Public Works at APOTHEKE, Nicosia, Cyprus
Roundtable and Public Workshops 
23rd and 24th April 2010 



In the bi-polar centre of Nicosia the legacies of the C20th and the transformations of the C21st are challenging this divided city to introspection, vis-a-vis its claims to an international vocabulary, however ignored, and its architectonic steps forward. Moving on from the modernist legacy of challenging systems of knowledge through aesthetic experiences, art forms have developed into the manifestations of littoral, conversational or dialogue based public art. A role that art can assume is to challenge us to think of our world anew and trigger thought on our sense of community. How does Nicosia's fragmented sense of community respond to such developments? How are we – art practitioners, cultural producers, architects, historians, theorists - responsible in shaping that community and how visual language is used to interact not only with a highly charged public space but also with the public that inhabits that space?

Following the Greek translation and publication of certain key text regarding the notions of participation, space and the arts, Public Works, a two day roundtable will be held on the 23rd and 24th April 2010 at APOTHEKE, across the Old Town of Nicosia.
Divided into an afternoon of curated discussions and short presentations on the 23rd April and an active engagement with the public space of the locale on the 24th April, Public Works will attempt to explore issues re:

*Nicosia as a space and place of conflicts. 
*The public sphere and the subsequent and diverse uses of art in this specific locale.
*The public(s) that inhabits Nicosia, the degrees of its representations, and how and if art can attribute a visual voice.
*Historical and theoretical paradigms of social engagement through the arts and the importance of introducing such vocabulary into the Cypriot setting. 
*Art as a contact zone for conflict resolution.


The workshops and events of the second day will also include:
* A workshop with children, aiming to reclaim and construct one of the numeorus temporary car parks in the city sprouting on evry other empty lot and transform it into an ad-hoc playground.
*A tour of stencils and graffiti and their importance as a form of visual communication and social engagement in the walled part of Nicosia by graffiti artists, taggers and activists.
*A presentation by the auotnomous left group of the history of their rich relationship with the city of Nicosia.
*A sensory challenge through a collaborative dance performance.
*A street party - a hisotrically traceable mode of public engagement with the city that has attracted multiple reactions and has partly rekindled the public interest for the Old Town of Nicosia.
*An exhibition of past and present collaborative, community-based and socio-spatially involved works at APOTHEKE.