Redefining our relationship with the environment
June has a rich agenda of festivals this year and in between late-night fiestas and music performances arrives a festival with a green, sustainable focus. The ongoing Larnaka Biodesign Festival 2024 will take over numerous parts of the city until June 23, inviting locals, visitors, artists, researchers, scientists and anyone else to explore its environmental actions.
The Larnaka Biodesign Festival, an initiative and now annual institution of the Larnaka 2030 organisation, is part of the city’s artistic strategy for a green transition. This multi-thematic festival, with Petrolina as its strategic partner, focuses on redefining our relationship with the natural environment.
Biodesign refers to collaborative methodologies and practices that encompass innovative technological solutions and social phenomena of coexistence between humans and biological systems. It promotes a sustainable and ecologically fair relationship with the environment, seen as both a habitat and a source of materials and economic activity.
The festival’s philosophy is based on participatory actions, allowing the public to co-create significant artworks with artists from Cyprus and abroad. The goal is to exchange academic and experiential knowledge, creating an anthology of eco-pedagogy derived from Larnaca’s local ecosystem and applied globally. This redefines ecology, networks and synergy beyond administrative boundaries or sociopolitical ideologies.
Building on the strong impact of its first edition, the second edition aims to strengthen human bonds with the environment, undermining the historical separations from nature. The festival will feature artists, scientists, academics, art ensembles and performers collaborating with farmers, cooks, minority groups, youth and children. The artistic programme invites the public to explore themes emerging from soil, water and air each week.
Currently in its first week, the festival focuses on soil-centric practices, with performances, workshops and lectures by pioneers like Dr Iosif Hadjikyriakos, Sicily’s Pleisure collective, Bahrain’s researcher Latifa Alkhayat, and MIT students, among others.
The second week centres on communal dining experiences, with MIT students co-creating a unique gastronomic event with Patriko: Indigenous fine dining. This week will also feature public space actions reimagining the city’s coastline, led by artists and ecologists like Eisa Baddour from Syria.
The final week highlights youth and children. Activities include workshops inspired by Vaso Panagi’s children’s story Sky Gatherer and culminate in a children’s parade through the historic city centre, curated by visual artists and eco-pedagogues.
Larnaka Biodesign Festival
3-week festival with events, workshops and interactive happenings on biodesign. Until June 23. Larnaca. info@larnaka2030.eu,