the broken pitcher

The focal point of the project The Broken Pitcher is an event that occurred in Cyprus in 2019: a meeting took place at a bank in Larnaca to negotiate the foreclosure sale of a family home. Foreclosures are one of the austerity measures that were imposed on the Cypriot government by the troika of representatives from the EU Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund after the financial crisis in 2012.

For The Broken Pitcher, the meeting room was reconstructed and furnished by artists. Based on the memory protocols of the family involved and their lawyer, the situation in the bank was re-enacted by actors and filmed. The scene ends with the question: Ιn your opinion, what should the bank employees do? In the second part of the film, we see the different ways in which people react to this question. Their answers reflect the perspectives of various interest groups in Cyprus – housing rights activists in Barcelona, Berlin and Beirut, people who have experienced similar situations, lawyers, economists and artists.

The project The Broken Pitcher relies on collaboration. It addresses the question of how the financial system works and whether it is possible to intervene in its processes and change them. The exhibition in Leipzig presents the walk-in spatial installation, the film, video interviews, photos and research material.

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