Turning the Wheel

"Turning the Wheel, Mapping Local Materiality and its potential for CNC extrusion" is a workshop co-curated with Kevin Hinz and the team at CYENS Thinker Maker Space, in particular Marios Constantinides and Stratis Pantelides, in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Excerpt from the workshop website:

"The CYENS Thinker Maker Space presents a two-week event focused on mapping local materiality and its potential for CNC extrusion.

During the event our guest visitors Joëlle Bitton and Kevin Hinz will be exploring the opportunities afforded by clay extrusion together with local artists and practitioners Melita Couta, Souzana Petri and Vassos Demetriou, in a renewed engagement with materiality. Re-thinking traditional making methods we will be exploring the possibilities of making, through data controlling CNC-machines. In an experimental public space set-up in Dimarchia’s Square, Kevin and Joëlle will be showcasing their latest research through a social exchange of information and skills with passers-by and practitioners.

The event is organised by CYENS Thinker Maker Space with the support of S+T+ARTS regional centre CYENS Center of Excellence as part of  S+T+ARTS Residencies and S+T+ARTS Academies.

The seven-millennia-long history of clay and ceramics in Cyprus resonates in numerous ways in contemporary realities, transferring social, cultural, and technological expressions of our civilization. Looking afresh at the plurality and adaptability of clay as a structural and ecosensitive raw material, local and visiting experts seek to rediscover the diachronic histories, as well as remap and reframe the potential of Cypriot earth and minerals. Adding to existing taxonomies, formal / informal histories, traditions and practices connected to Cypriot earth and minerals, our invited guests and local artists / practitioners will employ new ways to rethink materiality, locale, making processes and experiences by experimenting with new techniques and technological tools.

During a two-week series of activities, physical and digital data collection, mapping and creative experimentations through a data controlling CNC-machine will be used to explore the opportunities afforded by clay extrusion as a renewed engagement with local materiality.

Related talks and presentations open to the public will initiate the series of events. Following, a two-day road trip around seminal Cypriot locales will allow the collection of raw and digital materials, as well as meeting with the living practices and histories related to clay and ceramics making. Finally, during an experimental public space set-up in Dimarchias square, Kevin and Joelle will be showcasing their latest research on data-controlling CNC clay extrusion through a social exchange of information and skills with passers-by and practitioners.

In the whole duration of the events, an exhibition showcasing historic and contemporary expressions of local ceramics, as well as the various experimentations and results from the workshops will be constantly enriched and remain open to the public."