Gardens of the Future looks at Cyprus ecology

A showcase is about to open in downtown Nicosia, turning a garden into a green exhibition space. Presented by D6:EU, Exposition presents works by artists Christina Zampoulaki and Caterina Miralles, developed during their MATCH residency in Nicosia. Opening on Saturday, the exhibition presents a body of research-based artistic work that explores alternative, non-extractive ways of sensing, mapping and caring for land in the Mediterranean.

Emerging from sustained field research across two contrasting Cypriot landscapes, the community-driven ecosystem of the Gardens of the Future and the forested terrain surrounding the Skouriotissa Copper Mine, the project reflects a shared commitment to rethinking our relationship with the environment.

Their process weaves together field research, mapping technologies, water systems, food ecologies and material experimentation, proposing land not as a resource to be consumed but as a living, dynamic system, one that carries memory, absorbs history and invites new forms of understanding.

Through dialogue with scientists, architects, permaculture practitioners, botanists and local communities from across the island, their collaboration positions artistic research as a mode of ecological sensitivity. It brings together data and materials, creating a shared narrative about how we might inhabit and care for the environments that sustain us.

As a lasting contribution to the Gardens, the artists have created a permanent installation in the form of a water-collection and filtration structures. This work embodies their non-extractive approach, offering a functional and symbolic gesture of care that will continue to support the garden’s ecosystem over time.

Similarly, the project opens up into the back garden for installations, and while reinforcing the resilience of living systems, it also actively expands the space of the Gardens, inviting visitors into a newly accessible landscape shaped by collaboration, research and a shared commitment to sustainable futures.

Zampoulaki presents a site-specific investigation, examining how water moves through the site after it enters the garden and how it is unevenly distributed and managed through overlapping plant and human systems. Simple filtration elements and plant-water relations structure this movement, where different species act as distinct behaviours of absorption, storage, resistance and redistribution. The research is accompanied by a cyanotype zine made with sunlight and plant material from the garden, offering a fragmented, non-linear reading of water relations across the site.

Miralles presents Margins of Definition, a research-based audiovisual installation examining how land is shaped and controlled through mapping, borders and extractive logics. Using Cyprus as a case study, she moves between large-scale infrastructural transformations and intimate recordings of soil and micro-ecologies. A permanent water-collection structure constructed from reclaimed materials will remain installed in the garden.

The exhibition will remain open until May 28 and a guided tour this Sunday between 11am and 1pm will offer visitors a closer look at the artists’ projects and practices.

Exposition

Exhibition by artists Christina Zampoulaki and Caterina Miralles developed during their MATCH residency in Nicosia. By D6:EU. Gardens of the Future, Nicosia. April 25-May 28. www.matchproject.eu