now and than... / by Yiannis Toumazis

19 ECHOES

Buffer Fringe partnership with Limassol and Famagusta started in 2020 with Elena Agathokleous (centre of performing arts MITOS) and Nurtane Karagil Famagusta based artist (using neighbouring community space Mağusa Kale Pasajı) and stems from a direct assignment for the two artists/spaces to each curate a Buffer Fringe event for the 2020-2021 Festival. The concept of displacement is aimed to be reversed from a negative connotation to a positive one and therefore is dealt with as the ability of humans to communicate their ideas that are remote in time and/or space, as the new opportunity to discover a new dynamic, as the possibility to feel connected and at home. Inspired by the space between the two cities which is 95km, in 2020 Elena created a complementary virtual map with 95 stops which will be worth to stop-feel-listen-learn-hear in. This year Nurtane will work with Famagusta New Museum [FNM] and Mitos to connect the dots. Famagusta New Museum [FNM], initiated by Yiannis Toumazis in 2016, is an active platform, which through its various programs and activities seeks to propose a total restart of the ghost city of Varosha, a re-enactment and an activation in the social, cultural and political fields. FNM’s mission is to promote life and not death by showing the futility of any human atrocity. Empowered by its motto: “I Understand and Forgive the Past, I Love and Generate the Future”, FNM aims at a potential awakening of citizens by enabling public discourse and generating artistic participatory actions and activist interactions across the board. Cyprus is a home for us and also the space and the place that forms our experiences: loss, displacement, trauma, politics, invasions, but also intentions, stories, hope, dream, and love. In between all these layers, we long for our future selves in united locations and memories. This year fringe 95 stops continue to bring up to the surface what is good for us. Searching, feeling, touching, and being together by using sound as a key element of the spaces. Where are we? What do we see? Playing with the sense of being and the sense of place…The aim is to launch a sensory experience through the sound map. As an outcome, anyone with a smartphone will be able to experience the sound installations placed on locations.

Famagusta New Museum

Famagusta New Museum (FNM) is a multi-communal project implemented by the Pierides Foundation and KP10. FNM’s main goal is to contribute towards reconciliation in Cyprus via different mediums of art. Under the motto “I Understand and Forgive the Past, I Love and Generate the Future”, FNM readdresses the traditional role of museums in contemporary societies, while it aims at revitalizing the city of Varosha, as well as connecting the old city to Varosha. In order to achieve that, the new project will create a digital museum of audiovisual archives, tours, a camp and a festival, which will allow the social, cultural and political reactivation of Varosha. The project aims at an awakening of citizens by enabling public discourse and generating artistic, environmental and social participatory actions and interactions amongst the communities of Cyprus. The FNM is a 20 -month-long project, funded by the Active Citizens Fund Cyprus.