Speculating on techno-spirituality Theodoulos Polyviou’s ongoing project Transmundane Economies has produced the third of its close-looking and critical takes on Cypriot cultural heritage. ‘A Palace in Exile’, currently on view in Milan at Fondazione Elpis, recasts the relationships, structures and spaces of the Greek Orthodox church and its relationship to identity, community and collective imagination.
KOOZ Un Palazzo in esilio (A Palace in exile), is the third chapter of Transmundane Economies, an ongoing project that you started back in 2022. Could you talk about the first two chapters of the project and its overall structure?
THEODOULOS POLYVIOU Transmundane Economies is an ongoing project that deploys virtuality and associated digital technologies to study, reconstruct, and fill voids in Cypriot cultural heritage. It avoids a nationalist agenda, speculating instead on the relationship between queerness, repair, and reinvention within the historical entanglements of the island. The project investigates how complex configurations formed between material culture and new and immersive technologies, — such as AR, VR and world building — can generate new information and experiences and renegotiate existing systems of value against the backdrop of shifting political, technological and spiritual conditions.
The name Transmundane Economies is derived from the concept of 'oikonomia' — traditionally understood in theological discourse as 'household management' — and its extension to the Church of Cyprus's influence over both spiritual directives as well as the governance and stewardship of mundane material, economic and political interests.
The project investigates how complex configurations formed between material culture and new and immersive technologies can generate new information and experiences, and renegotiate existing systems of value.
The first chapter involved a year-long investigation into a 13th-century monastery in northern Cyprus. The site was virtually reconstructed and used in a VR installation at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, which meditated on the spiritual experience of contemporary queer bodies in the Mediterranean, both in liturgical spaces and within the social conventions that these architectures engender and uphold.
The second chapter — SCREEN — delved into the 18th-century Cypriot iconostasis in the holdings of the Bode-Museum, as a specific case study and a point of departure to reflect upon the politics of ownership of historical artefacts, techno-spirituality and the possibilities of an expanded and immersive digital humanities. A site-specific CGI film installation traced Cyprus’s belief systems, from the worship of trees and the use of magic over the centuries as a form of imperial resistance, to the iconostasis's evolution into its present zombified museological state.
KOOZ This third chapter specifically focuses on Cypriot’s first architectural competition, launched in the 1950s by archbishop Makarios III for the new archbishop’s palace. What role did architecture play in building a Cypriot national identity under British colonial rule?
TP In my opinion, architecture can be a tool for cultural expression, political resistance, or social cohesion. In the case of the British, there was no single "colonial style"; the architecture differed across their colonies. In some places, like Cyprus, distinct styles fused European architecture with local elements. This colonial architecture can be divided into British buildings without local elements and the "colonial neo-Cypriot style," as coined by author Costas Georgiou.
In the 1920s, when Cyprus was officially declared a colony, the British introduced planning practices that prioritised the needs and aesthetics of the colonial administration, often at the expense of local traditions. This included the construction of public buildings that were ‘cleansed’ of Cypriot characteristics, as noted by Papasavvas and Efrem.
Over time, Cypriot traditional elements intertwined with British architecture, not from deliberate intention, but because local craftsmen — steeped in their heritage — knew no other way to build. The absence of a more universal architectural knowledge consequently gave rise to a colonial neo-Cypriot style; to hybrid structures that embodied a subtle yet powerful blend of defiance and adaptation.
In the case of the British, there was no single "colonial style"; the architecture differed across their colonies. This colonial architecture can be divided into British buildings without local elements and the "colonial neo-Cypriot style."
KOOZ What kind of mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion did the palace’s construction and symbolism foster?
TP The Orthodox Church played a significant role in the nationalist movement, often mediating between the Cypriot people and the colonial authorities. Similarly, its architectural presence served as an anchor for national identity and religious tradition, extending its influence far beyond spiritual solace. In the case of the new Archbishop's Palace, which is the case study of the exhibition at Fondazione Elpis, Byzantine and local characteristics are incorporated into a “neo-meta Byzantine” style. It can be read as a bold assertion of a particular identity in the shadow of colonial influence, reflecting the church's emphasis on a distinctly Greek cultural and historical narrative at the dawn of Cyprus's eventual independence.
By utilising virtual reality, CGI filmmaking, and world-building, it speculates on the potential for institutionalised religious sites on the island to transcend their physicality and escape their ideological charge and power.
