Cyprus to be represented in the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice Biennale

Cyprus will be represented in the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia by a group consisting of the architect Sevina Floridou, co-curators Nicola Mitropoulou and Clara Zinecker, assistant architect Aaron Gatt, the artists/researchers’ collective Fisherwomxn (Miriam Gatt, Ioulita Toumazi and Seta Astreou Karides) and artisans of TERRACT Salamiou.

The group’s proposal is entitled ‘(To the Stones) - we lent you our breath, and you whispered it back to the earth’.

The Department of Contemporary Culture of the Deputy Ministry of Culture said in a press release that the proposal was selected through an open call to select a curator, launched by the Deputy Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Cyprus Architects Association (CAA).

The proposals submitted within this framework were reviewed by an eight-member committee consisting of representatives of the Deputy Ministry and CAA (Alkis Dikaios, architect, president of CAA, Yiannis Agisilaou, architect, Eleonora Antoniadou, architect, Petros Dymiotis, cultural officer of the Department of Contemporary Culture, Pavlos Feraios, architect, Phanos Kyriakidis, architect, Louli Michaelidou, Cultural Officer A’ of the Department of Contemporary Culture and Andreas Palallas, architect).  

The Committee noted in its rationale that it appreciated the proposal's intention to bring to the forefront overlooked manual construction practices, essentially reclaiming the knowledge of ancient methods of sustainable (in the contemporary sense of the word) management of natural resources.

"By elevating the construction process to a ritualistic ceremony of communal participation, the proposal succeeds in connecting critically and organically with the thematic core of the Biennale," it is added.

The group said – among others – that ‘by echoing practices of drystone terracing, the exhibition proposes a return of the bodies and utilities of communality. Through the process of (re)construction and the performative gestures this entails, a collectively constructed future is offered that is inherently concerned with ethics, politics of space and its handling.’

The 19th edition of the Biennale Architettura directed by architect and engineer Carlo Ratti, will take place from May 10th till November 23rd 2025 under the general theme “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective”.

In the upcoming edition, the Cyprus pavilion will be housed, as before, at Associazione Culturale Spiazzi, Castello 3865, 30124 Venezia, close to the Arsenale – one of the two main exhibition venues of the Biennale Architettura. Complete exhibition programme to follow.

The 19th edition of the event opens on 8 May 2025 for the Media and accredited professionals, and on 10 May for the public.  

The group’s biographies

Sevina Floridou is a Cypriot architect and cultural heritage researcher. Publications include how the island’s two main cultures, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot come together. She has been teaching cultural heritage at Nicosia University since 2014.

Nicola Mitropoulou is an artist and curator based in Cyprus whose practice exists in a perpetual state of flux. Her work considers the dialectics of fluidity, intertwining elements of performativity and collective praxis to negotiate current spatiotemporal peripheries. Her projects unfold in the form of collaborative research, exhibitions, writing and performance.

Clara Zinecker is a researcher, engaging in collective research projects, navigating the intersection of border studies and ecology. Her engagements materialise in various forms including writing, activism and artistic practice. Since 2018 she has worked with activist groups in solidarity with people on the move. 

Aaron Gatt is an architect currently participating in the Young Engineers Practice Program at AMS Architects. He graduated summa cum laude (9.74 GPA) from the University of Cyprus in 2024. During his studies, he spent a semester at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki as an Erasmus student and interned at the office of the architect Diomedes Myrianthefs in 2022, contributing to the documentation of historical churches in Cyprus. Aaron also has a strong interest in archaeology, focusing on historical graffiti. 

Fisherwomxn (Miriam Gatt, Ioulita Toumazi & Seta Astreou-Karides) is a group of artists and curators working across the disciplines of writing, publishing and performance to generate critical discourse around feminist and anti-colonial thought. 

Find out more about Biennale Architettura 2025 at www.labiennale.org and www.cyprusinvenice.org

(Source: CNA)