Stephan Takkides is a British-Cypriot artist who emigrated to Germany in the mid 2000s. He works with photography and video as well as narrative text and web projects. His practice is characterized by detailed topographical and environmental studies, combining observation with the imagined.
Between 2018 and 2021, he took part in a postgraduate Meisterschüler programme at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (Academy of Fine Arts) Leipzig, where he studied in the classes of Joachim Brohm and Ines Schaber. On graduation, he was awarded the NEUSTART KULTUR Kickstarter Grant for Graduates by Stiftung Kunstfonds.
In 2017, he undertook photographic research into empty suburban land during a three-month residency at the Visual Sociology Museum Studies Lab, Cyprus University of Technology. The project built on his work at the Phytorio residency (Visual Artists Association Cyprus/Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre) in 2016, where he used both video and still photography to investigate the contemporary townscape of Nicosia by following outdated and error-ridden colonial maps.
In addition to his Meisterschüler certificate, he holds an MFA from the Transart Institute, University of Plymouth and a BA from Chelsea College, London. He lives and work in Leipzig, Germany.
Born 1981 in Canterbury, UK
Lives and works in Leipzig
1999–2000 Foundation Studies. Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, UK
2002 ERASMUS. Universität der Künste Berlin
2000–2003 BA. Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London, UK
2010–2012 MFA. Transart Institute, University of Plymouth, USA/UK
2018–2021 Meisterschüler. Class for Photography and Media (Joachim Brohm/Ines Schaber), Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
Solo exhibitions
2019
A Case Study in Unbuilt Suburbia, HGB Leipzig
2016
Durchreise, Onetwothree, Bremen
Group exhibitions, screenings
2022
Naturalization – A Walking Workshop, Punkt.Raum, Berlin
2021
Meisterschüler*innenausstellung, a&o Kunsthalle, Leipzig
2020
The (notso) Short Fest, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, USA
Rundgang 2020, HGB Leipzig
2018
Cyprus: Wonder Island. Join the Dots—Unire le distanze, Salone degli Incante, Trieste, Italy
2017
An Exhibition with Artists’ Books, Museums of the Pancyprian Gymnasium, Nicosia, Cyprus
Künstlerbücher für Alles, Studiumzentrum für Künstlerpublikationen, Weserburg Museum
One Year, Onetwothree, Bremen
2016
Residents S01: Stories in the Greenhouse, Phytorio, Nicosia, Cyprus
No Time to Leave Important Words Unsaid, Gallery Thing, Ballieborough, Ireland
Spacebodies II, Uferstudios, Berlin
Spacebodies I, The Gym at Judson, New York, USA
2015
Drifting Clouds, House of Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios/Ethnological Museum, Nicosia, Cyprus
Golden Thread, Collection Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus
Genius Loci, kunstraum t27, Berlin
2014
Boddinale 2, Loophole, Berlin
2013
The Edge of Cities, Transartfest, Supermarkt, Berlin
2012
Transformers: Coiled Potentials, Atelierhof Kreuzberg, Berlin
New Horizons: Landscape and the Contemporary Romantic, kunstraum t27, Berlin
Residencies, awards
2021
Kickstarter Grant for Graduates, NEUSTART KULTUR, Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn
2017
VSMS Lab: Art and Research Residency, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus
2016
Phytorio Residency, Visual Artists Association Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
2011
TAOH Residency, Tou Scene, Stavanger, Norway
2010
Transart Institute Achievement Scholarship, Plymouth, UK
Publications
2020
In Transit, HGB Leipzig
2017
Phytorio Residency Programme, Visual Artists Association Cyprus (EI.KA), Nicosia, Cyprus
2016
Ten Years Gone, Selbstverlag, Bremen
2015
Fieldnotes from the River Amathos, Cyprus Dossier, Nicosia, Cyprus