘place’

Aiming to improve the image of Paphos’ Old Town, a recent initiative by the Municipality saw the removal of facades of abandoned properties. Formerly used by small shops and other micro-businesses, some of these voids have been unused and blocked off from the public gaze for years, in some cases for decades.

With their thresholds of windows and doors removed, these newly revealed, now freely accessible urban niches present a new hybrid species of space that blurs the boundaries between public and private. Stitched back to the spatial fabric of the city, they are ambiguous extensions to the public realm – open spaces in limbo, waiting for inhabitation.

The sound installation investigates, records, and animates six of these in-between spaces. A bench provides the opportunity to dwell in the empty space; a site-specific soundscape activates each location, inviting visitors to listen, to reflect, and to fill the void with conversations about possible urban futures.

Emilio and Gabor will realise the project in 2023. The exact dates will be announced in due time. Together with the work of the other seven EFE artists, photographs of the empty spaces and a soundtrack were exhibited at the E.KA.TE. gallery in Nicosia from the 30th of November to the 4th of December 2022.

Kenotopia Suite (exhibition track)
https://soundcloud.com/precariouspropositions/kenotopia-suite

Kenotopia I. (demo track)
https://soundcloud.com/precariouspropositions/kenotopia-i

Kenotopia II. (demo track)
https://soundcloud.com/precariouspropositions/kenotopia-ii

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KENOTOPIA
Urban sound installation in Ktima, Paphos
by Emilio Koutsoftides & Gabor Stark

Part of EFE – 6th Annual Installation Art Festival 2023
Organised by E.KA.TE. The Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts
Curated by Athina Antoniadou
www.facebook.com/ekatecy/