grazerkunstverein

(Exhibition)

RHYTHM, CITIZEN

Maria Toumazou with Felix Taylor (Platten Haus), Koula Savvidou, Tasos Lamnisos (x.ypno), Stelios Ilchuk, Claudia Paschalides, Kyriakos Kyriakides, Marietta Mavrokordatou, and Photo Net

24/09 - 11/12/2022, opening 23/09, 18:00

“It all started with a swinging bell,” she said. “I want the bell to crack.”

When a bell is struck, sign and time are given. For citizens to celebrate life in Old Town, for them to hide or worship, to lay off workers and to start again, to be reminded that life is finite, for the clearance sale to begin, for the photographer to rinse her exposed paper, a safelight blinking. Every time a bell is struck, it rings within. In this mutual implication of time and populace, RHYTHM, CITIZEN resounds.

RHYTHM, CITIZEN converges the brand names of two manufacturers of clocks and watches: Rhythm and Citizen. Found and coupled, they set the scene for an exhibition that unravels and complicates how the measures of time move and make move; how they give pulse to artifacts, their fictions and patina; how their fleetingness tantalizes the making of an image.

RHYTHM, CITIZEN punctuates the Grazer Kunstverein by way of sculpture, photography, design, and situated interventions. It marks the instance when time is halted, frozen and encrusted, and then again set into motion. It wandered from the city of Nicosia, like a passage or a crossing, like a captor of time—eyes unfurled, then, again, shut.

RHYTHM, CITIZEN takes shape through the cadence of a poem, the periodicity of labor, the sliding of glass doors, the frequencies of life, the patterns of music, and the movement marked by a succession of strong and weak elements. 

RHYTHM, CITIZEN gathers friends and collaborators, neighbors and facilitators: Felix Taylor (Platten Haus), Koula Savvidou, Tasos Lamnisos (x.ypno), Stelios Ilchuk, Claudia Paschalides, Kyriakos Kyriakides, Marietta Mavrokordatou, and Photo Net.

RHYTHM, CITIZEN is an occasion for EXHAUST [ΕΞΩΣΤ], an album by x.ypno & steliosilchuk to be played aloud and alive, and for Borrowed, a publication by Maria Toumazou, Aristotelis Nikolas Mochloulis, Georgia Triantafyllidou, Maya Tounta, Koula Savvidou, and Evagoras Vanezis, to be launched.

RHYTHM, CITIZEN is accompanied by R,C, a publication that combines artist statement, photography, and Cypriot rap, with contributions by Koula Savvidou, Tasos Lamnisos (x.ypno), Stelios Ilchuk, Maria Toumazou, Julie Peeters, and Tom Engels.

A bell is struck within her and keeps on ringing.
A bell is struck and keeps on ringing.

Maria Toumazou (b. 1989, Cyprus) is an artist and publisher based in Nicosia. Recent solo presentations include SCRAP B, Point Centre for Contemporary Art at Moufflon Bookshop, Nicosia (2022); Coil, Hot Wheels Athens (2021); and Fair-face Elysée, Thkio Ppalies, Nicosia (2019), among others. Toumazou has participated in group exhibitions including SISTERHOOD, Streaming voices unifying energies, Angelo Plessas and P.E.T. Projects, Nicosia (2021); Touch Release, Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden (2021); Hypersurfacing, NiMAC, Nicosia (2019); Soft stone documents, Municipal Arts Centre, Limassol (2017), among others. Neoterismoi Toumazou (Toumazou’s former collective with Orestis Lazouras and Marina Xenofontos) was invited as a special guest to the Cyprus Pavilion at Biennale Arte 2017, Venice, curated by Jan Verwoert. Toumazou is the (co-)founder of Neoterismoi Toumazou, Maria Editions, and Metafora. She was a guest student at Städelschule, Frankfurt, after completing her studies at Goldsmiths College, London, and the Glasgow School of Art. RHYTHM, CITIZEN is her first institutional solo presentation.   

The exhibition is realized with the generous support of the Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture – Cultural Services, Point Centre for Contemporary Art, and steirischer herbst ’22. Maria Toumazou’s residency at Grazer Kunstverein is made possible with the support of the Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture – Cultural Services (through the TRANSIT 2022 Artist Residency Programs scheme). 

The exhibition would not be possible without the support of Hot Wheels Athens, Claudia Paschalides, Mariel Kouveli, and Orestis Lazouras.

01Maria Toumazou, Artist’s Collection, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
02Installation view of Maria Toumazou & Photo Net, Developing, 2022. Loaned bellow pumps (spare parts for Noritsu Minilab), wiring, stainless steel plinth. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
03Installation view of Maria Toumazou & Photo Net, Developing, 2022, and Maria Toumazou, “Entrance to offices”, 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
04Maria Toumazou, “Entrance to offices”, 2022. Found and modified glass door, sliding door mechanism, motion sensor, wiring, dirt. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
05Installation view of Maria Toumazou, Graduals, 2022, Felix Taylor, Banister bed prototype, 2022, Maria Toumazou, Found tongues, 2022, and Koula Savvidou, Borrowed time, 2008-9. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
06Installation view of Maria Toumazou, Graduals, 2022, and Found tongues series, 2022, and Felix Taylor, Banister bed prototype, 2022 as part of RHYTHM, CITIZEN, Grazer Kunstverein, 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
07Maria Toumazou, Found tongues (city keys), 2022. Nickeled bronze. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
08Maria Toumazou, Found tongues (body), 2022. Nickeled bronze. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
09Installation view of Felix Taylor, Banister bed prototype, 2022, and Claudia Paschalides, Mahmoud/Istanbul, February-August 2022, 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
10Installation view of Maria Toumazou, Graduals, 2022, and Found tongues (city keys), 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
11Installation view of Maria Toumazou, “Caution”, 2022, and Koula Savvidou, Borrowed time, 2008-9. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
12Installation view of Maria Toumazou, “Caution”, 2022, and Door (beat), 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
13 Installation view of Maria Toumazou, “Caution”, 2022, Door (beat), 2022, and Koula Savvidou, Borrowed time, 2008-9. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
14Installation view of Maria Toumazou, “Caution”, 2022, Door (beat), 2022, Untitled, 2022, RHYTHM series, 2022, CITIZEN series, 2022, and Koula Savvidou, Borrowed time, 2008-9. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
15Installation view of Maria Toumazou, Untitled, 2022, and RHYTHM (Flowers on white), 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
16Detail of Maria Toumazou, Untitled, 2022. Fabric (Tecno 401 bronzo), fan parts, motor, wiring. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
17Installation view of Maria Toumazou, CITIZEN series, 2022, and RHYTHM series, 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
18Maria Toumazou, RHYTHM (Linear), RHYTHM (Bell pendulum), RHYTHM (Roman), and RHYTHM (Flowers on white), 2022. Nickeled bronze. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com
19Maria Toumazou, CITIZEN (Blue), CITIZEN (Circle on circle), RHYTHM (Oval), RHYTHM (Clear), and RHYTHM (One piece), 2022. Nickeled bronze. Courtesy of the artist and Grazer Kunstverein. Photo: kunst-dokumentation.com