Co-curator of residency &  public programme 

about PIKNIK

PIKNIK is a newly launched nomadic platform and residency initiative by Xarkis aiming to create an informal and convivial space for bridging epistemic divides; attending to underrepresented rural perspectives; facilitating intergenerational, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary knowledge exchange; and, recentering play and senses into site-specific work through the intersection of art, design, performance, and craft with local ecologies.

format

PIKNIK comprises a site-specific residency, an anti-conference and a nomadic learning platform. Ecological awareness, climate action and collaborative learning are interwoven in a programme for residents, ranging from peripatetic visits to local cultural spaces and museums, to tacit and embodied knowledge(s) through workshops, and co-design. 

The first edition was hosted by the rural community of Droushia, in the district of Paphos on the island of Cyprus between the 14th - 28th of February. 

creative team

PIKNIK is a proposal by the NGO Xarkis, an original project conceived by Christina Skarpari, who is also the artistic director. She co-curated the first edition with curator Denise Araouzou.  

support

The first edition of PIKNIK was supported by the Deputy Ministry of Culture – Department of Contemporary Culture (Cyprus), with the support of the Regional Museum of Droushia and the Museum of Rural Life in Akamas. Andreas Kleanthous and Nikola Mitropoulou assisted with coordination. All photos by Phivos Philitas. 

about Xarkis

Xarkis was founded in 2013 and is a nomadic cultural organization that promotes socially applied art and design practices, connecting creativity with everyday life, ecology, and local communities. It strengthens community participation, solidarity with communities, and sustainability, using art as a means of social change. It operates in Cyprus and internationally, activating rural and urban environments through exhibitions, artistic residencies, participatory projects, and research initiatives that connect contemporary practice with local knowledge systems.

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residents 

Helena Estrela (she/her) is an artist, educator, and cultural organizer living and working between two mountains in the interior of Portugal. Estela’s latest work focuses on her gardening practice and plays with agricultural knowledge and its political implications. She co-founded Casa Estrela in 2023, a space committed to sharing resources and producing knowledge in rural communities.

Fede (she/them) is an Italian artist, cook and facilitator. She’s part of different cultural and political collectives, experiments with food and walks a lot. Since moving to Brussels in 2018, she has been working in the art field. Her practice centres on food, public space, and togetherness.

Živilė Steniukynaitė-Fornari (b. 1991, she/her) is a textile artist exploring connections between past and future through fabric. Using natural fibers, found and unconventional materials, she reinterprets traditional textile techniques—batik, block printing, embroidery, weaving—through a contemporary lens. Her work addresses sustainability, social narratives, and personal experience, creating canvases, installations, objects, and interactive environments where tradition meets innovation, culture, and memory.

Maiken Stæhr is a visual artist based in Copenhagen. Through site-specific sculptural and performative approaches, she explores topics such as food culture, consumption, cultivated nature, farming, social class, and gender. Stæhr seeks to understand that when we eat and drink, we are participating in a much larger system, which includes various personal, political, and ecological layers.

Agata Szymanek (she/her) is a Polish artist and educator affiliated with the “Art in Action” studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, which proposes socially engaged practices to students. She is the author of the publication Collective Learning Strategies (2026, Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice) and the founder of the Open Space Mysłowice Foundation.

Miguel Teodoro is a visual artist and researcher based in the Netherlands. His research-based practice examines the interdependencies of materiality, geopolitics, ecology and visual culture. Teodoro holds an MA in Geo-Design (DAE/ NL)and a BA in Fine Arts (FBAUP/ PT). He co-founded FIELD, Pousio, and Hiperlocal – a platform for situated practices between art and ecology in Viana do Castelo (PT).

Shuang Xu is a Rotterdam-based designer and chef exploring cultural narratives, food, and situated landscapes. Her practice moves through migration histories, diaspora, and ecological knowledge, engaging with foraging, fermentation, and material experimentation. She reflects on multiple perspectives of identity and culture, recently focusing on how native and non-native plants connect people, histories, and the landscapes they inhabit.

residency, 14 - 26 February

Sunday, the 15th of February was the first day of the PIKNIK art residency and we started it off slow with a guided walk around the village led by our local guide, Pambos Palates, the former mouchtar (mayor) and long-time resident. We also visited the nearby village of Yiolou, where the Almond Blossom Festival was taking place, and celebrated the arrival of spring and the beginning of the residency overlooking valleys of olive and almond orchards.


