A reflection on my time in residency
I spent most of September 2023 in residence at NeMe Arts Centre in Limassol alongside curator Régine Debatty. The residency was part of Sea Blindness, an exhibition about the Mediterranean Sea we ran between September and October.
During my time in Cyprus, I began to question my curatorial and creative process over the last few years and to reflect on the art world, its structure and its possible futures. Where are we as a sector with regard to transformation and where are we going? How are we responding to the many challenges society is facing? How does my work fit into all this? This short piece is a way to share some of my thoughts during the residency.
Aside from making new friends, learning from the local context and meeting interesting people from both sides of Cyprus, what has stayed with me most is realising how important it is to advocate for a different value framework for the arts. One that values people, relationships and the health of the planet as key outcomes. One observation that has shaped my worldview and changed the way I work is acknowledging that rushing into projects without putting the right amount of care, time and attention into the process, and the different aspects that make the project possible (people, relationships, funding, etc) is neither just nor sustainable in the long run. We end up overlooking the needs and/or lessons that emerge at every stage of the process and the aspects that might need to change or be improved.
This is an unfortunate reality of a sector that must often dance to the rigorous rhythms of funding rounds, tight budgets and unrealistic production schedules; symptoms of a wider malaise that seems to afflict every creative industry on the planet. While there’s little to be done about some of these factors, I am now more mindful of such considerations when pondering a new venture.
While I was in Limassol, I also reflected on the way artistic practices are used to address today’s global challenges, what possible futures there are for us and what role we have in shaping those futures. As a community, it is striking how little our artistic approaches have changed in the past few years. I feel we still make use of narratives that are too often inaccessible to diverse audiences, or that focus too much on negative interpretations of the future, as is the case with dystopian and apocalyptic climate futures. What impact do these stories have on people? Do they nurture positive change, or do they just exacerbate polarisation, paralysis and social unrest? What other forms of narrative are there aside from critically or conceptually addressing a topic or raising awareness about an issue? To what extent is our work aligned with the complex world we live in and what is yet to come?
What I am missing from the current arts worldview, particularly in the art+tech field, is more examples of projects that show that another world is possible. Narratives that give us hope and optimism that there is a way to overcome the mess we are in and provide audiences with the means to think and act differently upon social, political and environmental issues. Why aren’t we including in our events and programmes more artists, creatives, activists, thinkers and strategists whose work focuses on imagining and orchestrating alternative futures? We need to hear from more people who go beyond the critical, high-tech and dystopian way of looking at things in order to envision a fairer and more attainable future.
As scientist, artist and educator Ayesha Khan wrote in her piece Focusing on what we’re FOR, more than what we’re against helps us build relationships: “It is important to strike a balance between focusing on what we’re dismantling versus what we’re building. The reality is when we build, we simultaneously dismantle.” Khan’s words resonate profoundly with me, especially at a time when our world is crumbling before our eyes.
I am glad the exhibition Sea Blindness got to platform projects like Marine Caves and Benthic Terrazzo, which represents the kind of practices I believe are needed within the arts in the current context. Created by Greek artist collective Hypercomf, the project addresses the issue of plastic pollution in the marine cave ecosystems of Chania in Crete. It involved a year-long collaboration with marine biologist Markos Digenis for a detailed field study, and the development of a series of floor tiles made from oceanic pollutants collected during an exploration of the caves. “A sustainable design proposal that parallel to providing a use for this waste material and reintroducing it to the human home and domain, would help reduce the amount of concrete and river/marine sand extracted from the natural environment for such uses.”¹
Marine Caves and Benthic Terrazzo sheds light on the transformative role creative practice can play in the context of the current ecosocial crisis. It revolves around the message of responsible consumption, sustainable art production, and the values of care and ecosystem restoration and preservation. And it highlights the systemic approaches that can inspire people to develop and embody other societal and economic values that are more sensitive to the Earth and its inhabitants. Projects like this bring a sense of hope and accountability for our future, while adding breadth and purpose to the arts. I recall a quote from Onassis Foundation’s website regarding this project that reflects on these ideas: “the larger oceanic issues clearly require systemic transformations such as the reformation of the social mentality towards consumption and the re-evaluation of our practices using a new set of values, one that focuses on the long term implications of our practices.”
As someone who feels very deeply about the world and those inhabiting it, the last decade’s challenges — including border conflicts and recurrent natural disasters — have had a deep impact on the way I approach life and work. I have spent the past few years reflecting on my practice and how best to work through change and transition via art and culture. Looking ahead, I intend to connect and work with, support and learn from artists, creatives and practitioners from across disciplines who are guided by a commitment to help society navigate these uncertain times. I want to work with peers who see creative practice as an essential means to articulate, propose and organise new strategies for coexistence. With my work, I want to contribute to making the arts less precarious, and I want to seek out more people who share similar goals and ask similar questions.
The work of Cassie Robinson was very present during my time in Limassol. I listened to some of her podcasts during my daily walking ritual by the sea. I find her expertise and knowledge in the fields of behaviour change and collective consciousness, and what she calls “resourcing the transition”, “hospicing endings” and “imagining and seeding the new” to be not only impressive, but also very valuable for a society in transition.
Coming across her work made me realise I am on the right path of transformation and it has inspired me to embark on a new project that will see the light in the coming months.
I believe we need more artists and practitioners like Hypercomf and Cassie in our programmes and we need them now!
[1] Hypercomf and Markos Digenis are working together on the Studiotopia residency at Onassis Stegi.
