Larnaca 2030: A neighborhood becomes a shared space for creation and gathering

Larnaca 2030, as part of Mahalart ’26, invites us to discover interesting aspects of the Agioi Anargyroi neighborhood through the festival’s activities “Settlement ’26.”

For two days, on October 30 and 31, the neighborhood’s streets, courtyards, squares, and everyday spaces will be transformed into venues for gathering and co-creation.

Performances, visual and sound installations, photography exhibitions, participatory walks, workshops, and musical events invite the public to experience Synoikismos as a dynamic Common Space.

The “Synikismos” festival marks the culmination of a unique process of co-creation. Since early October, eight artists from Mediterranean countries have been living and working in the neighborhood, getting to know the residents, listening to their stories and creating original works of art together with them—works born from the place itself and its people.

“Synoismos” means “we live together.” In the neighborhoods created after 1974 to house the displaced, the experience of being a refugee, collective memory, and the struggle for a new beginning are a living part of everyday life. The Settlement, however, is not merely a place of memory. It is a place of life, resilience, human connections, and creativity. A place where the past meets the present and opens up a conversation about the future.

The festival marks the first major artistic initiative of the Larnaca 2030 project of the same name, which aims to bring contemporary artistic creation to the city’s refugee neighborhoods and forge new connections between residents, artists, and public space.

The initiative is taking place as part of the European project MedSEA: Socially Engaged Arts in the Mediterranean Area (Socially Engaged Arts in the Mediterranean Area), which is co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe program, with the participation of the organizations Larnaca 2030 (Cyprus), Al Badil (Tunisia), Li.vi.ng (Italy), and Busart (Greece).

The eight artists in residence at the Synikismos are as follows:

Theodora Andreou, a performer from Cyprus; Maria Alvez, a light installation artist from Portugal; Martina Sedda, a photographer from Italy; Francesco Gech, a writer from Malta and collaborator with Victoria 2031, the European Capital of Culture in Malta; Šćepan Popovic, an architect from Niksic 2030 European Capital of Culture in Montenegro,  Libertad Pozo, a choreographer from Spain; Aymen Goubaa, a musician from Tunisia; and Anastasia Pavlenko, a director and refugee from Ukraine living in Larnaca.

General information:

• Festival dates: Friday, October 30, and Saturday, October 31, 2026
• Location: Agioi Anargyroi II neighborhood, Larnaca
• Main starting point: Endymionos Street (former cafes)
• Free admission

Festival program at a glance:

Friday, October 30, 2026

• The program begins at 6:00 p.m. with the installations “Roots Behind the Barbed Wire” by Anastasiia Pavlenko and “Stop” by Aymen Goubaa, which will be open to visitors until 9:30 p.m.
• From 6:30–7:15 p.m., Francesco Grech presents the multisensory performance “The Lemon Tree Bears Roses” featuring the Larnaca Technical School, the “Anorthosis” Choir and Spyros Georgoullas, a resident of the Georgoulla neighborhood.
• From 7:30–9:00 p.m., the sensory walk “The Paths We Carry” by Maria Alvez, with live music by Andreas Georgiou, during which the outdoor photography exhibition “A Place to Belong” by Martina Sedda and the works “Forms of Memory: The Paths We Travel” and “A907” by Šćepan Popović.
• The evening concludes from 9:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. with a concert by the rebetiko band Anaren Burek, featuring Michalis Kontovourkis, Panagiotis Agathokleous, Onisiforos Onisiforou, and Nikolaos Nikolaou.

Saturday, October 31, 2026

• The program begins at 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. with Martina Sedda’s participatory cyanotype workshop for all ages, “From the Garden to the Print.”
• Also featured throughout the day are the installations “Roots Behind the Barbed Wire” by Anastasiia Pavlenko, “Stop” by Aymen Goubaa, and the photography exhibition “A Place to Belong” by Martina Sedda.
• From 6:30–7:15 p.m., Francesco Grech presents the multisensory performance “The Lemon Tree Bears Roses.”
• From 7:30–8:00 p.m., Theodora Andreou will present the participatory performance “What Place?” featuring local residents Lenia Dimitriou and Katina Michael, in the park behind the Church of Saint Thekla.
• From 8:15–9:00 p.m., Libertad Pozo presents the collective memory performance “Memories of the Body,” featuring Dance House by Kalia, the “Anorthosis” Choir of Famagusta, Artemis Vassiliou (violin), and residents Toulla Vyra, Anna Moustafa, Androulla Kapari, Elena Papadopoulou, and Pavlos Papadopoulos.
• The festival concludes at 9:15 p.m. with a party at the Synikismos featuring Aymen Goubaa.

You can find information about the festival at https://larnaka2030.eu/activity/maxalart-2026/