The Cyprus Handicraft Service participates in the “Révélations” exhibition in Paris

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15/05/25 16:07 | Press release | Culture

The Cyprus Handicraft Service participates in the 7th International Handicraft Biennale “Révélations” at the Grand Palais in Paris, from Wednesday, 21 May 2025, until Sunday, 25 May 2025, aiming to showcase contemporary and innovative handicraft practices by Cypriot artists, who promote the future of viable handicraft with their work. The artists who will represent the Republic of Cyprus in the exhibition adapt traditional craft practices to the standards and imperatives of the new era, highlighting the dynamic relationship between the present and the past.

The Révélations exhibition, starting in 2013, is organised by the Ateliers d’ Art de France and is an international event dedicated to craftsmanship and craft practices, enabling creators from all over the world to highlight with their proposals the value of the handmade object, which incorporates not only elements of tradition but also various versions of invention and innovation. It is an event that confirms the identity and creative power of visual craftsmanship, as well as the role of artists who, by emphasising the use of materials and techniques, promote the international economy of contemporary creation. It is undoubtedly an important economic event for contemporary art around the world. Prestigious and reflecting the diversity of the sector, the event ensures that participating creators and institutions have access to key influencers and decision-makers to enrich their network and at the commissioning level. Lectures, workshops, a symposium and film projections are some of the events that accompany the exhibition, providing opportunities for exchanges of expertise that broaden the perceptions of local characters.

More than 550 artists will participate in this year’s “Révélations” from 35 countries, with Italy as the country of honour, with its rich and fascinating history of artistic traditions in which unique skills are evident.

The Republic of Cyprus participates for the second time in the event (first participation in 2022) with four artists: Elena Adamou, Theodoulos Gregoriou, Joanna Louca and Lefteris Tapas. The works of all four of these creators have a main and common aspect of handmade “doing” through weaving, embroidery, textile design and a variety of weaving techniques. Their artistic proposals raise questions about issues of identity and origin, while as a whole they exude a style endowed with idioms of tradition, which is nevertheless also inextricably linked to versions of contemporary artistic approaches.

As the curator of the exhibition Dr Savvas Christodoulides notes: “In the exceptionally complex and multifaceted artistic experience of our time, there are still remaining issues of essential parameters concerning mingling of traditional and modern, as well as local and international. The curatorship of this exhibition focuses on renewed versions of ‘weaving’, ‘knitting’ and ‘embroidery’, on the interweaving of mnemonic references or beliefs, and on the experimental process of producing an artistic work. Weaving, like any similar practice, is a practical initiation into silence. To weave means to gesture by being silent. Speech is discouraged in favour of a dialectic, whose main feature is the expression of the tangible. […] The selected works emphasise the handmade and manual work, experiential time and the emotional and introspective need of each creator. They are in essence proposals, where the deeper quest for materials and sensory experience are apparent and capable of shaping new visual vocabularies”.

The exhibition’s opening will be attended by the Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Cyprus, Dr Vasiliki Kassianidou, who will participate in the Symposium Towards a European Strategy for Crafts organized by the European Craft Alliance and hosted by Ateliers d’Art de France on 22 May, in order to promote the renewed Manifesto for Crafts in Europe.

(EK/IA/AS)

The Cyprus Handicraft Service participates in the “Révélations” exhibition in Paris

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