Reveal the Collections

As a token of our support to Cypriot creators of the visual arts, the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation launches an online action to promote and discuss artworks from its Contemporary Cypriot Art Collection as well as from other private collections.

The Cultural Foundation is well aware of the fact that the Collections have not been assembled in order to lie hidden; they belong to the people of Cyprus from which and for which they have been put together. After all, culture means solidarity. The lockdown imposed because of COVID-19 should not mean exclusion from art. Practical difficulties and physical barriers cannot deter us from celebrating art; instead, they urge us to become more creative. The Cultural Foundation pays tribute to the women and men of contemporary Cypriot art, soul minders and cultivators of aesthetics and thought, by revealing and discussing artworks from its own collection as well as from other private collections. Posts from the action will be highlighted regularly on the Foundation’s Instagram page, to launch a dialogue with people that either make, appreciate or study art. Amidst the recent weeks’ chaos of digital polyphony, we invite connoisseurs to articulate careful and structured speech in order to bring out contemporary Cypriot art and illuminate those features that render it readily identifiable by the Cypriot soul whilst connecting it to an ongoing process of “becoming” in global art.

The Contemporary Cypriot Art Collection was initiated together with the establishment of the Foundation in 1984. Its ultimate aim is to gradually put together a representative group of artworks to trace the development of the visual arts in Cyprus. Today, the collection numbers more than 850 works. The action Reveal the Collections falls within the Foundation’s consistent policy to encourage, recognize and promote visual arts and the wider spectrum of art. It also points to the Cultural Foundation’s ongoing support of the cause of improving art infrastructures while contributing to efforts to safeguard the rights of the artists.

The action makes part of the Cultural Foundation’s “Culture means Solidarity” series of actions and is titled #revealthecollections

To keep up to date with the action, follow the Cultural Foundation’s page on Instagram: @boccf