Yorgos Petrou: Exhibition: As firmly cemented clam-shells fall apart in autumn, so I must take to the road again
Yorgos Petrou & Stelios Ilchuk: Listening Session: My house is burned but I continue to scatter my blossoms as if nothing happened
(Have you ever thought of your digestive system in relation to your view from any place on this island?)
Join on Sunday, October 27th, for an exhibition opening at Ekso 3-6pm, and a listening session at the Paphos Roman Odeon at 7pm.
Locations & Parking options
*Housekeeping*
Exhibition:
‘As firmly cemented clam-shells fall apart in autumn, so I must take to the road again’, is an installation of new work that sets the stage for the listening session that will follow, and an integral part of Yorgos Petrou’s residency at Ekso, developed in parallel to the sound piece ‘My house is burned but I continue to scatter my blossoms as if nothing happened’.
The exhibition’s title, borrowed from Matsuo Bashō, encapsulates the idea of being “clammed up” and its connection to aspects of the queer experience. The selection of works play with the idea of “mirroring by slicing, splitting, or opening up,” which resonates with Petrou’s exploration of how individuals connect to specific places and how these become sites of memory, legend, and trauma.
Their experimental approach to materials and fragmented symbolism is evident in the selection of works. Using highly specialized soft silicone to create human tissue-like structures entangled with industrial materials and everyday objects, Petrou seeks to distort forms and formats, explore materiality as hierarchy, and tell stories within the context of queer bodies in rural environments and colonized territories.
The exhibition will be open on Monday, October 28th, 10am - 6pm
Duration: 27 October - 17 November / Open by appointment until November 17th, at ekso.info@gmail.com
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Listening Session:
On October 27th at 7 pm, we invite you to a listening session at the Roman Odeon in the archaeological site of Nea Paphos.
‘My house is burned but I continue to scatter my blossoms as if nothing happened’ is a collaborative piece by Yorgos Petrou and Stelios Ilchuk that bears a layered significance. The place where Petrou hangs out as a teenager, at a time when the site was a barrier-free public space, now calling for a listening session, at once reclaims a presence through voice, and demonstrates Petrou’s politically nuanced and multi-layered approach to heritage, colonialism and memory. Ilchuk’s music affords an expanded take on reclamation and revision through beats and textures, elaborating noise and silence, that travel freely between bodies and dimensions.
The work follows the month-long residency of Petrou at Ekso, where they embark on spatial mapping, foraging sounds, images and materials from Cyprus. They visit their childhood home, tend the crops of their ancestors, enter the ruins of the room where they were born, and roam the rural and urban landscape in the Paphos district.
@yorgospetrou x @steliosilchuk
The two events are co-funded by the Deputy Ministry of Culture of Cyprus
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Yorgos Petrou (they/them) is a Cypriot born, London based visual artist whose practice spans sculpture, performance, photography, film, and writing to make artistic interventions into sites of geographical, historical, and mythical significance.
Taking an experimental and unconventional approach to a broad range of materials, they use highly specialised soft silicone to make human tissue-like structures, as well as industrial materials and everyday objects to create photo-sculptural installations. By doing so, they seek to distort the form, transform surfaces, and explore materiality and its hierarchy in the context of queer bodies in rural environments. They often engage with the liminal space between Asia, Africa, and Europe and their shared colonial histories by looking at stains and remains on peoples and land, focussing on the archaeological - often fragmented - body as it exists within the earth.
They trained at the Royal College of Art and Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, UK.
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Stelios Ilchuk is a visual artist, graphic designer and music producer based in Paphos, Cyprus.
His music affords an expanded take on reclamation and revision through beats and textures, elaborating noise and silence, that travel freely between bodies and dimensions.
He trained at the Central Saint Martins School of Art & Design, London, UK and at the Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, NL.
https://steliosilchuk.com/