Cyprus gets a Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art….kind of

Forgive my expression, but as the saying goes, “What’s missing for a villager? A tassel with a pearl.” I woke up today to a Facebook notification that SPEL had changed its name from the State Gallery of Contemporary Art to the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. My first thought: Did I sleep through the years, and a real museum was finally built? That the space had been found, permits approved, funding secured, the legal framework established, and the artworks restored… and yes, we finally had a museum—“I’ve triumphed over you, doubters!”

Alas, I had only slept my usual hours. It wasn’t a dream.

In reality, something we don’t actually have has been given a name. And, as my grandmother would have said, “There’s always a Yarambis in it.” But seriously...is the issue really the name change?

Instead of starting with a real renovation of the Majestic Gallery, at least until a proper branch of the new museum is ready, they decided at the Ministry of Culture to rename a building that has never fulfilled its purpose, turning it from a gallery into a “museum.”

I have to ask: who came up with this idea? Who approved it? What process did it go through? And what exactly is the goal? Right now, the vision only looks grander because SPEL went from being a multipurpose exhibition and event space to… a museum.

Apparently, we needed a museum yesterday, because changing the name seems to imply that everything else has already been solved. Of course, circumstances may change, maybe the millions needed will appear, and perhaps we’ll all be pleasantly surprised…

For now, the renaming feels almost prophetic: “It will be like having a museum, but without actually having one.”

But really, why get worked up? We have galleries. We don’t have a Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. And now, at least in name, we do. We went to sleep with a gallery and woke up with a museum… and, for now, that’s enough to marvel at.

At this rate, don’t be surprised if we have a library in a few days too, mark my words.

*Read the Greek version here.