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Exhibition duration: October 28-November 20

Exhibition Opening Hours: Friday, Saturday, Sunday 10am-6pm - or by appointment

The, international group exhibition Under|Mining takes place at various locations at Kalavasos village and addresses for the first time through a contemporary art perspective the history, memory, sociocultural and environmental impact of mining in Cyprus. Mining in Cyprus has a very long history, from antiquity to the present day. Mining reached its peak during the British colonial years. This exhibition, the first of its kind in Cyprus, will focus on the ex-mining community of Kalavasos and its heritage with reference always to the other mining communities of the island.

Drawing from the work of art historian Lucy Lippard (Undermining, 2014) the exhibition actively engages with mining pits and shafts and the ways in which they reflect cultures and importantly, how they have altered and still affect ecosystems and generate new structures within our environment and societies. The two words in the title of the exhibition – mining [the process of obtaining minerals from a mine] and undermining [the erosion of the base or foundation of a structure, to lessen the effectiveness, power or ability of someone or something especially gradually or insidiously] provide the starting point from which to address both the environmental as well as the sociocultural impact of mining in Cyprus. Through the four natural elements – earth, air, fire, water – and their unnatural exploitation the artists of the exhibition engage both vertically and horizontally with the multiplicity of issues raised by the abuse of the earth’s resources.

Curated by: Dr. Gabriel Koureas, Herman Bashiron Mendolicchio, Giorgos Lazoglou

Participating Artists: Klitsa Antoniou (Cyprus), Vince Briffa (Malta), Trevor Borg (Malta), Melita Couta (Cyprus), Elina Ioannou (Cyprus), Bill Psarras (Greece), Lara Salmon (USA), Constantinos Taliotis (Cyprus), Leontios Toumpouris (Cyprus), Adonis Volanakis (Greece), Theoretical.

Art Texts: Dr. Gabriel Koureas (Cyprus), Herman Bashiron Mendolicchio (Italy), Maria Loizidou (Cyprus), Dr. Elena Parpa (Cyprus).