Past, Passing or To Come

Organizer: Cyprus Presidency - Council of the European Union, Deputy Ministry of Culture
Admission Status: Free Entry 

Visual Arts

Exhibition

The exhibition Past, Passing or To Come is inspired by W. B. Yeats’s poem Sailing to Byzantium and explores the transition from the material to the spiritual world, as reflected in the search for immortality through art and memory. Cyprus, as a cultural crossroads at the eastern edge of Europe, serves as a place where East and West, past and future intertwine, offering fertile ground for artistic dialogue. The exhibition brings together different generations of artists from Cyprus and Ireland, echoing Yeats’s thematic contrast between youth and mature age. Its presentation in Ireland enhances the symbolism of the encounter between two islands with distinct historical and geographical identities. On the occasion of the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the exhibition highlights art as a bridge of dialogue, cultural exchange, and spiritual transcendence. 

The event will take place at the Bank Gallery in Dublin 

The event is carried out within the framework of the Programme “Events at Embassies of the Republic of Cyprus abroad”, in the context of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU 2026.