The next day we began the day with a guided tour of the local Akamas Rural Life and Traditions Museum & Crafts Training Centre by the museum officer Mrs Marianna Koupparis. The tour was followed by a workshop of learning the basics of carving gourds with Filippos Michail Kouppari, the mouchtar of the village and a multi-talented artisan. This craft has been a long-standing tradition on the island. The decorated gourds are both ornamental and functional household items which historically served as beautiful storage containers for wine or snacks on-the-go depending on their size.


After the guided walk and workshop at the museum of Akamas Rural Life, we met with locals from Droushia at the kafenio (village coffee shop). As always, when residents are hosted by any community Xarkis initiates a gathering where locals and artists can meet each other and talk about shared or complementary interests and practices. For some, it’s where conversations and collaborations between residents and locals can begin to form, and for others, it’s a place where locals’ questions about what the artists do and why they were interested to come to Cyprus are answered. We were warmly welcomed by several members of the community, and we are excited to continue working with them in the lead up to the PIKNIK unconference.


On Tuesday we had the pleasure to visit The Rain Gathering Garden, a permaculture garden and a growing syntropic farming system initiated by Marjan and Olha. Layers and layers of planning, trial and error and attention turned this barren plot into an oasis of biodiversity. We ate freshly picked carrots, munched on healing herbs and drank freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. For hours, Marjan and Olha shared with us the processes, challenges and insights of regenerating this land and how it transformed their life priorities as a result.


Following our visit through the vegetal world of a permaculture garden, we concluded the day with a picnic by the beach. Fede initiated our circle of conversation with a water spell. Gradually, ideas about how we want to build the PIKNIK unconference together began to sprout.



Mrs. Niki from the nearby village, Inia, shared her weaving techniques with us during the first week of the residency in an intimate introductory workshop on “kourelloues”. She then generously opened her home, sharing with us the tablecloths she treasures and treating us to oranges and pomelos from her garden. Kourelloues in the past were traditionally made from scrap fabrics, a beautiful example of ancestral upcycling wisdom. Unfortunately, today artisans are often supplied with thin strips made from synthetic materials instead.


We were invited into Mrs. Maria’s dairy company, “Droushia Dairy,” which, as it turns out, is a truly intergenerational affair of local halloumi and anari cheese production. These delicacies - some classically paired with the ‘black gold’ of carob syrup - were accompanied by tsiattista (improvised oral poetry) from poet and retired shepherd Andreas Kaponas, who reminded us where it all began. This was followed by a tour of two family farms: one small farm and one industrial-scale operation, allowing us to better understand how local animals are reared and housed. It was a visit that brought up complex and diverse feelings, but a vital one for a residency that aims to be site-responsive.  Huge thanks to Mrs. Maria, Mr. Andreas Kaponas, Mr. Argyris and Mr. Nicos for their warm hospitality. 



One of the last group meetings we organised before residents began to work on their respective projects was a gathering with the women of the village to speak about their cherished tablecloths and the embodied emotional, economic and craft  they hold. Some were from special celebrations, others from everyday moments. Some were gifts, others part of a dowry - which in the past could shape your future, even influencing the kind of family you might marry into. This exchange formed the spark for Živilė Steniukynaitė-Fornari’s project, “The Cloth.” 

unconference, 27 - 28 February

For two days, the public had the opportunity to listen to artists, farmers, activists, curators, and civil society professionals and enjoy collective meals, discussions, workshops, walks, contemporary art and local crafts.

Artists led foraging walks to collect wild edible plants (such as wild asparagus and wild mustard greens) to share during the picnic. A presentation on seed libraries discussed the systems behind the food we consume daily, and what we can all do to increase the cultivation of heirloom varieties in Cyprus. Moving the discussion from the seed to the table, we delved into a holistic approach to physical and mental health through eating, food and its preparation. Simultaneously, there were workshops for all ages, including drawing, weaving and bird nest making. An important conversation was organised, bringing together diverse, and at times opposing, stories and perspectives from locals, well-known environmental organizations of civil society and local institutions such as the Regional Museum of Droushia. The invitation was to reflect on what rural development means for everyone, what these versions look like and who would suffer and who would benefit. 

Resident artists led workshops, readings, durational performances and cooked for our guests with the help of visitors and friends. The residents also curated an exhibition of the works they developed over the course of their time in Drouseia.