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Cyprus

Collective Future

Exhibition|A project by Fatma Nur Özoğul and Violeta Ivanova

  • Goethe-Institut Nicosia, Nicosia

  • English

: Beyaz zemin üzerine kahverengi kahve telvesi, bir manzarayı anımsatan soyut bir görüntü oluşturuyor. Üzerinde beyaz renkte COLLECTIVE FUTURE yazılmış koyu mavi bir daire bulunuyor. Fatma Nur Özoğul & Violeta Ivanova

The Goethe-Institut Cyprus is supporting the project Collective Future by artists Fatma Nur Özoğul and Violeta Ivanova.

By offering a speculative glimpse into the future of Cypriot society, Collective Future aims to stimulate discussion about regional and global developments.

Inspired by the local coffee-reading tradition, the project invites all communities in Nicosia to come together and share a cup of coffee. Their combined coffee grounds will serve as the basis for an unconventional interpretation of the shared future.

Video documentation from the event, along with installations and artworks speculating on possible local and global futures, will be showcased in a three-week exhibition at Goethe-Institut Nicosia. Employing ironic language, humour, and playfulness, the exhibition will explore the intersections of past and future, as well as the dynamics between individuals, communities, and the environment. Drawings created by local children who participated in the Collective Future character design workshop hosted by the artists will enhance the exhibition.
 

About the artists:

Since 2016, the artists Fatma Nur Özogul (CY/AT) and Violeta Ivanova (BG/AT) have been working together on participatory art projects that speculate on future prediction methods. In contrast to contemporary forecasting strategies, they utilise old customs and rituals.

In their projects, the artist duo often adopts eating and drinking traditions as a subversive approach against populist and nationalist policies and practices.
 

Fatma Nur Özogul

Fatma Nur Özogul is a Cypriot artist based in Austria. She holds degree of BA in Plastic Arts (Near East University, Cyprus) and degree of MA on Sculptural Conceptions/Ceramics (Kunstuniversität Linz, Austria). Currently, the artist holds the position of lecturer at Jiangxi Normal University -with cooperation of Beijing International Education Institute and the High Point University.

As a mirror to her personal interests on analyzing different types of societies in cultural, sociological and psychological aspects; Fatma Nur Özogul is interested in working with populace and the everyday life repetitions. Her works are intended to point out the unseen problems, unrecognized repetitions, different aspects of daily life and create parallel dimensions of them by combining multi-layered disciplines of her profession. Currently the artist is working on various ways of blending meaningful ironies and word games into disposable items; creating parallel dimensions with personalized concepts.

Violeta Ivanova

Violeta Ivanova is a Bulgarian visual artist based in Austria. She holds a Bachelor's degree from the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria and a Master's degree in Plastic Concepts/Ceramics from the University of Art and Design in Linz, Austria.

She works internationally as a freelance artist, project manager and educator. For her own and collaborative projects in Japan, South Korea, China, Cyprus, Bulgaria, UK, Austria etc. she has been awarded and supported by numerous public institutions such as EU Japan Fest, National Cultural Funds Bulgaria and the Federal Ministry of Arts and Culture, Austria.

Currently the artist focuses on public art, participatory and socially engaged strategies and explores this field in various collaborative formats that promote inclusion, interculturality and international connections Violeta Ivanova is a co-founder of the art association FURNA art & culture.

Opening of the Collective Future Exhibition: 23 April 2024, 19h-21h
Duration of the exhibition: 24 April - 11 May
Opening hours: Tuesday-Friday 16:00-19:00, Saturday 11:00-14:00
Closed: 28 and 29 April, 1-6 May

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