Ground-breaking international group exhibition La Bataille des Vins / Ο Πόλεμος των Κρασιών, at various locations in the village of Lania, Limassol.

The exhibition will feature works by Evelyn Anastasiou (Cyprus), Klitsa Antoniou (Cyprus), Adonis Volanakis (Greece), Jake Chapman (United Kingdom), Elina Ioannou (Cyprus), Stelios Kallinikou (Cyprus), Melita Couta (Cyprus), Phanos Kyriacou (Cyprus), Niamh O’Malley (Ireland), Natacha Antão Moutinho (Portugal) and Alexandros Psychoulis (Greece).

The exhibition is supported with contextual, historical and theoretical texts by Dr Gabriel Koureas (Cyprus), Dr Niki Young (Malta) and Dr Prokopis Christou (Cyprus). The organization, production and art curating are by George Lazoglou (Cyprus) and the concept, research and art direction by Klitsa Antoniou (Cyprus).

The title of the proposed exhibition derives from the poem La Bataille des Vins (The War of Wines 1224), written by the French poet Henri d’Andeli. The poem revolves around the first wine competition hosted by King Philip II of France, also known as Philip-Augustus, who, according to historical accounts, was an avid enthusiast of wine. The monarch sent his messengers to gather the finest wines from various locations across the world. The wine judge, used his cane to banish nearly all the wines, pushing them beneath the table, favouring only the Cypriot wine, Commandaria. “The wine of Cyprus”, as Henri d’Andeli wrote in his poem, “shone like a star”. It was the rich volcanic and chalky soil in combination with the oceanic wealth, the strong sun and the humidity which contributed to the creation of the first vineyards and the birth of the Cypriot Nama, Commandaria. Since antiquity, wine has been central to Cypriot culture and has significantly impacted the lives and destinies of the Cypriots, as well as the island’s history.

 

The exhibition La Bataille des Vins / The War of Wines, however, deviates from the traditional and folklore perceptions and interpretations of viniculture in Cyprus. It frames new questions on history, arts, and contemporary philosophy, as artists re-imagine practices, issues, and spaces through the prism of contemporary art and thought.

In the exhibition context, the examination of winemaking in relation to the final product finds resonance in the context of New Materialism and Realism. These are two distinct movements in the humanities that are only tangentially connected to one another, but they are related in that they seek to acknowledge the significance of material reality in multiple ways of thinking.

 

Press Release EN: HERE