KOOZ Transmundane Economies deploys virtual and associated digital technologies to study, reconstruct, and fill voids in Cypriot cultural heritage to speculate on the relationship between queerness, repair and reinvention within the historical entanglements of the island. What is the value of exploring this alternative Cypriot history today?
TP The project partially focuses on the strong influence the Cypriot Orthodox Church exerts on the political affairs of the island, playing a significant role in the organisation and instrumentalisation of national collectivity. The Church often serves as a 'cure-all' for a “post” colonial nation facing challenges. As a result, minority groups — including the queer community — face marginalisation not only based on their sexuality but also through a complex array of identity-forming processes. A great comprehensive read on this topic is 'Cyprus is the Country of Heroes, Not of Homosexuals' by Nayia Kamenou.
Transmundane Economies offers a platform to address these issues through historical research and architectural imaginaries. By utilising virtual reality, CGI filmmaking, and world-building, it speculates on the potential for institutionalised religious sites on the island to transcend their physicality and escape their ideological charge and power.
KOOZ At Fondazione Elpis, this third chapter unfolds through a series of architectural casts punctuating the foundation’s ground floor, whilst the floor above features a video-installation with your own virtual entry for the 1950 competition. What prompted this juxtaposition between the re-production of physical structures and a more subjective speculative fiction?
TP The selection of moulds is from my personal archive and marks the starting point of a year-long research behind the exhibition. Originally sourced from the now-defunct Koromias factory in Nicosia, these moulds were used in the construction of not only the Archbishop's Palace but also several other churches across Cyprus. In the exhibition, the moulds oscillate between their historical and archival status. I call them dogmatic negatives. They are literally inverse churches, allowing for an examination of the underlying structures that imbue their positive counterparts with meaning and significance.
The animated film, developed in collaboration with architectural designer Loukis Menelaou, imagines the evening of the 28th of Feb, 1959 just hours before the return of Archbishop Makarios III to Cyprus to a jubilant reception in Nicosia after being in exile. The film serves as a dialogue between the real and speculative histories surrounding the competition and examines the ways in which mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion within the construction of the palace and the symbolism of its design fostered a sense of community and belonging for some, while marginalising Cypriot minority groups.
Typically, the immersive nature of virtual reality or moving-image is intended to make the medium itself disappear. However, I am interested in achieving the opposite effect.
Throughout the exhibition, visitors may encounter objects that were initially created as assets for the video but later evolved into standalone sculptures. This interplay between physical structure and moving image is a fundamental aspect of my practice, in creating site-specific storytelling. This approach started with my earlier work in virtual reality. Typically, the immersive nature of virtual reality or moving-image is intended to make the medium itself disappear. However, I am interested in achieving the opposite effect; a hyper-awareness in the viewer of where they are and what they are doing. Extrapolating objects from the screen into the physical environment serves as a reminder to viewers of their presence in the surroundings.
KOOZ Moving forward, how do you imagine Transmundane Economies unfolding? Can we expect new chapters in this rewriting of history?
TP I am currently in the research phase of the next chapter, which centres on the teachings of Daskalos, a Cypriot healer active from the 1950s to the 1990s. This chapter aims to transform the principal teachings of his healing practices, previously limited by the technological constraints of his era, into immersive experiences. It seeks to study some of his concepts such as the fourth and fifth dimensions, etheric and noetic bodies, self-superconsciousness, and the soul-ego. This is a life-long chapter — or perhaps one of many lives, as Daskalos would say.
Bio
Theodoulos Polyviou is a Berlin-based artist whose practice uses expanded media to consider the place of bodies within institutional physicality, and cultural and political narratives. He is the co-founder and former director of experimental project space Koraï, Cyprus. In 2020, he co-curated the 19th edition of Mediterranea Biennial: School of Waters, San Marino. He has presented his work in solo shows at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, and ZKM: Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, among others, and in various group shows, including the Cyprus Pavilion at 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice.
Special thanks to Loukis Menelaou for his involvement as the Architectural Designer in the project.
Federica Zambeletti is the founder and managing director of KoozArch. She is an architect, researcher and storyteller whose interests lie at the intersection between art, architecture and regenerative practices. In 2022 Federica founded KoozArch with the ambition of creating a space where to research, explore and discuss architecture beyond the limits of its built form. Parallel to her work at KoozArch, Federica is Architect at the architecture studio UNA and researcher at the non-profit agency for change UNLESS where she is project manager of the research "Antarctic Resolution". Federica is an Architectural Association School of Architecture in London alumni.
