Museums discuss social issues at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation
June 2-July 2, 2023
Who ultimately owns our cultural heritage and how will we define it but also exploit it in the future?
These questions were the cornerstone of the European program Horizon 2020 “Redefining the Future of Culture Heritage, through a disruptive model of sustainability” (ReInHerit), which is a joint collaboration of many cultural and educational institutions.
In a collaborative process, the three partner museums, the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, the Graz Museum (Austria) and the Cycladic Art Museum (Athens) developed three periodical and three digital exhibitions on the theme of “Social Issues”, with the following topics:
* ReThinking CRAFTSMANSHIP (PITK)- March – May 2023
* ReThinking CONFLICTS (Graz Museum)- June – July 2023
* ReThinking IDENTITIES (Museum of Cycladic Art)- July-August 2023
The objects presented digitally in the space from the three museums receive an unconventional display form that offers innovative ways of interaction.
The themes and reflections of these exhibitions are the different skills and abilities we cultivate in order to deal with social issues as well as how museum collections can act as a starting point for projecting, interpreting and framing social issues through a pan-European perspective.< /p>
The second exhibition of this trilogy entitled “Rethinking CONFLICTS: Conflict in Progress” will open to the public on June 2, 2023 at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation.
How are social conflicts reflected in objects? Social conflicts have accompanied humanity since its beginning. They are an inherent part of our social systems. They appear in different forms, for example through struggle, conflict, classism and competition, strikes, industrial conflicts, class struggle and revolution, war and civil strife.
Conflicts serve different purposes in society: they can ease social tensions and, under certain conditions, even be an important mechanism for necessary social change. Conversely, social conflicts can escalate to such an extent and release such destructive momentum that they have deadly consequences for all the people and societies affected by them.
In our time we are experiencing many forms of crisis. We cannot predict where they will lead us, as individuals, nationally or socially. What is certain is that the world is in a process of constant change. In this situation, conflicts are a natural and inevitable consequence.
Postmodern individualistic societies with weak cohesion face the challenge of learning to deal constructively with conflict. It is important to gain an in-depth understanding of conflicts: Dynamics and systemic problems must be recognized and the role of each questioned.
The report 'ReThinking CONFLICTS: Conflict in progress' will strengthen this awareness through objects that reflect conflicts in different times and places and allows different perspectives to be expressed. Conflicts can be reflected as the result, the cause or the subject of a conflict. The exhibition explores objects in relation to what they reveal about conflicts over the course of history and in a global setting.
Duration: June 2, 2023 – July 2, 2023
Place: Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation
Operating hours: 10:00-19:00 (weekdays and on weekends)
