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Sessions, a series of queer happenings is a public program of queer events spanning from exhibitions, live music, poetry, experimental theatre and dance performances, to talks, workshops, parties, an open library of books, zines and paraphernalia, and film screenings. Over the course of predefined periods of time, the project of Sessions appears as a singular long performance, consisting of a series of cross-pollinating happenings that celebrate the multiplicity of interpretation and engagement, and widen the relationship between the personal and the collective, bringing forth a marginalized and underground queer perspective to the Cypriot artistic discourse. The aim is to foster community, strengthen visibility, and showcase emerging as well as the vast established projects and collectives of the island.

The project designed, built, curated and organized by Dimitris Chimonas and Lex Gregoriou, emerged from the need to create a “rehearsal space” for exchange and participation, responding to the constraints and challenges faced by the young generation of artists and society at large in the contemporary, post-pandemic era in Cyprus. Sessions proposes an alternative, experiential, and fluid approach to art, creating a public meeting  space encouraging improvisation, questioning, criticism, and disorder. The project was established as a radical political act within the broader local art scene, creating a safe space for catalytic action and the fulfillment of vital needs of artists and marginalized groups, collective reactivation, "deconstruction" of self-identity, and the advancement of dissonance as a means of personal and artistic survival.

Each iteration of Sessions relies on a DIY spatial design that consists of a theatre built out of scavanged material collected from the public space, a playful lounge, a library of donated books curated by artist and collector Loizos Olympios, and a bar with drinks and food sold on solidarity prices, on which the project relies financially. The curation of the program follows an improvised approach based on a chain of invitations from artist to artist, focusing on works that inspire bravery to act, the need and desire for public display, and works that ignite participation and a curiosity on constructing a sense of belonging. 

Its first cycle took place from October to December 2022 at 6 Sapfous Street (formerly artist-run space DriveDrive), followed by a six-month takeover of the State Gallery of Contemporary Art - SPEL, from June to December 2023, presenting the works of over 200 local artists.

For the first iteration of Sessions, a theatre structure was installed by Dimitris Chimonas and Lex Gregoriou at the basement of 6 Sapfous in Nicosia Old Town (ex DriveDrive), designed to elaborate on modes of exchange, participation, and witnessing made of wooden palletes and scavanged sponges. The stage was framed in response to a collaborative project by artist Panayiotis Michael  to make use of and activate a 15m² surface. The surface measure was once a pathway to Michael’s family house that was never built due to the war in Cyprus in 1974. Taking the cue from this invitation, a 15m² space became a stage of play, shadows, and dreams for staging and re-staging present and imaginative encounters. The 360° auditorium invites bodies to become the backdrop of each performance, simultenously observing and being observed.

The lounge on the ground floor consisted of the Soft Sculptures crafted by Eva and Belinda Papavasiliou (courtesy of Morir Soñando), enhanced by the scents of Floricienta Iuvenalis. Simultaneous to the happenings, the duo Pashies LTD were invited to hack the projects’ social media at their own will, whilst an in-situ gesture by Orestis Lazouras was installed in the bathroom, inviting a further series of improvised visual interventions.

Artistic Direction & Production: Dimitris Chimonas & Lex Gregoriou
Sessions Jingle Recording: Garose
Sessions Scent: Florecienta Iunevalis
Visual Artworks: Christos Kyriakides, Orestis Lazouras, Markos Lamnisos, Olympia Chimona
Soft Sculptures: Eva & Belinda Papavasiliou (courtesy of Morir Sonando)
Support in kind: Thkio Ppalies, Constantinos Avgousti, Yiorgos Rossides & Family, Andreas Patsias, Nikos Stephou, Katerina Shukuroglou, Andreas Chimonas, Andreas Andreou, Marianna Pittaridou, Nayia Savva, Veronica Georgiou, Niko Mas
Assistance in set-up: Dimitris Shammas, Zina Moiseos, Nikos Stephou, Andreas Patsias, Yiorgos Rossides, Marilena Kyriacou, Dimitris Rallis, Chryso Kosma, Chryso Charalambous, Alexis Peletie, Nana Michailidou
Lights Set-up: Vasilis Petinaris
Logo Design: Aggeliki Koutsodimitropoulou
Support: Marina Christodoulides, Peter Eramian, Raissa Aggeli
Photographer: Panagiotis Mina

The second iteration of Sessions happened as a takeover of the entire building of the State Gallery of Contemporary Art - SPEL in Nicosia, Cyprus. Sessions re-claimed it as a public urban space for the queer and artistic sub-communities of the island, prioritising accessibility, right to action, and inclusivity. The exhibition space was transformed into a dynamic and transformable queer utopia, where audiences were invited to play a central role akin to on-stage performers. The doors of the State Gallery remained wide open with a constantly changing scenography and light-design, exhibiting the accumulating performance traces and support structures. This constant play between the spectacular and its construction, resisted the definition and institutionalisation of queerness, and gave space for a collective admission to queer failure. Considering this failure as the frame of the Sessions stage, it enabled for a public rehearsal of new social arrangements of empowerment and corporeal fluidity. In total, 93 happenings-sessions were produced including theatre, music and dance performances, screenings, talks, workshops, a library, and parties, involving more than 200 artists.

