Last week, the VIMA contemporary art fair opened its doors to the public for the first time in Limassol, Cyprus, ushering in waves of eager visitors looking for fresh insights into the island country’s rapidly developing creative ecosystem, and its emerging position within the wider Mediterranean art scene.
Named for the Greek word ‘Vima’, meaning ‘step’ or ‘podium’, the newly launched exhibition— the first of its kind in Cyprus—originated with the desire of co-founders Lara Kotreleva, Edgar Gadzhiev and Nadezhda Zinovskaya to build a meaningful platform for Cypriot art on home soil. At the same time, the fair also aims to bring in creatives, collectors, and aficionados from around the world.
“We are focused on the region around Cyprus and the Mediterranean,” Kotreleva told ARTnews. “We wanted to attract galleries which are vibrant and dynamic, to build connections for Cyprus. In the art ecosystem here, we need initiatives like this to strengthen the market. I believe that VIMA can play this role. These types of projects can bring much needed visibility.”
The venue for VIMA’s three-day inaugural exhibition was a former industrial site that once served as part of the SODAP winery. First built in 1947, this location served as the main production centre for processing grapes grown in both Limassol and Paphos, but it was ultimately abandoned due to age and obsolescence. Today, it provides a perfect blank canvas for this new chapter of Cyprus’s story, linking past and present.
This spirit was perhaps best embodied in VIMA’s first ever Special Project exhibition. Entitled ‘The Posterity of the Sun’, in reference to the 1950s novel La Posterite du Soleil written by poet Rene Char and philosopher Albert Camus, this striking outdoor showcase assembles 17 works by 17 artists from across Cyprus and other Mediterranean countries, placing them in dialogue with each other, the historical architecture, nature, and the passage of time.
“I came to Cyprus for the first time last October,” Ludovic Delalan, who curated the exhibition, told ARTnews. “I knew where it was located on the map, but I didn’t know the place, and I really felt that it was very important to come here before even starting to think about anything. As a curator, I like to play with the historical and social context when I conceive an exhibition, so I really wanted to understand both the history of Cyprus, and the Cyprus of today.”
Valentinos Charalambous’s “Talisman” series on the right. Panos Profitis’s Demagogue (2024) on the left.
Daria Makurina/Courtesy VIMA
“When I came here and saw that it’s an open-air exhibition space, exposed to the sky and the sun, I decided to play with that,” he explained. “The sun is something that is always present— something familiar—but, at the same time, the Sun will one day disappear. I really liked the idea of placing this symbol in dialogue with the human condition. I also love to play with the emptiness, so I wanted to use the space as it is. We did not remove any of the vegetation. We did not repaint anything. I really like these marks of the passage of time. It feels like something has happened here, and now we are the day after.”
Notable pieces include works from the legendary Cypriot ceramicist Valentinos Charalambous’s ‘Talisman’ series of wall-mounted relief sculptures. Made from refractory clay, they explore a visual language between abstraction and representation, combining both natural and human forms inspired by his own cultural roots, and the surrounding natural environments of Cyprus. Nearby, a trio of pieces—linen painted with natural pigments, including clay, ash and spices— from Tunisian-Italian artist Monia Ben Hamouda’s ‘Rain’ series hung draped from exposed concrete beams, fluttering in the sea breeze, animating the primal, instinctive gestures used to create these works.
Another noteworthy inclusion is Shroud by Lebanon-based Honduran fabric artist Adrian Pepe. This monumental artwork, created from hand-felted wool, was originally woven in 2024 to envelope the facade of Villa des Palmes, an iconic heritage building damaged in the 2020 Beirut Port explosion. For VIMA, it was hung from the back of one of the venue’s buildings.
“When I was invited by Ludovic to take part in this exhibition, I was very interested in the state of disrepair of the buildings here,” said Pepe. “This textile piece was created to wrap around a broken building in Beirut, so I brought it here to extend that gesture of repair and protection.”
“I think it’s a very well curated event,” he continued. “As I’ve walked around through the different halls, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the consistency and quality of the works and the galleries that are here.”
Spanning two large halls, VIMA’s main exhibition comprised a wide variety of works created by contemporary artists from across the Mediterranean region. Rather than using an open call, the VIMA committee elected to use an invitation-only selection process, emphasising both quality and regional relevance. The inaugural fair hosted nearly 30 galleries, nonprofits, and artist-run spaces, representing approximately 100 artists from some 20 different countries, echoing Cyprus’s historical position and geographical importance as a meeting point between East and West.
VIMA’s co-founders Lara Kotreleva (L), Edgar Gadzhiev and Nadezhda Zinovskaya .
Daria Makurina/Courtesy VIMA
Showing with Nicossia-based gallery Art Seen, Greek artist Marina Genadieva’s works are deeply tied to the history and nature of her adoptive home of five years, Cyprus. This is exemplified in her Species of Native Flora – Section of Cyprus Buffer Zone; a hand-drawn map depicting the endemic flower species found within the so-called ‘Green Line’.
“I use my art to try to understand this invisible boundary,” said Genadieva. “During my research, I found out that the state of Cyprus hasn’t documented much about these flowers, because they cannot enter. It’s not fully known what exists there, so I imagined some of them. If you look at the map, it’s difficult to discern which of them are real and which of them are imaginary.”
“It’s so important for all the artists here—and also others that come from other places—to take part in something like this,” she added. “It’s an honour for me to be a part of VIMA, especially as my first art fair.”
Beyond these main events, VIMA was further enhanced by extensive public and parallel programmes, including a robust roster of tours, talks, live music, site-specific performances and off-site exhibitions, held across both Limassol and Nicosia.
Already a massive success with visitors, VIMA has set the stage for what may become an extremely exciting and vibrant part of the Mediterranean art scene. As the fair’s organisers look to what comes next, it can safely be said that this was an exceptional first step for Cyprus’s first art fair.
“Seeing these artworks all in the same venue is so beautiful,” said Kotreleva. “We would love to continue what we have started here. It’s a challenging prospect, to keep this momentum going, but for now we are very happy with what we’ve achieved.”
