Christodoulos Panayiotou

Christodoulos Panayiotou, The Invention of Antiquity, 2011. Image courtesy the Artist and Rodeo Gallery

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Panayiotou’s work investigates the construction of collective narratives, with a particular attention to the intersections that link history and place-making. Popular events such as parades, dance marathons and fireworks displays are interrogated by the artist, who questions their ‘innocence’ and unveils the occult driving forces behind these cathartic initiatives. Panayiotou analyses the rhetoric of the images, their subtext and oblique meaning. 

To create this series of found, archival photographs entitled The Invention of Antiquity, the artist has researched the archives of the national press and local government in Cyprus looking at the ‘invention’ of a classical Hellenistic artistic tradition for the island, antagonising the Turkish influence so as to comply with the political agenda of its leader (the Orthodox archbishop Makarios III, first president of the Republic of Cyprus) as well as act as an invitation for international tourists to visit the country. 

Christodoulos Panayiotou (b. 1978, Limassol, Cyprus) lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Solo exhibitions include One Thousand and One Days (Museum of Contemporary Art, St. Louis, U.S.A., 2012), dOCUMENTA (13) (Kassel, Germany, 2012) and Christodolous Panayiotou (Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig, Germany, 2011).

Christodoulos Panayiotou at Liverpool Biennial 2012

The Invention of Folklore, 2011
The Invention of Tradition, 2011
Archival photographs
Exhibited at The Cunard Building