The days of the art world of “slow season” have passed. In a parade of never-ending fairs, gallery weekends, openings and festivals – three planes in a week, artworks blend in, fatigued environments – neither hospitality nor professionals can find themselves.
A serious collector friend admitted to me that somewhere in the Aegean, she desperately needed comfort, turned to the only podcast she downloaded on the phone: an episode of French Culture, dedicated to Algerian-French existentialist philosopher Albert Camus and his conception of absurdity, as well as the concept of continuing and finding joy in the struggle.
She felt soothed when she landed at the Larnaca Airport in Cyprus. She was in a taxi heading to Limassol and noticed the real estate billboards crossing the window. “What's wrong with those?” she wondered, when her taxi parked next to the former wine warehouse, which hosted the inaugural Vima, the latest addition to the May Art Fair calendar. She walked out of the car and waved the Mediterranean breeze, heading towards the cleverly destructive and comfortable field. After entering the room, she immediately noticed that Vima felt different.
“This is not your typical art fair, it’s the same everywhere,” she told me in a lot of sugar-filled Cypriot coffee. “The atmosphere is easygoing, and the integration of the Middle East and local galleries is very unique –Brefthere is a Cypriot feeling! ”
Cyprus as a multicultural node
The coastal city of Limassol is Cyprus' second largest urban area and is known as “Limassolgrad” because the strong presence of the Russians has been around since the collapse of the Soviet Union and has been even bigger since the beginning of the war.
But it was not only Russians who flocked to Cyprus. This is also the Lebanese, Israelis, and perhaps the most invasive) digital nomads to take advantage of the tax situation in Cyprus. For countries that have been split between the Greeks and Turks, two British air bases and the vanguard of Tost in Europe, only a few hours from Gaza and Beirut, that's a lot to deal with.
The trio behind Vima Art Fair, Edgar Gadzhiev, Lara Kotreleva and Nadezhda Zinovskaya are Russians, although all three have built homes in Cyprus and actively interacted with the local art ecosystem. To build VIMA, they worked closely with a team of local experts, including Cypriot cultural figures Alexandros Diogenous, Tasos Stylianou and Andre Zivanari.
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“We are doing long-term research and it seems now is the right time to do an art fair here,” Kotreleva told Observer. “Currently, there is a lot of private capital moving to Cyprus. These people seem to be willing to collect art.”
Although fair status sees Cyprus as a location for the nodes of identity integration and multiculturalism, the founders carefully call fair politics. “We have Russians, Lebanese, Ukrainians, Israelis and British coexist here.” “Through the fair, we want to provide a safe space for art.” The wine warehouse is also part of the vision. “We think this can show other owners of other industrial buildings that may be the way forward,” said Kotreleva, who studies the modernist heritage.
Kazhiev stressed that Vima is not only related to business, but also to the construction of infrastructure. “We need a space for connection between the market and the gallery,” he said. “There is no popular media here to talk about art news. People often don’t know where to go.”
Currently, Vima is the fringe art fair
I stopped at the booth of the Nicosian Gallery γκαραζ art space, and I spoke with Cypriot artist Giorgos Gerontides, whose works include paintings and sculptures made from improved children’s toys and explore potential violence. “My practice is based on toys representing animals or weapons and how children learn from them,” he said.
Gerontides grew up in Nicosia, studied in Athens, and now lives in Thessaloniki. “In a small place like Cyprus, you can work better – you are more focused,” he said. “You don’t have to run to open or meet people. But of course, you need to travel to see and communicate.”
He found that Vima had high quality works. “I like the space, the architecture, the way they create exhibitions and performances.” He also commented on the necessity of context in areas where previous art fairs had no cohesion plans. “Here, you think it’s not only about sales, but about what we’re showing and what we’ve learned from all of this gallery that came to Cyprus.”
Athens’ Arsen Kalfayan and Roupen Kalfayan and Sesepyan-based Kalfayan Galleries see hope in Cyprus as a growing market. “We are particularly happy with Cyprus where we have potential in Cyprus. Maybe it takes time, but the scale of the fair is already good – not too big, not too small. This is right for the island.”
“I think this fair will put Cyprus on the map again,” said Maria Stathi of Art See. “At the exhibition, there are some incredible artists and powerful galleries.” The galleryist, based in Nicosia, decided to showcase all-female displays of very dedicated and political artists from Cyprus. Nika Gallery, which operates between Dubai and Paris, responds to the region’s focus and introduces the work of Arab and Russian artists who focus on immigration. “Our goal is to be a platform, which is a bridge between completely different cultures,” said founder Veronika Berezina. “I like the vision of the fair is very relevant to our vision – in the middle, at the intersection, open to different participants.”
Maria Stathi emphasized the diversity of the expo audience. “I saw some local collectors, but I also saw collectors from abroad,” she said. “It was exciting to see people flying by, especially the first edition.”
The obvious question is whether local tech expats will put their money into the expo like in places like South Korea. Vima's founders say that while they do not rely on technological wealth to power collectors, they acknowledge that the potential of certain audiences has driven fairness forward. “Some support culture – Our main sponsor comes from the IT field. He is a passionate person and his company is socially responsible.”
Establish a platform for layered cultural exchange
Every art fair is commercial, but in a speech by curator and writer Nadine Khalil and artists collective Slavs and Tatars, Vima addresses socio-political issues positively. In a more subtle way, similar explorations also appear in “Descendants of the Sun,” a group exhibition curated by Ludovic Delalande and installed in an open space near the former winery site. The show is purposely original, taking advantage of the vivid lighting and elemental settings of Cyprus. “I think it’s better not to pretend it’s a white cube, but to embrace its nature and have a conversation with the building,” Delalande told Observer.
Selected artists spanning generations and geographical locations from Palestine, Lebanon, France, Tunisia and beyond. These works (from the huge felt device made after the explosion of the Beirut port) to the exquisite ceramics that encode the sunset memory – meditating on the substantive nature of temporaryness, vulnerability, and art. “I want to have a dialogue between Cyprus artists and artists abroad… and then start here and look at the world of Cyprus,” the curator said.
The show’s title comes from 1950s poetry and photographs by Albert Camus and René Char, a tribute to their friendship and the sun-drenched landscape of southern France. “The sun is something we need to live on, but we also have to protect something,” Draland muses. “It reminds me of the human condition – we are all in the sun, we are all going to disappear.”
My collector friend recalled her ridiculous journey into Cams and found these thoughts ringing directly at the fair. Standing in front of Adrian Pepe's large felt installation, hanging like golden wool in the sunset, she found the closure, and the resonance between the vast philosophy and a small portion of the art market, inspired by the local spirit. “We are already planning the next edition,” Kotreleva concluded. “For us, it’s about building a cultural ecosystem.”
