12 Highlights From The New Vima Contemporary Art Fair, Cyprus

Vima, the first international contemporary art fair in Cyprus, was a thrilling experience for the island and visiting collectors, curators and art lovers alike, both for the edgy location in a former wine warehouse by the sea and for the high quality of artwork. The art fair which opened last week in Limassol (May 16-18, 2025), showcased 27 invited local and international galleries, presenting over 100 artists from more than 20 countries. The inaugural edition of Vima was a great success with more than 4,000 visitors and brisk sales of artworks that ranged from €800 to €80,000. Within the art fair’s opening hour, a Liliane Lijn collage had sold for €10,000 at Sylvia Kouvali’s booth. And three booths completely sold out by the end of the fair.

The invitation-only art fair included galleries selected by an expert committee: Alexandros Diogenous (Founder of Pylon Art & Culture and Co-founder of Limassol Art Walks), Tasos Stylianou (Director and Co-founder of Limassol Art Walks), Maria Varnava (Tiwani Contemporary, Lagos, London) and Andre Zivanari (Founder and Director of Point Center for Contemporary Art, Nicosia). Complementing the fair was a talks program, live music, performances and The Posterity of the Sun, a special exhibition by Paris-based curator Ludovic Delalande. And there were a number of off-site exhibitions and events running alongside the fair across Limassol and the country’s capital, Nicosia.

With a focus on contemporary art from Cyprus and its neighboring countries, Vima also featured international galleries who show artists from the region. Vima (Bήμα), which in Greek means “step” but also a “platform,” aims to encourage interaction between the fast-growing art community in Cyprus and its neighbors.

The venue was exceptional: a former wine warehouse with panoramic views of the Mediterranean Sea that carries rich historical importance. Initially constructed in 1947 as part of the SODAP winery (the Cooperative Organization for the Distribution of Viticultural Products), it played a key role in processing grapes from the Limassol and Paphos regions. As operations gradually shifted to more modern facilities, the building was left to deteriorate. Its recent reinvention as a space for an art fair symbolizes a powerful revival—bridging Cyprus’s industrial heritage with its growing cultural and artistic landscape.

Highlights

Of the 27 fair participants, Vima 2025 showed ten Cypriot galleries, including commercial, not-for-profit and artist-run spaces. Because the participants were carefully selected and the fair is small in comparison to more established international art fairs, the quality of art exhibited was uniformly good. Here is a selection of highlights to show the eclectic range of work.

1.Art Seen by Maria Stathi, Nicosia, Cyprus

Former longtime director of Anthony Reynolds Gallery in London, Maria Stathi established her own gallery in Cyprus’s capital ten years ago. She chose four female artists for her booth: two Cypriots, one Greek and one British. Marina Genadieva, Vicky Pericleous, Amy Stephens and Vassia Adamou Vanezi re-imagined the politics of space, place and identities using paintings, prints and sculpture.

2.The Breeder, Athens, Greece

It was no surprise to see the well established Athens gallery The Breeder at the fair. The gallery evolved from The Breeder magazine (launched in 2000), which successfully created a dialogue between Greece and the international centers of contemporary art. Powerful works by Cypriot artists Maria Hassabi and Socratis Socratous and Greek artist Maria Joannou made Breeder a standout booth.

3.Diatopos, Nicosia, Cyprus

Political prisoners’ letters printed on ceramic tiles created by Klitsa Antoniou displayed on the floor of this booth stopped visitors in their tracks. Historical notes from Marco Polo, Rosa Luxembourg, Martin Luther King Jr. and Antonio Gramsci, the Italian Marxist philosopher jailed in 1926 by Mussolini, appear alongside letters from more recent detainees like Turkish novelist and journalist Ahmet Altan who was incarcerated in 2016 after the failed coup in Turkey, accused of “attempting to overthrow the government.”

4.Durst, Britt & Mayhew, The Hague, Netherlands

Run by a curator and art critic, this Dutch gallery is committed to helping artists from different national backgrounds to further develop their practice. At Vima, they presented work by Mexican artist Alejandra Venegas and Dutch artist Paul Beumer who both share a fascination for nature and landscape.

5.Edit Gallery, Limassol, Cyprus

It was hard to miss the fun, eyecatching pink sculpture I love the way you wear your skin made of taffeta by Mariandrie Chrysostomou. Her work was presented along with a range of pieces from large-scale paintings and works on paper to text-based and mixed media pieces by Fikos, Stella Kapezanoueins, Danae Patsalou and Lefki Savvidou.

