The Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation is hosting the Satirical Cartography Exhibition ““Historical & Caricature Accounts of Europe, before, during and after World War One”, from Panayiotis N. Soucacos collection.
The exhibition will take place at Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation ground floor space for periodical exhibitions from 08 December 2022 until 08 January 2023.
Satirical Cartography was born and blossomed - as already know – in the mid -19th century and its good times, the Belle Époque (La Belle Époque) concurs with the good times the Belle Époque (La Belle Époque) of Europe. Whereas, it’s bad times - “La Mauvaise Époque” – is connected with the atrocity and the 15.000.000 dead of the First World War – the Great War – as it is usually called.
Serio-comic maps are closer to political satire rather than scientific cartography. Caricature maps are aimed at ingenuously putting forth daring political comments. Using the geographical relief as a background, satirical maps are precise and meaningful commentaries on political events or circumstances in a manner, which allows them to criticize events using satire.
In the field of Satirical Cartography, the meaningful allegorical semiotics that is revealed is a strong justification for a careful approach and continuous research and study, which undoubtedly results in significant scientific value.
The Old Maps do not cease to constitute wondrous monuments of knowledge diffusion as well as public awareness and information, in a period of time when illiteracy rate was particularly high among the middle and lower social strata.
Given the character of the messages and the symbolisms emerging from the Satirical Maps especially during World War One, the thorough interpretation still refers to the horrors of the war and the heavy death toll.
The anonymous soul of History will meet the anonymous voice of the dead reminiscently, pleading for the prevention of all forms of war, the harrowing image of which we, unfortunately, still witness nowadays.
The total number of the maps that have been chosen for the exhibition is 23 which represent 3 different historical time periods of the First World War. Period before World War I, Period during World War I and Period after World War I
Opening: 8 December 2022, 19:00
Duration: 08/12/2022-09/01/2023
Opening hours: 10:00 – 19:00 on weekdays, weekends and public holidays
Free entrance
The events/exhibitions are organised taking all necessary safety measures, following the governmental guidelines for the health and safety of both visitors and staff.
During the events/exhibitions photographs and video will be taken. The image of attendees may be used for promotion purposes or sent to the media for broadcast or be uploaded online. With attendance, the public automatically allows the organizers to use the photographs/video that will be produced during photographing or filming.