RE-VISIONS

Actus Anima and the French Institute of Cyprus are jointly organising RE-VISIONS, a trans-Mediterranean photography residency taking place in Cyprus from 19 to 27 September 2026, conceived in the spirit of the Bicentenaire de la Photographie, the French Ministry of Culture's celebration marking 200 years since Nicéphore Niépce produced the first permanent photographic image.

Following the Bicentennial's invitation to “célébrer les regards”, to celebrate ways of seeing, and its founding belief that photography sprang from “a utopian dream: the belief that it was possible to narrow the gap between reality and its reproduction,” RE-VISIONS turns that same conviction toward Cyprus itself, approaching the island not as a mere backdrop but as an active agent in the formation of history.

Placed under the curatorial and scientific direction of Dr Io Paschou (University of West Attica), the residency brings together photographers from across the Mediterranean: Ioanna Spentzou (Greece), Constantinos-Sofoklis Constantinou (Cyprus), Gaëtan Soerensen (France), Romane Iskaria (France), and Samar Baiomy (Egypt). Dr Paschou conceives Cyprus as “a locus where personal and collective memory converge,” a temporal corridor where history becomes “a constellation of perspectives continually revisited and reinterpreted through artistic vision.”

For the participating artists, the residency acts as a genuine professional catalyst, strengthening international networks and supporting original production and new aesthetic perspectives. For Cyprus which operates simultaneously as subject, territory and archive, a space in which the reconstruction of meaning remains perpetually in motion, echoing the same interplay between reality and its representation that the Bicentennial identifies at the very origin of the medium, the residency contributes to the valorisation of tangible and intangible heritage, allowing familiar places to be perceived anew. Encouraging experimentation and knowledge-sharing, RE-VISIONS embodies a model of cultural initiative uniting innovation, education and intercultural dialogue.

Hosted in the village of Malounta, in the Nicosia district, the September residency will be followed by a public presentation of the artists' work at Garage Art Space in Nicosia, from 25 November to 6 December 2026, a first step toward the hybrid, interactive and evolving exhibition that will subsequently travel abroad in 2027, extending the residency's dialogue between Cyprus, France, Greece and the wider Mediterranean into the second year of the Bicentenaire de la Photographie.

Officially labelled within the Bicentennial, RE-VISIONS is supported by the French Ministry of Culture, the Deputy Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cyprus, and the Embassy of Greece in Cyprus.

Participating Artists

Samar Baiomy
Constantinos-Sophocles Constantinou
Romane Iskaria
Gaëtan Soerensen
Ioanna Spentzou