Theodoulos Polyviou. Un Palazzo in esilio

Lastly, on the floor below, Polyviou exhibits a series of collages of advertisements from Greek, British and local newspapers printed in the 1950s, created by screen-printing the images onto building materials, and then stretching them onto aluminium frames. The collages illustrate the conflicting forces which at that time were creating turmoil in Cyprus' identity, and they underline important features of the broader relationship between colonial power and media communication. Alongside the drawings, a candelabra made from scaffolding supports ecclesiastical votive candles locally made by a workshop directly opposite the present-day Archbishop's Palace in Nicosia.

The exhibition project Un Palazzo in esilio (A Palace in exile) is part of the programme of exhibitions, initiatives, performances and openings of Milano Art Week 2024, scheduled from 8 to 14 April.

THE ARTIST
Theodoulos Polyviou (b. 1989, CY) is a Berlin-based artist whose practice, at its core, uses expanded media to consider the place of bodies within institutional physicality, and cultural and political narratives. His ongoing project Transmundane Economies deploys virtuality and associated digital technologies to study, reconstruct, and fill voids in Cypriot cultural heritage, deviating from a nationalist agenda to speculate instead on the relationship between queerness, repair and reinvention within the historical entanglements of the island. In 2014, Theodoulos graduated with a master's degree in visual communication from the Royal College of Art, London. He is the co-founder and former director of experimental project space Koraï, Cyprus. In 2020, he co-curated the 19th edition of Mediterranea Biennial: School of Waters, San Marino. He has presented his work in solo shows at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, and ZKM: Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, among others, and in various group shows, including the Cyprus Pavilion at 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice. In 2023, he was an artist in residence at Una Boccata d'Arte, a contemporary art project promoted by the Elpis Foundation, in collaboration with Galleria Continua. Theodoulos Polyviou has recently concluded his latest solo exhibition with the showcase of the second chapter of 'Transmundane Economies' titled 'SCREEN' at the Bode Museum in Berlin.

Fondazione Elpis
Founded in 2020 by Marina Nissim, entrepreneur and collector, the core of Fondazione Elpis' mission is the support of young artists. The Fondazione pursues its objectives through the production of exhibitions, residencies, educational activities and projects all over the country. With the aim of involving different audiences and exploring areas outside traditional art circuits, Fondazione Elpis unites worlds that are only apparently distant by intercepting the evolution of expressive languages. The decision to open a new headquarters in Milan – in October 2022 – stems from the projects and collaborations activated in recent years on a national scale. The Fondazione has thus consolidated an ever-widening network, implementing new models of participation and cultural fruition. One example is Una Boccata d'Arte, the contemporary art project that it's reaching its fifth edition in 2024, organised in collaboration with Galleria Continua and with the participation of Threes. A nationwide project that involves 20 artists each year in the creation of site-specific installations that can be visited for the entire summer in 20 Italian villages, one for each region.