The spatial installations included Pista Cacophonias, the Ssssstudio, the Theatro, the Reading Room, and the Cloud. Pista Cacophonias (cacophony floor) included various musical instruments, clothes, microphones, speakers, and lights available for use. Theatro (theatre) consisted of a modular diy theatre auditorium and a stage surrounded by the black backside of curtains, a scenographic gesture by Orestis Lazouras rendering the Sessions stage as an invert, simultaneously a front- and a backstage. The Reading Room, curated by Loizos Olympios, was presented under the umbrella of the Cerebral Gym, a series of activities revolving around printed material. On the roof, the Cloud social space was set up for playful encounters and weekly live podcast shows with the backdrop of north Nicosia’s skyline. The bar, serving drinks and vegan food at solidarity prices, was vital to the projects’ operation. 

Visual interventions across the building allowed the project of Sessions to continue transforming and evolving throughout its operation. The importance of queer archival practices was central to the program's design, and seven artists and writers were commissioned to use the Sessions takeover of SPEL as a trigger, to each write a monthly text. The overall archive created was published in the form of a book at the end. 

Artistic Director: Dimitris Chimonas
Technical Director: Lex Gregoriou
Production Support: Demetris Shammas
Graphics / Visual Identity: Clio Hadjigeorgiou
Project Management & Direction: Dimitris Chimonas, Lex Gregoriou
Dissociated Payments Officer: Peter Eramian
Production and Communications Assistant: Evita Ioannou
Archive Assistance: Nicola Mitropoulou
Copywriting Assistance: Androula Kafa

Co-organised with the Department of Contemporary Culture - Deputy Ministry of Culture

Pista Cacophonias by Dimitris Chimonas, Lex Gregoriou, Demetris Shammas, Orestis Lazouras with 15m2, Akira, Ben Rawlings, Constantinos Avgousti, Emily Demetriou, Garose, Nana, Nikos Stephou, Philippa Papatheocharous, Polymnia Herzberg, with artworks by Dimitris Chimonas, Evita Ioannou, Marios Pavlou, Savvas Kyriakou, Scent by Floricienta Iuvenalis, 15m2 commissioned by Panayiotis Michael to Dimitris Chimonas, Special thanks to Andreas Andreou, Constantinos Avgousti, Doris Mari Demetriadou, Irini Khenkin, Katerina Mansfield, Katerina Soukiouroglou, Nayia Savva, Niki Charalambous, Nikos Panayiotou 
Theatro by Dimitris Chimonas, Lex Gregoriou, Demetris Shammas, Orestis Lazouras, with Alan Ernst Charlie Bender, Garose, Urban Gorillas, Special Thanks to Alex Egglezou, Andreas Andreou, Constantinos Chimonas, Fidelius, Katerina Soukiouroglou, Loukas Kaleburnos, Nicodemus, Nikos Panayiotou, Vasilis Petinaris
The Cerebral Gym & A Reading Room Of Our Own/Ecologies Of Queer Publishing Practices Curated by Loizos Olympios, and Guest book collections curated by Despina Michaelidou, Nikos Panayiotou, Miriam Gatt, Ioulita Toumazi, Demetra Ignatiou
Softer Sculptures By Eva & Belinda Papavasiliou, With Alex Charalambous, Demetris Shammas, Dimitris Chimonas, Eleni Anastasiou, Garose, Lex Gregoriou, Maria Kiriakou
Cloud Soft Sculptures by Eva & Belinda Papavasiliou (courtesy of Morir Sonando), AGORA by Urban Gorillas, Hosts: Erasmia Mina, Emily Demetriou, Konstantina Violari, Mikaella Socratous, Natalia Gregoriou, Nicola Mitropoulou, Philippa Papatheocharous, Styliana Pagdati, Annie Khouri, Katerina Soukiouroglou, Chef: Andreas Kyprianou, Plant care-taker: Marina Kyriacou
Fumoir & Cloakroom: Orestis Lazouras
Elevator mural: Danae Laou
Interventions: Siga Mensou Po, Markos Lamnisos, Garose, Wisdom, Alan Ernst Charlie Bender, Tasos Antonopoulos

SPEL invigilators: Alex McCawan, Antonis Pittas, Aris Savvides, Elena Panayiotou, Lefteris Charalambous, Loukia Pieridou, Mary Ioannou, Othonas Charalambous, Panagiotis Andreou, Paraskevi Loizou, Peter Eramian, Raissa Angeli, Sophie Finberg, Valia Matsentidou, Vasiliki Riala, Vasya Ivanova Stefanova