Opening: 12 December 2025
Duration: 13 December 2025 – 31 May 2026
Artists: Elena Adamou, Alev Adil, Ioannis Aristotelous, Charalambos Artemis, Marianna Christofides, Kyriaki Costa, Pavlos Ioannides, Stelios Kallinikou, Nurtane Karagil, Marina Kassianidou, Nicolas Lambouris, Maria Loizidou, Eleni Mouzourou, PASHIAS, Alexandros Pissourios, Mikella Psara, Socratis Socratous, Constantinos Taliotis, Damianos Zisimou
Curator: Dr. Elena Stylianou
Research projects:
Dr Evanthia Tselika
Associate Professor, Department of Design and Multimedia, University of Nicosia
Dr Esra Plümer
Independent Art Historian and Writer-Researcher
Organisation: The Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre, Associated with the Pierides Foundation [NiMAC]
Sponsors: Deputy Ministry of Culture, Department of Contemporary Culture | The A.G. Leventis Foundation | European University Cyprus
The exhibition Fluid Persistence, opening on the 12 December 2025 at the Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre, Associated with the Pierides Foundation [NiMAC], begins from two key reference points: a 1943 statement by John Burns in the Daily Mail describing the Thames river as “liquid history”, and journalist Erica Gies’ book, Water Always Wins (2021), which urges us to consider the desires of water itself. Water, a vital yet unpredictable force, nourishes ecosystems, shapes landscapes, and flows through human and non-human bodies, while resisting control in an era of rapid development and climate instability. So, the question “What does water want?” becomes critical.
Fluid Persistence brings together nineteen contemporary artists whose work responds, directly or indirectly, to the above ideas. More specifically, their work explores urgent questions relating to ecological destruction, water’s role in storytelling and mythmaking, its defining power in geopolitics, its dark and haunting nature, as well as its magical and transformative potential ingrained in the simple truth that we are all bodies of water.
Rooted in Cyprus yet resonating beyond it, the exhibition places local histories of rivers, seas, wetlands, wells, dams and waterways in dialogue with broader environmental and geopolitical contexts. From ancient myths to colonial infrastructures and hidden waterways, water emerges as both a conduit of power and a bearer of memories, whispers, and lost lives. The participating artists trace dormant rivers and fountains in Nicosia, document oral histories, photograph eroded stone surfaces, and map wetland ecosystems and coastlines marked by territorial control and ecological change. Others deploy water symbolically to address grief, desire, freedom, and the act of catharsis.
Ultimately Fluid Persistence foregrounds fluidity as both method and metaphor: the exhibition unfolds as a liquid space where stories expand, memories surface, and submerged tensions rise through real and imagined narratives that unsettle familiar geographies. Visitors are invited to engage with these layered, often overlooked histories, highlighting fluidity not only as a natural condition, but as a form of storytelling that shifts and shapes how we perceive, inhabit and understand the world.
Opening hours
Wednesday – Saturday: 10:00 – 20:00
Sunday: 10:00 – 18:00
Monday & Tuesday: Closed
NiMAC
19, Palias Ilektrikis, 1016 Nicosia, T: 22797400
info@nimac.org.cy , www.nimac.org.cy, www.facebook.com/NiMACnicosia/, @nimac_cy
All events of the parallel program of the exhibition are free for the public.
Performance | 5-star
by PASHIAS
Friday 12 December 2025 | 19:30
Guided tours
by Dr Elena Stylianou
Wednesday 11 February 2026 | 18:00 | in Greek
Wednesday 22 April 2026 | 18:00 | in English
Bookings: 22797400 (Mon-Fri 9:00 – 14:30)
Lecture | For All Waters: Intro to Blue Humanities | in English
by Dr. Lowell Duckert
Associate Professor of English, University of Delaware
Wednesday 18 February 2026
Bookings: 22797400 (Mon-Fri 9:00 – 14:30)
Organized in collaboration with the University of Cyprus
Workshop | Leathe
by Maria Kamberi and Demetris Yiasemides
Leathe is an exploration of memory, where movement becomes a means of searching and reflection.
Saturday 14 February 2026
For children 5 – 10 years old | 10:30 – 11:30
For adults | 12:00 – 13:00
Bookings: 22797400 (Mon-Fri 9:00 – 14:30)
Walk | The veins beneath our feet | in Greek
by Dr. Evanthia Tselika
The walk focuses on how Pediaios’ waters have shaped the history of Nicosia within the walls.
Saturday 14 March 2026 | 10:30
Starting point: NiMAC
Bookings: 22797400 (Mon-Fri 9:00 – 14:30)
Panel discussion | Liquid Histories | in English
by Dr. Evanthia Tselika, Dr. Avi Betz-Heinemann, Dr. Esra Plümer and Dr. Stavroula Michael
Moderator: Dr. Elena Stylianou
Saturday 25 April 2026 | 11:00
Bookings: 22797400 (Mon-Fri 9:00 – 14:30)
The panel discussion is organized with the support of the European University Cyprus
Performance | MELUSINE
by Dr. Marilena Zackheos
“MELUSINE” is a performance that weaves together poetic fragments, ecological data, and mythic
narrative in order to explore hydrological, colonial, and gendered control.
Wednesday 27 May 2026 | 18:00
Bookings: 22797400 (Mon-Fri 9:00 – 14:30)
Screenings and Discussion | Contesting Migration
by Efi Savvides and Olga Demetriou
Sunday 10 May 2026 | 19:00 | Theatro Polis
A series of four films exploring the political and social dynamics of refugee reception in the Mediterra-nean, produced within the research projects “Contesting Migration” and “MEDRECEPTIONS.” The films shed light on how European border and asylum policies affect small communities and the conte-stations that emerge there.
Bookings: 22797400 (Mon-Fri 9:00 – 14:30)
Educational programs for University Students
Design and implementation by Elena Panagiotou (museum educator)
Following an interdisciplinary approach, the program offers the opportunity to explore the multifaceted nature of water through interaction with artworks from the exhibition, and to investigate concepts related to identity, place and narratives of island ecologies.
The program is implemented in collaboration with Dr. Andri Savva, Department of Education, University of Cyprus.
Day and time of each program (max 20 participants) to be arranged in coordination with the facilitator.
Bookings and information: 99883150