With artworks installed, performances ready to unfold and a wave of creative energy sweeping through the region, Larnaca Biennale 2025 officially opens this week. Under the theme Along Lines and Traces, Cyprus’ biggest art celebration returns for its fourth edition from Wednesday.
During week one of the Biennale, 115 artworks, seven parallel events and three performances invite visitors to explore connections, memories and pathways that shape our shared landscape.
The official opening ceremony of the main exhibition takes place at 7.30pm at the Larnaca Municipal Art Gallery. All exhibition venues in the city – including the Pierides Museum, Larnaca Castle, Apothiki79, Larnaca Municipal Market and Common Ground Gallery – will remain open until 9pm for visitors to explore on this day.
Part of the main exhibition are three art pieces which go beyond the gallery’s walls and reach the streets of Larnaca. 22 Stops; Togetherness – Resonances of Expression; and Unspoken Messages are public performances on the theme of lines and traces. They will be presented to the public on Thursday, documented live and their recordings will be screened at Larnaca Municipality Gallery, joining the rest of the main exhibition’s artworks.
22 Stops is a silent walk by artist Katerina Drakopoulou which will take place from 4pm to 6pm on Thursday, inviting the public to follow her around Larnaca. The performance-installation Unspoken Messages at Zouhouri square by Liv Ingeborg Ottersen also encourages passers-by to attach their personal messages, fold them into sealed notes and fasten them to the hanging threads. The artwork will continue developing throughout the duration of the Biennale and the artist will be live on site on Thursday between 5.30pm and 8pm.
Togetherness, also at Zouhouri square at 6pm to 8pm is an interactive performance-installation by Filippo Gregoretti which converts digital speech into generative art through linguistic analysis, sound processing and visuals. Audiences can participate by submitting phrases via devices which will be interpreted in real-time, co-creating unpredictable, evolving symphonies alongside the algorithmic entity and the human musician.
The first event of the Biennale’s parallel events’ programme is Cyanotype Tales, a creative workshop based on journaling and the photographic cyanotype process to trace participants’ stories from childhood. Friday’s session in English at Youth Makerspace Larnaca is fully booked.
Also happening on Friday is the Curator’s Walk at 5pm where the curator of Larnaca Biennale 2025, Sana López Abellán takes guests on a walk through the streets and shoreline of Larnaca unravelling this year’s theme.
On Saturday, the first workshop of the educational programme for children The Art of Together will take place. Theodora Andreou will take children on a playful journey using theatrical play, movement, improvisation, sound, storytelling and experimentation across the six Saturdays of the Biennale. Their outcomes will be presented at a collective artistic installation at the Municipal Market of Larnaka.
Next is The Lines and Traces of Identity workshop by the Canadian powerhouse duo, Anana Rydvald and Zach Fraser. This one-of-a-kind workshop introduces participants to the transformative art of masked performance, where movement and presence speak louder than words and leads up to the Sighlence of Sky performance.
The contemporary dance performance Thread, will mark its Cyprus debut, choreographed by Rozmarie Pantzi Koulia and performed by the Aphelion Dance Company. The piece reimagines the myth of Ariadne and the Minotaur through a compelling lens, taking over the stage of the Larnaca Municipal Theatre.
The Artist Quarter in Piale Pasha Festival will unfold across the weekend, filling the old Larnaca neighbourhood with live music, free walking tours by the Larnaca Tourism Board in Greek and English, performances and street food. It will be on from 5pm to 11pm at the Mediterranean Artists Park on both Saturday and Sunday.
Finally, on Sunday, the participatory performance Ichnilat(r)is by Ex-Piercing Arts will transform the underground parking lot of an under-construction hotel into a place of search, conflict and revelation. The performance composes an interactive journey through the triad of movement, speech and space, where experience invites the viewer to become a participant.
All information on the events and ticket details can be found on the Larnaca Biennale website and each week, more interactive performances, workshops and events will unfold.
4th Larnaca Biennale
Bi-annual multi-week exhibition fair celebrating arts and culture with showcases and parallel events. October 15-November 28. Larnaca. www.biennalelarnaca.com
