Tuesday 06 December  

Time: 19:00  

Opening by the Ambassador of Ireland, His Excellency Conor Long, followed by a screening of *Grief-Work* (40 mins).  

Wednesday 07 December  

Time: 19:00  

Talk by the scholar, poet and music maker Dr Marilena Zackheos, followed by a screening of *Grief-Work* (40 mins).  

Thursday 08 December  

Time: 19:00  

Talk by the photographer and visual artist Constantinos Constantinou on the work of the photographer and publisher Menelaos Pittas, followed by a screening of *Grief-Work* (40 mins).  

*** NOTE: TICKETS (FREE) REQUIRED ***  

**Description**  

*Grief-Work*, a three-screen video installation currently being shown at the European Cultural Centre, Venice in parallel with the 59th Venice Biennale, is coming to Cyprus for screening at ARTos House, Nicosia.  

Helen Kirwan explores concepts of mourning and memory, fragment and trace, and journeying as the poetic and metaphorical construction of memory. These ideas are often expressed through her quiet meditative performances and multi-channel video installations, such as in her *Memory Theatre* series.  

For *Grief-Work*, Kirwan has taken inspiration from mourning traditions of ancient Greece and the Middle East. The film follows the artist as a character on a metaphorical journey, encountering performances of funerary rituals as illustrated on white-ground “Lêkythoi” vases—popular grave gifts in 5th century BCE Athens.  

She oscillates through multiple existences and experiences, shifting on the edges of two spheres as if enacting her own transition between life and death. Although appearing on a chronological journey, her encounters feel timeless and unbound by space.  

The *Lêkythoi* imagery includes rituals that nourish both the deceased and their memory, reflecting the mourners’ pain and shifting Greek attitudes toward dualistic notions of time. The outdoor scenes filmed in Cyprus are woven together into a fragmented, yet interconnected structure.  

A sense of infinite motion is echoed through chanting by the Byzantine choir of the Holy Metropolis of Limassol, ‘Romanos the Melodist’. Composer Tom Lane integrates the chant into the soundscape to heighten the poetic gravity of *Grief-Work*.  

Kirwan’s work is underpinned by the Hegelian concept of memory as repetition—constantly reinventing itself as a looping re-enactment rather than a simple recitation of the past. It also draws on Friedrich Schlegel’s philosophy of the fragment as an active practice that values incompletion as fulfilment.  

Previous artistic projects include *Fragment and Trace* (2015), *Memory Theatre* (2017) and *Perpetuum Mobile* (2019), and live performances both in Cyprus and the UK.  

For images and press enquiries:  

studio@helenkirwan.com  

**About Helen Kirwan**  

Helen Kirwan is a conceptual and interdisciplinary artist born in Ireland and based in Cyprus. Her videos, installations and performances—including *Perpetuum Mobile* (2019), *Memory Theatre* (2017) and *Fragment and Trace* (2015)—have been exhibited internationally, including during the 56th, 57th and 58th Venice Biennales.  

Her work has appeared at:  

Bermondsey Project Space, London (2020)  

Pie Factory, Margate, UK (2020)  

International Video Art Festival, Camagüey, Cuba (2019 & 2017)  

Tbilisi Art Fair, Georgia (2019)  

Close-Up Cinema, London (2018)  

P-21 Gallery, London (2017)  

Towner Gallery, Eastbourne (2017, 2016)  

Bodrum Biennial, Turkey (2015)  

Her video *Image of the Road* (2013) with Simon Pruciak has screened widely, including in India and France.  

In 2022 she held her first solo exhibition in Cyprus at Noise Gallery, Nicosia, and exhibited with the Arboreal Collective at NeMe Arts Centre, Limassol.  

During 2021, she broadcasted live online performances from the Cyprus Academy of Arts. She also produced micro-documentaries exploring the theoretical principles behind her work.  

Kirwan has taken part in numerous performance art and new media festivals, including:  

VR exhibition with ECC Performance Art (2022)  

Experiments in Cinema v15.1, Albuquerque, USA (2020)  

Rapid Pulse Festival, Chicago (2016)  

Fonlad Festival, Portugal (2016)  

International Festival of Projections, UK (2016)  

She has been artist in residence at:  

Arts-Iceland / Outvert Art, Iceland  

Sirius Arts Centre, Ireland (2019 & 2020)  

Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Ireland  

Kirwan works regularly with composer Tom Lane and cinematographer Simon Pruciak.  

**About Tom Lane**  

Tom Lane is a composer and sound designer based in Dublin. He studied at Balliol College, Oxford, the Royal Academy of Music and the Berlin University of the Arts, recently earning a PhD in site-specific composition from University College Cork.  

He creates music for theatre, dance, opera and concert performance. Recent work includes composition for the Olivier-nominated *The Tragedy of Macbeth* at London’s Almeida Theatre directed by Yaël Farber and starring Saoirse Ronan and James McArdle.