After 10 years, Xarkis returns to Kalavasos. For three days, the entire village will become a festival.

After ten years, the Xarkis Festival returns to Kalavasos. From Friday, September 11th to Sunday, September 13th, the village will be transformed into an open space for art, workshops, local history, and meetings with locals. The 12th edition of the event will feature over 25 artists from Cyprus and abroad, and admission is free.

There will be no single main stage or festival hall. Installations, exhibitions, workshops, archaeological walks, screenings, and performances will be spread across various parts of Kalavasos. The artists draw on the town itself, its inhabitants, the prehistoric Tenta, former mines, crafts, photographs, and local memories.

Xarkis returns to Kalavasos

This year's festival materials indicate that Xarkis's relationship with Kalavasos began in 2016 with collaboration on the local Tenta Cultural Festival. Ten years later, the organization returns with a full, three-day edition of its own festival.

In the archive materials of the organization itself, however, one can find mention of three Xarkis workshops during Tenta Festival in 2015. Therefore, it is safest to talk about returning after about a decade, although this year's communication from the organizers uses the date 2016.

Kalavasos fits the event's philosophy exceptionally well. From the outset, Xarkis has been a traveling festival that, instead of focusing on large cities, brings contemporary art to local communities and develops projects together with residents. The organization has been operating since 2013, and the first edition took place in Arsos.

Over 25 artists and two weeks of work in the town

Creators don't come to Kalavasos just for the weekend.

Over 25 artists from Cyprus and abroad spend approximately two weeks in the village before the festival begins. During this time, they learn about the locals, landscape, and history of the region, collecting archival materials, photographs, recordings, stories, and objects related to archaeology and ancient mining. This is the basis for the creation of the works presented during the festival.

Artists come to Kalavasos from Chile, Ghana, Tunisia, Rwanda, Hungary, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, among others.

Archaeology, Tenta and the stories of ancient miners

One of the strongest elements of the program is the opportunity to get to know Kalavasos itself from a completely different perspective.

On Saturday at 17:00 Archaeologist Alison South will lead a guided tour of the Tenta site. South has been involved in archaeological research in the Vasilikos Valley for decades and worked on the Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios excavations.

On Sunday at 5:00 p.m. there will be a meeting "Archives, Memory, from Archeology to Mining Histories"The starting point will be old mines and the memories of workers, but also the great miners' strike of 1948 and questions about work, workers' rights, the colonial past, and solidarity.

This shows that Xarkis does not treat the history of the town solely as a decoration for contemporary art.

Workshops also for families and children

Much of the program is open-ended and practical.

On Saturday at 11:00 a.m., Helen Chrysanthou will lead a traditional weaving workshop. psatharoudy using wheat from nearby fields. Painting classes for children will begin at 12:00 p.m., followed by a clay workshop at 4:00 p.m., and a presentation and activities using silkworm cocoons at 6:00 p.m.

Sunday begins with a dried flower workshop. The program also includes further clay and painting classes, and, starting at 6:00 PM, incense-making from local plant materials.

So you don't have to be interested in contemporary art to find something for yourself this weekend.

In the evening the village will turn into a stage

After the workshops end, the festival does not slow down.

The material will be shown on Friday at 8:00 p.m. "Images of Cypriot Women" Sheena Crawford, about the life and everyday life of women in the 1980s.

On Saturday, starting at 7:00 PM, more performances and sound activities will begin. The program includes "Waiting Wars," Patrick Ziza's "Gaggle," and sound projects by Paul Nataraj and Boussadia.

Sunday's finale will begin at 8:00 PM with the project Botanical Songbook Rocío Guerrero Marín. Half an hour later, it was scheduled Memory Leaks Emiddio Vasquez, and at 9:00 p.m. – Lyraei Cypriot artist and sound designer Michalis Siammas.

Kalavasos is not just a backdrop

This is what distinguishes Xarkis from many traditional festivals held in Cypriot towns.

The village doesn't serve as a decorative backdrop. Its inhabitants, architecture, history, ancient trades, local knowledge, and memories become part of the creative process.

This year's edition is being created as part of a European project Contested Desires: Constructive Dialogues, which explores Europe's colonial history and its impact on contemporary understandings of heritage and identity through art. The project is co-financed by the Creative Europe programme.

This is why the program can at times feel more like an open laboratory than a classic festival: alongside a concert, you might come across an archaeologist, a former miner, a local craftsman or an artist working with materials found on site.

In September it is worth visiting Cypriot towns

Xarkis is part of a very strong September calendar of events outside the largest cities.

CHECK ALSO
Galata invites you to a festival of traditional flavors. Admission is free:
https://cyprnews.pl/galata-zaprasza-na-festiwal-tradycyjnych-smakow-wstep-bezplatny/

At the end of the month, some mountain towns will host the Mountain Games Cyprus 2026.

CHECK ALSO
What are Mountain Games Cyprus 2026 and what is planned in Troodos:
https://cyprnews.pl/wizz-air-partnerem-mountain-games-cyprus-2026-co-to-wlasciwie-za-wydarzenie/

Xarkis begins in Friday, September 11 and will last until Sunday, September 13The official Kalavasos Community Council website and current event materials confirm free admission.

Current program: https://festival.xarkis.org/

Sources: Xarkis, Kalavasos Community Council, Parathyro – Politis, Philenews

ADVERTISEMENT