Cultural Heritage, One World - One Future

6th Conference on Graphic Design and Visual Communication in Cyprus, Graphic Stories Cyprus 2020

The 6th Conference on Graphic Design and Visual Communication in Cyprus, Graphic Stories Cyprus, was held with great success in Nicosia on 6-8 March 2020. Graphic Stories Cyprus is the only established, independent, annual conference in the field of visual communication and applied arts covering their full range, namely graphic design, illustration, typography, visual arts, semiotics, animation, photography, multimedia design, internet and web design, calligraphy and design in general.

The 6th Graphic Stories Cyprus included eleven (11) lectures, five (5) creative workshops and one (1) international poster exhibition featuring designers from Cyprus and abroad. During this 6th event, special attention was paid to the multifaceted activities aimed at covering and expressing all visual arts and their creators, with the special theme of the conference being its connection to the Cultural Heritage and Tradition through the international poster contest entitled "Cultural Heritage, One World, One Future".

The Conference on Graphic Design and Visual Communication in Cyprus, Graphic Stories Cyprus, has been selected as one of Europe's best festivals by the European Festivals Association (EFA) and has been awarded the European Quality Stamp EFFE Label for the period 2019-2020.

Poster Exhibition

"Cultural Heritage, One World, One Future" is the title of the exhibition that includes the 50 distinguished artworks of the 4th International Poster Competition organized by Graphic Stories Cyprus. The posters of the exhibition came from a corresponding international competition that attracted 570 designers from 27 countries. The exhibition hosted at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation in Faneromeni also features the posters of eleven (11) invited prominent designers. At the same time, the poster with the theme of the exhibition, which was created at the art poster workshop held last November, at American University Emirates, Dubai, is also hosted. The workshop was attended by 20 students from AUE University and was implemented under the direction of Angeliki Athanasiadi and Andrea Panayi at the invitation of the University's graphic design professor, Dr Arafat Al-Naim.

The theme of the competition “Cultural Heritage, One World, One Future” and the corresponding exhibition aims to highlight and promote the value of Cultural Heritage and the importance of diversity in relation to the common future of all the people on earth. Contestants were invited to visualize their thoughts, ideas and concerns about the value of Cultural Heritage and to answer the question of how our cultural diversity can be our strength, to enhance our sense of belonging to a common world and share a common future.

The inauguration of the exhibition was held on Friday, March 6, 2020, by Nicosia’s City Councilor Mr. Chrysanthos Fakas, on behalf of the honorable Mayor of Nicosia, Mr. Constantinos Yiorkatzis. The Bank of Cyprus, together with the Greek font company Parachute Typefoundry, offered the prizes of a total value of 2500 euros. The awards were presented by Nicosia’s City Councilor Chrysanthos Fakas, the founder of Parachute Typefoundry, Panos Vassiliou and the internationally renowned graphic designer and partner of Graphic Stories Cyprus, Mr Charis Tsevis.

The winners of the competition by category were: Constantinos Hayes, Cyprus High School and Technical School students, Carilla Karahan from Turkey in the International Visual Communication Students category, Michaella Michail in the higher education visual communication Students of Cyprus category. In the international category for professional visual communication designers, the competition had 2 winners who shared the 1st place: Adonis Papadopoulos from Cyprus and Gerasimos Choraitis from Greece. The commemorative prizes of the competition were provided by OXRA Design Company and designer Christos Grigoriadis.