Cristodoulos Panayiotou presents his Act II

After the performance "Dying on Stage" presented at the Hypnos Project (Onassis Stegi, 2016), the visual artist Christodoulos Panayiotou collaborates again with Onassis Foundation to present his new project "Act II: The Island" in London. His first major UK exhibition of work brings together works from the last 10 years, and new commissions – activating Camden Arts Centre with a series of poetic interventions.

Informed by his interest in archaeology, anthropology and his background in dance and theater, Panayiotou uncovers obscured and forgotten stories, transforming the world into a theater where myths are acted out. Natural stone mosaics, gilded icons, mineralogical curiosities and the photographic archive of a Cypriot newspaper; all become materials and motifs for his seductive and highly charged works.

The exhibition’s title "Act II: The Island" is taken from one of the works in the show: a folded theatrical backdrop that depicts a tropical island – an archetypal, fantastical place that evokes associations of paradise, escape and solitude, as well as isolation and fear.

Addressing themes of politics, nationhood, religion, imperialism and oppression, "Act II: The Island" speaks through the most personal and private of gestures and interventions, returning again and again to the lost, the overlooked, the marginalised and the neglected.

Meanwhile, the performance "Dying on Stage" travels accross the world and will be presented in Festival d’Automne at Musée d’Orsay (October - December 2019, Paris).