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Walking, Wheeling and Writing in the City
A journey through the city exploring the impact of gentrification on the lives and memories of its living beings, using exercises, games, guided narration, and writing.
Dates and times
Thursday, October 30, 16:30 to 19:00
Address
Synergeio Theater
Accessibility
The language used in the workshops by the facilitators will be Cypriot Greek.* Writing ability (either handwritten or digital) is required. The workshop combines literate expression with collective movement through the city, encouraging participants to take responsibility for maintaining a caring, inclusive pace for all. Individuals with mobility impairments are asked to bring and use their appropriate mobility aids. The workshop will begin at the Synergeio Performings Arts Centre, which is accessible and includes an accessible toilet. The public space and the route chosen will be accessible for wheelchairs, with stops at selected points. Due to the lack of accessibility in the city, and as an effort to highlight this issue, in some cases we may need to move through the street. The team will provide instructions at the beginning of the workshop on how to move safely in the street. Due to the absence of tactile paving and guidance systems in the city, individuals with visual impairments are asked to attend the workshop with their own companion. * Interpretation in Cypriot Sign Language is offered, as well as whispered English translation and audio description in Cypriot Greek or English, upon request via the workshop participation form at least 7 days before the workshop takes place.
What would a poem look like if it were written by your favourite square? What conversations might your wheelchair’s wheels be having? If you were to write a letter to your city, what would you say?
A guided walk with stops, commentaries, and writing exercises, interwoven with verses that reflect on the gentrification of Limassol’s city centre. From the “For Rent” and “For Sale” signs to the memories being displaced, the workshop will explore words and concepts connected to urban and public space. We will share experiences and stories about space and its intersections with disability, gender, class, nationality, and sexuality; we will experiment with words, creating a range of literary texts in various formats.
The workshop will be facilitated in Cypriot Greek, with the option of whispered translation into English. Writing ability –either handwritten or digital– in Cypriot Greek, standard Greek, or English is essential, as the workshop combines collective movement with written expression. The aim is to foster a caring atmosphere with a rhythm that will enable all participants to actively take part.
The walk begins at the Synergeio Performing Arts Centre, with stops at chosen points. To make the walk accessible to wheelchair users, and given the city’s limited infrastructure, we will occasionally need to move along the street itself. For this reason, clear instructions for safe movement will be provided at the beginning of the workshop.
A light free dinner will be offered to participants at the end of the workshop at 19:00. After the workshop, participants are warmly invited to join the screening In the Shadow of the Towers, taking place at 19:30 the same day, as well as the participatory poetry session Trapped in Wordscapes and Staged Territories at 21:00, during which they will have the opportunity to share their writings.
The workshop is organised in the framework of The Right to Home: Diaries of Limassol’s Gentrification , a group exhibition and events programme presented by The Island Club and curated by Androula Kafa.
Koullou Makka
Founded in Limassol in 2022 by Elena Socratous, Nagia T. Karakosta, and Eleftheria Socratous, Koullou|Makka is a theater and movement-based collective of disabled and non-disabled individuals. With a core group of members and a continually evolving working structure, the collective investigates collaborative performance practices and seeks to expand embodied understandings of social constructs, including notions of time, gender, disability, and the boundaries between public and private space. Koullou|Makka has carried out several public (performative) interventions and collaborated with local organizations such as Ypogeia Skini Association, YEU, RESET and the Center for Social Innovation, teaching workshops and organizing artistic and educational events centred on inclusion. In December 2024, the collective presented its durational piece, ANarothkioumaste(n), at the 3rd International Inclusive Festival of Performing Arts, Beyond DisDance. In 2025, the group took part in the artistic residency program, theYard.Residency.25, developing and presenting the participatory performance Dream The Freak Out.
The workshop will be led by roz and Angela Stavrou, members of the collective.
roz is a poet who writes when she feels and feels when she writes. With a background in Social Anthropology and Gender Studies, her literary, performative, and research work explores concepts and experiences related to the urban environment, social movements, dreams, and utopia. She envisions a “Poetry in the Streets”—also the title of her first poetry collection, published in 2023.
Angela is a performer and shadow puppeteer with a background in Theatre Studies. Her artistic work investigates issues of political and social identity, and how these are shaped through popular, collective, and private forms of creation across space and time.
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The artists