Xarkis Festival celebrates its 10th edition in Kornos

Faithful to its nomadic tradition, the 10th Xarkis Festival (XF2023) moves to Kornos, a mountainous village renowned for the great red clay pottery in the district of Larnaca, Cyprus, and will be held from the 13th-15th of October 2023.

If you have been to Xarkis Festival before, you know what to expect. But if it’s your first time, then brace yourself for an international program full of gatherings, immersive workshops, exhibitions interventions, live performances and concerts, interactive games suitable for children and adults of all ages and many other activities where heritage and communal values intertwine and interact with contemporary art, and where small, everyday gestures turn into gifts of kindness. Respect, experimentation, deconstruction and connection. Because “folk” tradition contains something deeply daring and radical and is often the result of a fruitful ongoing dialogue. And this is what we try to do in every Xarkis Festival: to open up creative discussions on the past, with courage, clear intentions and imagination, to search for answers in the root of the system, in the trunk and leaves of heritage, whilst looking into glimpses of the future.

Tradition: Compact as well as fluid. Hermetic as well as inclusive. It runs through time. How does it reach us? How is it filtered? How does it define us? And after all, what is our own footprint? And what does “ours” mean?

For this year, the interdisciplinary team of the festival has chosen to focus on the concept of sympraxis through values of care, as these are shaped by the relationship between heritage, everyday and contemporary artistic practices. Selected artists from Cyprus and abroad (Egypt, Greece, France, Germany, Ecuador, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Hungary, Slovenia, Syria) have been invited to unpack this key concept, and who have participated in the Xarkis Multi-residency programme that takes place before (1st-12th of October.)

The results of their collaboration with the local community will be presented during the three-day festival. Charged with emotions and memories, they are expected to stir the mood with their originality, ingenuity and truth.

At this year’s Xarkis Festival we aspire to highlight values of care through contemporary art forms, values linked to our intangible cultural heritage, traditional craft practices, shared ritualistic elements and aspects of ordinary and/invisible labour. More specifically: We will embrace the red clay of Kornos in pottery workshops by artisans in the village, as well as in practice-based research initiatives by interdisciplinary artists and educators, and we will unpack its potential through different forms of art. We will play with terms tied to sustainability, “cooking” bioplastics together with common trash, to shape new craft practices. We will dive into the archive of cultural heritage to emerge “smarter” out of such encounters.

On Friday 13th October the festival will begin with workshops and eco-pedagogical interactive experiences, in the afternoon we will meet at the Potters’ Cooperative for the opening ceremony, while in the evening we will experiment with an alternative Cypriot fiesta, inviting the whole village to a big experimental ziafetti (musical fiesta). On Saturday 14th of October we will continue with a layered program that will include workshops as well as games, such as an alternative Cypriot edition of the backgammon, futuristic walks and discussions with the local community, and an alternative SPA experience. In the evening, a concert is planned with artists such as Melentini & The Running Blue Orchestra, BuzZ’ Ayaz, Cherry Bandora and Stranger in the Body, as well as powerful DJ sets. On the last day (Sunday, October 15), the program will include among other things, a performance for cleaning the louvi (black eyed beans), the presentation of a project around the tradition of votive offerings, choral formations and much more that you can read in the festival program.

The 10th edition of the Xarkis Festival is definitely an experience worth immersing yourself. A communal polyphonic celebration that celebrates what unites us and reminds us of the value of sharing. We are waiting for you all in Kornos!

See here the complete program and learn more about the festival on the social networks below:
Instagram: @xarkisfestival
Facebook: Φεστιβάλ Ξαρκής – Xarkis Festival
Twitter: @xarkisfestival
Website: festival.xarkis.org

Founded in 2013, Xarkis Festival began as a social experiment to test ideas of resilience, self-sufficiency, DIY practices, cultural heritage and folk wisdom in order to create a community identity amid the global financial crisis that culminated in Cyprus in 2013. Ten years later, in a post-pandemic era where we are still experiencing various crises, we reconsider the relevance of such principles.

CREDITS

Creative director: Christina Skarpari
Production coordinators: Haralambos Drousiotis, Andria Antoniou
Production assistants: Panayiotis Andreou, Sebastian Koukkides
Curation and coordination of residents: Christina Skarpari, Anastasia McCammon Hadjipapa, Yorgos Stenos
Curation of space: Sebastian Koukkides
Selections for experimental ziafetti: Tasos Lamnisos
Editing of greek texts: Dimitris Pichas
Web development: Apostolis Kyriakos
Graphic design: Despina Kannaourou
Animation: Anastasia Melandinοu
Digital marketing: Niki Lialiari
Photography: Louiza Vradi, Skevi Laou, Myrto Tzima
Filmmaking: Giorgos Athanasiou
Welcome desk coordinator: Efi Modestou
Bar coordinator: Stass Apostolou

SPECIAL THANKS

To the community council of Kornos, to Evie Christodoulou, Vera Savva, Michalis Savva, Sotiria Tryfonos, Andriani Neocleous, Pericles and Chrystoulla Gavriel, Loukia Kaourani, Vasoula Adamou, Louiza Konstantinou, Kostas Christodoulou, Stavros Antoniou, Ioulianos Ioulianou, Kafeneio Anagennisi, AEK Kornou, and to all the volunteers for their time and effort, to the Cultural Services of the sub ministry of Culture and KYPRIA for the invigoration of our festival and all our supporters that have contributed to the creation of this celebration.