Getting Deeper into Famagusta

Day 2: "I have to knock on the door of my subconscious and ask it"

Curator's Cut (Ellada):

The phrase is creatively borrowed (!) from resident artist Adi Atassi, describing his process of creation and demystification of the residency itself. In it, as a dramaturge-curator, i found much that was the intention of the residency as a whole.

A certain permission-granting was needed for us, a creative team from mostly people outside of Famagusta, to enter. To avoid the parachuting effect of artists falling in contested spaces, locations more attractive on a powerpoint presentation in an international conference, than they c/would ever be to the artists, the process of the community.

Part of the process of permission-granting took on Day 2 of the residency. The day was mostly devoted to listening from people who had done work on the city and area, as well as practitioners of community-based art. Socratis Stratis, academic and architect, member of the Imaginary Famagusta - Hands-on Famagusta collective, talked about the contested space which is the city, and the inclusive processes that created a new (individual and collective) imaginary. Evi Tselika spoke of her work in socially engaged art, in Nicosia and internationally, engaging with various population groups, and the Re-Aphrodite project. The morning session closed with Yiannis Toumazis, and his conceptual Framework for the New Famagusta Museum, an intersection of the past and future of said space, an opening to a new possibility of experiencing a wounded urban center.

The afternoon was filled with the vibrant chant of Nurtane Karagil, artist, and Aycan Garip, artist and academic, who walked us through their (often controversial) works and lives in Famagusta, the philosophy behind the hosting space of Pikadilli, a space which nurtures collective creation, individual expression, innovation in culture and merry-making, in the building which was once the kingdom of a Famagusta seamstress.

Phase two of Adi's quote: asking the subconscious. The asking is an active process of reaching for answers. The answers of other are now secondary: once we have entered, we need to make our own. Dramaturgy of/in a space, through disciplines, ages, languages, tools and experiences.  A debrief and conversation around dramaturgy took place under a tree behind the arches of the entrance to the Venetian Palace, to the music from a bride's henna ceremony. Feelings and thoughts on the process arose, as this was the first chance the artists had to speak freely, not as a response to someone. All the breathing they were holding inside came out in a common exhale, an agony about how we would do this.

The Dramaturgy was based on two main axes: what is stable and what is fluid. The technology, the need for a surface, the city and the tools of the artists are stable. What is fluid is everything else: inspiration, aesthetic, community, collaboration, ad infinitum. Even the clause of two teams is rendered porous. The choices, editing, mix-and-match, combinations, exclusions, can happen starting tomorrow. Tonight is the last night of infinite possibilities.