Respublika! A Cypriot community media arts festival

Respublika! is a cluster of an arts Festival, three Exhibitions and several Seminars, curated by Nico Carpentier. Respublika! translates the principles of community media in creative practice, in order to reflect on media, democracy and its participatory component, to analyze the (de)centralization of power in contemporary societies, and to showcase art projects that use participatory mechanisms to produce art projects, working with, and empowering members of one or more communities. Respublika! is multi-sited and multi-genre. It aims to tap into the creative reservoirs of community media, civil society organizations and social collectives (and their members); but also of artists that are committed to the basic principles of participatory (community) communication.

Respublika! incorporates art projects that relate to (at least) one of the following two objectives, which translate the principles of community media in creative practice:

to reflect on media, democracy and its participatory component, analysing the (de)centralization of power in contemporary societies,
to use participatory mechanisms to produce art projects, working with, and empowering members of one or more communities.

Respublika! consists of three Exhibitions, a Festival and a Seminar series. The first main Exhibition, Open Community – Open Networks, took place from 4 November 2017 to 2 December 2017. The second main Exhibition, Participation Matters, takes place from 8 December 2017 to 19 January 2018. The Festival ran in parallel with the first week of the second main exhibition, from 8 to 16 December 2017.