The “Blast of the Possible” looks on the role of property in Cyprus after the failure of the Annan Plan in 2004 that triggered a real estate boom on the island. Today a new road map for reunification is discussed. This research focuses on the reasons of the boom, the significance of private space and property in the political conflict, the role of migration in the discussion on the constitution of the Republic of Cyprus. The research contains case studies on property claims that display different political forms of belonging and property rights. Property is discussed with an emphasis on what the imaginary quality means within such a political conflict at the borders of Europe.

The Blast of the Possible proposes a film project based on internet platforms such as Youtube and the potentiality of shared video archives and texts. An web-site is designed on that one can upload "stories about houses". Public viewing events are organized that allow to screen and discuss the archive and to engage in the understanding of media representation. All materials are used for the creation of a film scenario.

The Cyprus conflict was called a "constant failure in international diplomacy", a conflict that can “poison the regional and even the international political climate at any moment”. Since the end of the civil war the population on the island changed radically. Many migrants live temporarily on the island: settlers from Anatolia, refugees from Lebanon, student migrations from Russia and North Africa, construction workers and service providers for the tourism industries from Eastern Europe, house workers from the Philippines, India and Sri Lanka. Many Cypriots call themselves refugees in their own country; many live abroad.

This research links the question of the "autonomy of migration" to the real estate boom and its effects in the negotiation of the conflict. It explores on the one hand property claims that display different political forms of belonging and property rights and on the other hand the legal status of migrants that is linked to their itinerary. The space of the "private house” is understood here as a temporary space of “reterritorialisation”. The house or the "use of property" and its forms of registration unfold new geopolitical networks emerging at the border of Europe. The project combines through the analysis on the temporality of how houses are used the time of occupations with the time-value of real estate investment.

The idea of this practice-led research is the creation of a shared video database about homes and houses for the production of a film narrative: a fiction film essay about cohabitation. Similar to my last project “Timescapes/B-Zone the use of videoclips allows to understand how data is interpreted because of the condition of mobility of the user.

The script for the film “The Blast of the Possible” is a narrative that essentially entangles five case studies on homes and the subjective views of their inhabitants: migrants with restricted citizen rights in both parts of the island, newcomers from the EU with property titles, Cypriot refugees and soldiers living along the Green Line. The film scenario composes dialogues disputing the question “where to go” and “how to stay here”.

June 2008 by Angela Melitopoulos