Nexus
Kraupa–Tuskany Zeidler
Berlin
11.09.2024—26.10.2024
DAVIDE ALLIERI, ALLEN-GOLDER CARPENTER, TAÍNA CRUZ, THEODOULOS POLYVIOU
With distinctive individual practices that notably depart from a conservative use of mediums and materials, the positions on view at the gallery engage with topics revolving around the self, identity, space, and technology. In European contemporary scientific discourse, identity is not discussed as a solipsistic process but rather as the result of adaptation at the interface between the internal and the external. Self and identity are intrinsically linked to the spaces we inhabit, not only physical but often virtual, including the built environments that shape our experiences. Nexus creates an alternative space— an interconnected environment where the boundaries between actuality and fiction are blurred, resulting in distinct synthesized materialisations of both principles. The works on view further explore time, from the past to the present, projecting into the future. Describing connection of multiple elements ‘Nexus’ is a Latin word that is also employed as a given name for heterogeneous concepts, especially within the realms of science fiction, computing, government and law, philosophy and gaming.
THEODOULOS POLYVIOU’s sculptures on view in the gallery constitute formal responses resulting from his speculative research project ‘Transmundane Economies (2022 - ongoing).’ The site-responsive video installation ‘A Palace in Exile (2024),’ a central piece from this series, is simultaneously premiering at Julia Stoschek Foundation in Berlin. While in the latter, CGI and digital technologies are his main tool, his sculptures repurpose construction and architectural elements directly associated with the actual Neo-Byzantine Archbishop’s Palace for the Church of Cyprus and its history. With his works, Polyviou opens a dialogue between contemporary political concerns of nationalism, (anti)colonialism, and the right to self determination, as well as how these crusades interact with each other. Situated within the broader context of Polyviou's exploration of the Church’s influence on Cyprus’s postcolonial identity, this work delves into the architectural and ideological structures that both unify and marginalize. The negative space of both sculptures on view at the gallery, expose the concealed sanctity of architecture, questioning how built forms can contain histories both visible and erased.