Judging the United Nations sponsored Art Attack Competition

ART ATTACK - Cyprus Islandwide Art Competition

PRESS RELEASE: Art Attack Winners Announced
Nicosia, 21 November 2007 - Action for Cooperation and Trust (ACT), EKATE and EMAA announced the 32 winners and runners-up of the ART ATTACK Cyprus Art Competition today at a prize ceremony in Nicosia. 

As the official guests of the event the representatives of the two communities of Nicosia, Eleni Mavrou and Cemal Bulutoğluları, had the pleasure of presenting the finalists with their prizes.

“These winning artworks contain powerful messages about what is important to Cypriot people,” said Jaco Cilliers, ACT Programme Manager. “They deal with topics such as the destruction of the environment, gender inequality, the feelings of teenagers, the common Cypriot culture and how people see the future. We would like to thank everybody who made the effort to send in an artwork.”

The island-wide art competition was launched in May 2007 and invited Cypriots of all ages and abilities to express their ideas by submitting an artwork reflecting one of the following themes: Environment - Identity – Difference and Equality - Memories - Spirituality - Future – Line.

The competition was developed by members of the Cyprus Art Competition Advisory Board – 14 Cypriots from across the island representing the fields of fine art, design, literature, arts education, arts promotion, photography, galleries, film and theatre. Each individual contributed specialist experience, knowledge and guidance to the project.

The judging took place in early October at the Ledra Palace Hotel bi-communal rooms and the jury consisted of:
Nic Costa – Advisory Board Member
Ayer Kasif – Architect
Achilleas Kentonis – Director, Artos Foundation
Christopher Lousie – Communications Manager,  UNDP-ACT
Beral Madra – International Curator
Andrie Michael – International Curator
Anber Onar – Artist
Zuhre Ozkaraman – Advisory Board Member
Yiannis Toumazis – Director, Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre

International curators came to Cyprus from France and Turkey, especially for the judging.

Starting in Nicosia and travelling to six other major cities, an exhibition of the winning entries will tour the island during 2008. The aim of the exhibition is to prompt discussion and reflection on the issues which Cypriots care about and which are visualised through the art medium. The objective of the project and the message of the exhibition is that Cypriot society possesses a rich cultural diversity which can be explored through the visual arts, and ultimately this diversity needs to be shared and celebrated.    

More than 900 entries were received for the competition from all parts of Cyprus, proving that art can be a powerful medium for exploring the island’s social and cultural space