EXERCISE IN LIGHT FT. A CIRCLE OF VOICES

State Gallery of Contemporary Art — SPEL, Nicosia, 16 December 2023

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Commissioned and presented in the framework of Sessions x SPEL, a series of queer happenings at the State Gallery of Contemporary Art — SPEL, June–December 2023.

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As our panting breaths converge

our spirits slowly merge

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and in that oneness

suddenly we know:

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we are part of a beginning, 

not an end.

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Exercise in Light is an invitation to witness and partake in a series of vocal meditations initiated by “a circle of voices”, a community ensemble formed through a programme of weekly sound meditations held in November and December 2023 in the framework of Sessions x SPEL. Drawing on the work and philosophy of composer Pauline Oliveros (1932–2016), and employing tools from magical practices and magical activism, the performance-meditation seeks to harness the purging, therapeutic, and radical potential of communal sounding, testing forms of shared resistance in times of political despair—an experiment in collective grief and rage; an attempt at joint solace; a shared spell for hope. 

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Concept and direction: Androula Kafa

a circle of voices: Eleni Anastassiou, Stella N. Christou, Androula Kafa, Panayiotis Mina, Nicola Mitropoulou, Loizos Olympios, Panayiotis Pavlides, Gervaise Alexis Savvias, Demetris Shammas 

Light design: Demetris Shammas

Graphics and garments: Nikos Stephou

Photography: Dimitris Loutsios

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