the cyprus pavilion
anachoresis
upon inhabiting distances

gr

(Venice)

(Cyprus)

1.

Introduction

The Cyprus Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia addresses the spatial experiences that occur when inhabiting distances becomes a paradigm for the development of new socialities. The notion of anachoresis, as explicated by Roland Barthes in “How to live together,” denotes an abrupt departure into spaces of atypical and idiorrhythmic manifestations of cohabitation.

In the Cyprus Pavilion, anachoresis is introduced as an act that takes place on the convergence of urban-public and domestic-private space, where the distance between the two is blurred and inhabited. The horizontal site-specific installation scales up one of the most archetypical structures and social objects, the table. Designed by architects Era Savvides and Nasios Varnavas (Urban Radicals) in conversation with independent curators Marina Christodoulidou and Evagoras Vanezis, it takes the pavilion’s original domestic typology as a point of departure, with the table expanding to a quasi-monumental form.

The architectural gesture unifies the indoor and outdoor areas, guiding one through a paced walk with spaces for pause and activation –implementing new protocols of distancing whilst balancing our need for being together. The table’s foundations reference Cypriot landscapes, both raw materialities and terrains. The tabletop is fragmented and re-assembled into a mosaic of‘ islands’, which allow for a cultural and social multiplicity of languages. Embedded into the surface are objects of play, infrastructure and craft, which archive narratives of collectivity and exchange by creating the basis for a cartography of places and characters, operating between local-global scales and rhythms.

Gathered on the table are proposals by architects and interdisciplinary groups from Cyprus and abroad, inviting reflections on the physical and social aspects of architectural practice. Through the perspectives of urban and domestic landscapes, queerness, play, architectural tradition, and technology, a micrography of fantasised communities is proposed.

The project re-envisions spatial relations by furthering into the mediums of sound and movement. In collaboration with composer Yiannis Christofides, the soundscape “Things in the Distance” amplifies the reversibility of the indoors and the outdoors, while the choreographic score “ANEW” developed as part of Michalis Theophanous and Georgia Tegou’s dance-as-design practice, suggests counter-structures to our daily acts and typical behaviours.

Anachoresis: Upon Inhabiting Distances is accompanied by a homonymous book published by Archive Books, and a newspaper edition. The publication includes texts on the various thematics explored by the curatorial team and the project’s contributors, while it opens itself to projects and texts by invited collaborators. The newspaper collects articles by curators and exhibitors of this year’s Biennale, as well as other cultural practitioners, and is available as Free Press throughout the duration of the exhibition. As part of the project, a series of collateral events are announced via here and the Pavilion’s social media.

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2.

Team

Curators:

  • era savvides, nasios Varnavas (Urban Radicals)
  • marina christodoulidou
  • evagoras vanezis

exhibitors:

  • urban radicals

Commissioner:

  • Petros Dymiotis

Deputy Commissioner:

  • Angela Skordi

Dance-as-design:

  • Georgia Tegou
  • Michalis Theophanous

Sound:

  • Yiannis Christofides

Graphic Design:

  • Studio Lin

Website Programming:

  • Lorraine Li

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3.

Exhibition

Anachoresis is introduced as a foundational act that takes place on the convergence of various scales and rhythms, in spatial configurations where distances are blurred and inhabited.

It is manifested through an overarching gesture:
an expansive table, that bursts through the pavilion’s spaces, proposing a space for gathering. Conceived as a schema and ideogram the table is sequenced in three stages: Piling/support structures (x), Levelling/tabletops (xy) and Activating/archiving objects (xyz).

The table constructs an open-source framework, with multiple departure points into new rhythms of sociality. The table’s moving parts suggest a negotiation between cohabiting subjects, forming different proxemic patterns. One is invited along a paced walk through spaces for pause and activation – implementing new protocols for distancing whilst balancing our need for being together. The surface of the table acts as a bridge connecting one place to another, yet is broken down into fragments – an archipelago of micrographies in which objects and narratives of collectivity are embedded.

Objects of communal functions are tagged in a system of cartography which considers architecture as an archive (trápeza) of things. Analogies arise between elements of chance and precision; DIY-ness and planning; inside and outside, pause and activation. Architectural models are encountered on a circular table typology, a commoning surface for re-thinking living together. All components and gatherings assemble a multiplicity of views, places, soft joints, bridges, traditional and contemporary approaches to collectivity, people and times, into new proximities and configurations of a fantasized community.

Sound and movement are proposed as design tools to re-negotiate our daily behaviours and rhythms. The act of walking is used as a mechanism to establish the relationship of architecture and visitor as one of conversation, non-static and in-flux. Movement research adapts diverse architecture-body relations, whilst a soundscape expands beyond the table’s coordinates, both anticipating novel or familiar horizons of a home. By catalysing new socialities, anachoresis nurtures the act of inhabiting the distances that may shape our collective experiences and the future of living together.

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4.

Contributors

Envisioned as a collective-participatory project, the proposal Anachoresis: Upon Inhabiting Distances acts as a platform, hosting and presenting various viewpoints and approaches which bring the issue of collective space at the forefront of architecture and question the way in which current practices affect the notion of collective space, materially, socially and/or politically. Within this context, through an open call, architects and multidisciplinary teams submitted proposals which come into dialogue with the main theme of the Cyprus Pavilion.

a.

Serhan Ahmet-Tekbas, Thanasis Ikonomou

b.

Mariza Daouti, Eftychios Savvidis

c.

Eleni Diana Elia, Kleanthis Rousos

d.

Charis Nika, Sebastian Koukkides

e.

eleonora antoniadou (superside studio), nayia savva

f.

kkreate studio (Christophoros Kyriakides, Orestis Kyriakides)

g.

dakis panayiotou (kiss the architect), theodoulos polyviou

h.

urban gorillas (veronika antoniou, teresa tourvas)

i.

Studio Naama (natalie savva, mark rist)

j.

rania francis, gergana popova

k.

wet-hard agency (regner ramos, kleanthis kyriakou, gabriela ennich, christian gonzález, brian torres)

l.

emilio koutsoftides (koutsoftides architects), gabor stark

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5.

News

publication

Published on the occasion of Cyprus’ participation at the 17th Architecture Biennale in Venice, Anachoresis: Upon Inhabiting Distances gathers a collection of texts and visual material from a multidisciplinary group of Cypriot and international practitioners, including architects and designers, curators and writers, sound and movement artists. The publication offers a combination of established and emerging voices, reflecting on the spatial experiences that occur when ‘inhabiting distances’ is proposed as a thematic for the development of new forms of sociality and living together. Now more than ever, there is an urgency to recognise experiences of the newly inhabited distances that are shaping our collective experience and reflect on architecture’s transformative social and political power on a local and global scale. Published by Archive Books.

contributions by
Urban Radicals (Era Savvides, Nasios Varnavas)
Marina Christodoulidou
Evagoras Vanezis
Aristide Antonas
Jan van Duppen
Christodoulos Makris
Yiannis Christofides, Kestrel Leah
Georgia Tegou
Andreas Panayides
Anny Stephanou, Savvia Palate
Charis Baskozos
Francesca Savvides

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6.

Visit

space:

  • Associazione Culturale Spiazzi
    Castello 3865
    30122 Venice
    (Arsenale vaporetto stop)

duration:

  • May 20 preview
  • May 22–November 21, 2021

Opening Hours:

  • Tuesday–Sunday
  • 10:00—18:00
  • Closed on Monday

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