6.Eins Gallery, Limassol, Cyprus

Sculptural wall works by Nicosia-based artist Leontios Toumpouris made for a compelling solo show. And his narrated essay, Skipping Time could be heard outdoors outdoors in the special exhibition The Posterity of the Sun.

7.Hot Wheels, London, UK and Athens, Greece

Lace-covered vintage objects by Kyriakos Kyriakides, including a rocking horse and vintage TV were the focus of Hot Wheels’ booth. Also on show were works by Greek painter Anastasia Pavlou and Cypriot sculptor Maria Toumazou.

8.Kalfayan, Athens, Greece

This established gallery has a keen focus on Greece, the Balkans and the MENA region and aims to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western visual culture. The Vima booth presented works by Antonis Donef, Farida El Gazzar, Maria Loizidou, Angelos Merges, Edward Sacaillan, Panos Tsagaris and Antrea Tzourovtis. A collage by Antonis Donef and hand-woven mesh-covered Confessional Room by Maria Loizidou were standouts.

9.Marfa, Beirut, Lebanon

Working with local and regional artists to produce and present idea-based projects that engage with Beirut’s diverse contemporary art scene, Marfa brought fascinating works by Majd Abdel Hamid, Tamara Al-Samerraei and Seta Manoukian to the fair.

10.Nika Project Space, Dubai, Paris

A stunning blue watercolor procession of women by Katya Muromtseva was a standout at Nika’s booth. The gallery champions the work of female artists and curators and focuses on practitioners from the Global South and underrepresented regions. Also on show were works by Mirna Bamieh, Nika Neelova and Adrian Pepe.

11.Sylvia Kouvali, London, UK/Piraeus, Greece

Greek gallerist Sylvia Kouvali’s first gallery was in Istanbul but she now has spaces in London and Piraeus, near Athens. She has always been a keen supporter of artists from the eastern Mediterranean. Acrylic works by Thanasis Totsikas, who currently also has a show at the London gallery (until 31 May) made for a strong presence at Vima. One of Greece’s most prominent artists, he represented his country at the 47th Venice Biennale of Art with his work Totsikas-Ducati (1997).

12.Stand in Line – Art Space, Nicosia

A solo show of works by the still active 96 year old Cypriot ceramic artist Valentinos Charalambous was a joy to see. The booth was like a mini museum retrospective show of ceramic sculptures, along with the artist’s very recent works in bronze. A larger version of the wonderful ceramic wall sculpture Talisman was also on show in The Posterity of the Sun show.

Participating Galleries

Alpha C.K. Art Gallery, (Nicosia), Art Seen by Maria Stathi (Nicosia), The Breeder (Athens), CALLIRRHOË (Athens), Diatopos Art Centre (Nicosia), The Edit Gallery (Limassol), eins (Limassol), Eleftheria Tseliou Gallery (Athens), ΓΚΑΡΑΖ art space (Nicosia), Galerie Tanit (Beirut, Munich), Hot Wheels (Athens, London), Kalfayan Galleries (Athens, Thessaloniki), korai project space (Nicosia), Marfa’ (Beirut), Nika Project Space (Dubai/Paris), The Office Gallery (Nicosia), pop/off/art (Baku), Stand in Line Art Space (Nicosia), Sylvia Kouvali (Piraeus, London), Takeover (Beirut), The Third Line (Dubai), Thousand Julys (Nicosia), Tiwani Contemporary (London, Lagos), Window Project (Tbilisi).

Curatorial Project

Vima Art Fair’s launch Curatorial Project was a site-specific presentation in the venue’s vast outdoor space. Curated by the Paris-based curator Ludovic Delalande, the group exhibition presented innovative perspectives from his recent time in Cyprus. The Posterity of the Sun (the title is from Albert Camus’s novel, La Posterite du Soleil) featured works of 18 artists from the Eastern Mediterranean region, including recognized international artists such as Simone Fattal, Ali Cherri, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Nefeli Papadimouli, and others, with some works created as part of a residency hosted by Vima for this fair’s edition. The impressive and varied show explored the sun as both a vital and volatile force. Through site-specific installations, the project reflected on the lasting resonance of place, memory, and light. A standout piece was Nefeli Papadimouli’s gorgeous Dreamcoat installation, six suspended costumes and paintings depicting the solar cycle.

Vima Art Fair was co-founded by Edgar Gadzhiev, Lara Kotreleva and Nadezhda Zinovskaya who agree that “the timing for a fair feels right [as] local galleries are already doing incredible work to promote artists, encourage dialogue and engage viewers. We want Vima to build on these efforts, further contributing to the broader growth of Cyprus’s cultural infrastructure and art market.”

The next edition of Vima Art Fair will be Spring 2026.