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Etymologically the word 'nostalgia' is derived from the Greek words 'nostos' and 'algos', meaning 'return' and 'suffering'. 'Nostalgia' is used to express the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return. The sadness caused by the impossibility of returning to one's land. A longing for home, but also implying the pain of ignorance, of not knowing what is happening or has become of something.
The notion of land on the island of Cyprus has radically changed since the military and political events of 1974, when it came to a division into a Southern Greek and a Northern Turkish part. Until then both parties had lived among each other, but now they became refugees inside their own country, leaving their belongings, homes and lives. Today it is possible to cross the UN controlled bufferzone between both parts, but the situation has not changed in essence and still resonates inside the people's minds.
Shot from a touristic observatory in Greek Nicosia the video 'nostalgia' shows a panoramic view on the Turkish part of Cyprus, across the buffer zone. The soundtrack is a collection of sounds along this so called Attila Line crossing the island from coast to coast. Sounds from the beaches around the ghosttown of Varosha and along its abandoned houses, from the Ledra Museum observatory in Nicosia, a war memorial and different other sites.
nostalgia questions the geopolitical meaning of land and the touristic exploitation of the landscape in relation to political propaganda. But how is this physical border a mental border? nostalgia does reflect on the emotionally evoking and provoking qualities of the landscape.
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Paysages Occupés #2 - Saison Vidéo, Lille (FR), 2012
7 Years of Art'Contest - Espace Black Box, Brussels (BE), 2011
Paysages / Films et Vidéos - FRAC Basse-Normandie, Caen (FR), 2011
Buffer Zones - Reflections on Transitional Areas / Open Archive #2 - ARGOS Centre for Art & Media, Brussels (BE), 2010
IN OUT Festival - Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk (PL), 2010
Belgium INC* - Mohsen Art Gallery, Tehran (IR), curator Michel Dewilde, 2010
Cross-talks - Crosstalk Video Art Festival, Budapest (HU), 2010
Living Spaces - 2nd All Art Now International New Media Art Festival, Damascus (SY), 2010
Camera Eye Essence - April Meetings Festival, Belgrade (RS), 2010
The Other Side of the Border - Courtisane Festival, Ghent (BE), 2010
Shot by Both Sides - Pieter Geenen & Johan Grimonprez - bkSM #8, cc Strombeek / De Garage Mechelen (BE), 2009
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