PRE-FESTIVAL ACTIVITIES
Choir performance (combined with a sound walk): Chor Choir Choeur – Siedl/Cao
Melissa Confectionery, 82 Aischylou street, Nicosia
Thursday 5/9, 18:30
Siedl/Cao (AT/VT) is a Vienna-based artist group who work in the field of sound art, transdisciplinary art and contemporary music. They aspire to engage a broad audience, through an inclusive approach. By encouraging participation in a choir, they aim to foster hands-on engagement with art, as they believe that understanding comes from direct experience.
The project, Chor Choir Choeur is an exploration of choir as a process-based and artistic practice that extends beyond its traditional music-making facet. It comprises a collection of new compositions by Siedl/Cao for multiple voices in specific local contexts and media combinations. These compositions are mostly verbal instructions outlining simple concepts, allowing individuals without prior knowledge of music theory or experience in music-making to participate. The overarching aim of Chor Choir Choeur is to construct an architecture that enables the natural unfolding of human expression.
Video and sound installation: In der Luft – Siedl/Cao
Monday 09/9, Tuesday 10/9
Laiki Gitonia,
Room across Tourist Information office, Aristokyprou street, Nicosia
Siedl/Cao (AT/VT) is a Vienna-based artist group who work in the field of sound art, transdisciplinary art and contemporary music. They aspire to engage a broad audience, through an inclusive approach.
In der Luft [English translation: in the air] is an ongoing project by Siedl/Cao, centered around the kite flute as both a point of departure and a meeting place for stories, reflections, and emotions.
Gathering and workshop: Nicosia Çiftetellisi – Elli Vassalou
Tuesday 10/9, 18:00 – 21:00
Laiki Geitonia, Kafeneio, Aristokyprou street, Nicosia
Elli Vassalou is a Brussels-based transdisciplinary artist, architect and activist. She designs platforms for co-creation, collective knowledge production, and social change.
Nicosia Çiftetellisi is a research project on Çiftetelli as a cross-cultural practice and a tool for collective healing, feminist place-making and queer joy. The project aims to bring together Greek and Turkish Cypriots and diasporas from the east Mediterranean and the SWANA region to share stories, tunes and dances reimagining a common ground. It is an invitation for women and queer people, from all communities of the city, to join a circle of personal storytelling and dance.
It seeks to ask and answer questions such as what is our connection with our bodies and our femininity as displaced/diasporic people? How can we create a brave space for embodied memory, joy, vulnerability, and empathy through the practice of Çiftetelli and other oriental dances? Can a dance contribute to our sense of belonging and cultivate a cross-cultural Cypriotness?