The radical and huge scale changes in the island of Cyprus, especially of the last century, resulted in a significant disruption with the social and cultural heritage. The paper will focus on the Courtyards as an indispensable part of the intangible cultural heritage which carries invaluable 'wisdoms' stemming out form the rich history of the island, the climatic and topographical conditions, but decapitated due to the modernization brought by the British colonization and the well rooted enforcement of the urban regulations of the young government. More specifically it will concentrate on ways and mechanisms of not only how to revive this intangible architectural quality, but rather to evolve it in order to generate new spatial typologies responding to the social and cultural changes in relation to their new organizational and functional requirements. ; Dept. of Architecture, University of Nicosia, 31 Michail Yiorgalla, 2409 Nicosia.
As a result of the impact and focus of their contribution to Cyprus Buffer Fringe VII, 2020, eight members of the international interdisciplinary research group, the Creative Centre for Fluid Territories' (CCFT) were invited by the Festival Director to contribute to Cyprus Buffer Fringe VIII, 2021, through a collaborative and participatory project: Nomadic on-line dialogue 2: New Fluid Territories - Displacement. This project took four forms: - An online exhibition of mixed media artworks and written contributions generated through a process of invitation to 70 internationally dispersed, interdisciplinary contributors including artists, designers, architects, writers, sociologists, archaeologists, and educationalists. The works generated in response to the invitation were disseminated within a dedicated web portal in the public domain (Research Catalogue). See https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/1304585/1304586; – An exhibition of the contributions within the Home4Cooperation, Nicosia: a NGO focused on facilitating inter-communal dialogue in Cyprus located in the UN de-militarized Buffer Zone at the Ledra Palace crossing, Nicosia, between North and South Cyprus; – A PDF download of the contributions available through the Research Catalogue. See https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/1304585/1304586; – A hybrid symposium at the Home4Cooperation (online and in real life) organised by CCFT for the programme of weekend events for Cyprus Buffer Fringe 2021 (Saturday 9 October). Building on CCFT's relationship with Home4Cooperation and our contribution to Cyprus Buffer Fringe 2019, 'The Urban Glenti' [Urban Feast] and our Nomadic Online Dialogue 1, 2020, the works generated by CCFT members, along with invited other voices, expanded and explored the Cyprus Buffer Fringe 2021's theme of 'Displacement': whether personally, socially, culturally or politically; within the context of Cyprus but also internationally. The Exposition page created for the Research Catalogue became a container of dialectic thoughts, as well as a repository for documentation of the live events that formed part of the Buffer Fringe's 2021 programme. The intention being that the whole practice-led and dialogical process be read as a series of inter-related ideas, critical positions and visual relationships on the theme of displacement. Intercommunal Cypriot contributors to the Nomadic Online Dialogue 2: Hybrid Symposium hosted at the Home4Cooperation on Saturday 9 October 2021 were: Hosts: Ellada Evangelou (Home4Cooperation, Cyprus Buffer Fringe Director) Yiorgos Hadjichristou (CCFT, Professor of Architecture, University of Nicosia) Invited Participants: Aydin Mehmet Ali (intellectual activist, anti-racist and anti-militarist writer, translator, educationalist, traveller and cyclist) Maria Georgiou (Co-director of Public History) Elena Ioannidou (Associate Professor in Language Education and Sociolinguistics at the Department of Education, University of Cyprus) Stavros Karayiannis (Associate Professor of English at European University Cyprus) Despo Pasia (Art Educationalist) Neshe Yasin (Poet) Online – CCFT Members: Susan Brind (GSA) Jim Harold (Independent artist, Glasgow) Duncan Higgins (Prof, Nottingham Trent / Bergen University) Linda Lien (Independent designer, Norway) Andy Lock (Bergen University) Shauna McMullan (GSA) Johan Sandborg (Prof, Bergen University)
Nine members of the international interdisciplinary research group, the Creative Centre for Fluid Territories' (CCFT) contributed to Cyprus Buffer Fringe 2020, through a collaborative project: Fluid Territories – Nomadic on-line dialogue: Belonging & Displacement. This took two forms: an online exhibition created through a unique dialogical and negotiated creative exchange, between internationally dispersed contributors, on-line via weekly meetings over a period of 2 months, disseminated within a dedicated web portal in the public domain (Research Catalogue); and working with invited, interdisciplinary voices to create a series of online, live, 'Travelling Colloquia' with invited participants (Oct-Nov 2020), engaging in a dialogue about place, belonging and displacement, refocused and highlighted in response to the unfolding conditions created from COV-19. All culminating in three events for Cyprus Buffer Fringe VII, 2020. Building on our contribution to Cyprus Buffer Fringe 2019, 'The Urban Glenti' [Urban Feast], CCFT members, along with invited other voices, creative practitioners, educators and cultural producers contributed, shared, expanded and explored the Cyprus Buffer Fringe 2020's theme of 'Belonging and Displacement' with the Research Catalogue acting as a container of dialectic thoughts, and the live events that formed part of the Buffer Fringe's programme, a dynamic space of dialogue. The intention being that the whole practice-led and dialogical process be read as a series of inter-related ideas, critical positions and visual relationships, and as a durational response exploring the concepts of place, belonging and displacement. CCFT Nomadic Online Dialogues (weekly throughout Oct-Dec 2020) CCFT Travelling Colloquia with invited participants (Oct-Nov): 16 October 2020: Ellada Evangelou of the Home4Cooperation (NGO focused on intercommunal dialogue) 30 October 2020: Alex Hale, Archaeologist, Edinburgh on 'Archaeology of the Contemporary'. 6 November 2020: Vasilis Vasiliou, Street/Graffiti Artist working either side of the Buffer Zone in Nicosia, Yiannis Toumazis, Director of NIMAC, research based in abandoned architectural space of Famagusta, and Alex Hale, Archaeologist. 20 November 2020: Jenny Brownrigg, Director of Exhibitions, GSA. 'Research Displacement': discussing her research into the photographs of Margaret Fay Shaw based on Canna, and her connections with Cyprus. 27 November 2020.: with Dr Anastasia Shesterinina, Dept of Politics & International Relations, University of Sheffield, 'Mobilizing in Uncertainty: Collective identities and war in Abkhazia . Buffer Fringe VII 2020 Events – Contributions and Responses to CCFT Nomadic online dialogues: 3 December 2020: Anastasia Shesterinina Despo Pasia (Museum Educator based in Cyprus) Vasilis Vasiliou Alex Hale 5 December: Helen Angell-Preece (PhD researcher, Glasgow School of Art) Noah Rose (PhD researcher, Glasgow School of Art) Emily Gray (PhD researcher, Nottingham Trent) Andrew Lock (PhD researcher, University of Bergen) 6 December: Ellada Evangelou Catherine van Olden Maria Varanakkidou Monica Day Carmen Olaechea Home4Cooperation Anastasia Shesterinina
