Text on video-essay: Sailing to EU ports

At the outset of 2026, Cyprus takes over the presidency of the European Union.

If you leave Cyprus by boat, Europe does not begin immediately.

This work constructs a literal geopolitical table-map in which geography,

rather than politics or economics, determines spatial relations.

The installation takes the form of a long banquet [παν-κου-ετ] symposium table representing

the 27 EU member states, with Cyprus positioned at its head.

The work reframes the European Union as a shared spatial structure,

Cyprus appears both central as host and peripheral within the wider continental system.

THE GEOGRAPHY TABLE-MAP

The table becomes a map. Not a symbolic one, but a spatial one.

Each porcelain plate corresponds to a capital city and port.

Each one is inscribed with the exact distance from Larnaca, Cyprus,

in kilometers by air

and in nautical miles by sea.

The plates are positioned according to their actual sea distance.

Not political alignment, not economic power—only measurable geography.

The banquet table is 80cm × 6 .15 meters

The surface is layered with hand-painted seascape tablecloths,

creating a maritime surface.

Each porcelain plate corresponds to a capital city and port.

A cast megaphone is placed at the head of the table, next to the Cyprus plate.

On this table, the plates are 27 in total:

1 for Cyprus,

26 EU member states,

All plates have been hand-painted.

Each plate is inscribed with the exact distances from Larnaca, Cyprus, measured in both kilometers and nautical miles (nM), calculated for both air and sea travel where applicable.

On the tables are also 27 cocktail glasses filled to the rim with a sea-blue cocktail, a mixture of blue liqueur and salted carbonated water, positioned in relation to each EU member state, a measurable,drinkable,navigable field.

3. DISTANCE AS SYSTEM (GEOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE)

The plates are positioned according to their actual sea nautical mile distance from Larnaca, Cyprus.

Eastern Mediterranean & Black Sea proximity

Central European concentration

Western European extension

Atlantic and Nordic regions

Within this system, visually on the table, Cyprus remains structurally isolated at one end of the configuration, while simultaneously positioned as host.

The arrangement of plates on the table follows this same logic:

a spatial translation of maritime travel according to their relative distance from Cyprus.

The nearest EU country from Cyprus by boat is

Piraeus at 525 nM, followed by:

Varna — Bulgaria — 841 nM

Constanza — Romania — 888 nM

Valletta — Malta — 920 nM

Rijeka — Croatia — 1210 nM

Koper — Slovenia — 1246 nM

Genoa — Italy — 1382 nM

Marseille — France — 1475 nM

Valencia — Spain — 1643 nM

Lisbon — Portugal — 2187 nM

Dublin — Ireland — 3084 nM (London — UK — 3200 nM)

Rotterdam — Netherlands — 3249 nM

Antwerp — Belgium — 3254 nM

Hamburg — Germany — 3502 nM

Gothenburg — Sweden — 3693 nM

Copenhagen — Denmark — 3800 nM

Gdansk — Poland — 4066 nM

Klaipeda — Lithuania — 4117 nM

Tallinn — Estonia — 4229 nM

Riga — Latvia — 4229 nM,

and at the very end, the Baltic states,

upto

Helsinki — Finland — 4350 nM

THE MEGAPHONE

An epoxy megaphone cast is placed beside Cyprus.It is positioned pointing toward the European table.

It suggests both connection and distance within the European framework.It raises a question: can Cyprus be heard?The megaphone does not resolve this question.It only makes the condition of amplification visible—without guaranteeing reception.

THE NEIGHBORING [SIDE] TABLE

Behind Cyprus, a smaller table is placed at arm’s length, measuring 60 × 120 cmThis table contains the six closest neighboring countries of Cyprus

Lebanon 108nM

Syria 111nM

Turkey 140nM

Israel 137nM

Palestine209nM

Egypt302nM

The distance is not only measured in nautical miles—but in physical reach.

Beirut-Lebanon here is 1/5 the distance from Piraeus-Greece…525nM vs 108NM!

This secondary table holds shot glasses filled with the same blue liqueur mixture.

They are consumed straight, in contrast to the cocktail glasses on the European table,

which are delicately sipped!

CONCLUSION

Within this framework, Europe is not only a political entity, but a maritime field defined by movement, separation, and navigation.

Cyprus is a breathing distance to the Middle East, to the Levant, yet culturally and politically it is European, and therefore part of the European Union.

The act of gathering at the table becomes part of the work itself.

Viewers are invited to join this symposium, both visually and, at the same time, offered a blue cocktail drink.

I’ll be making them myself,

perhaps I’ll name it EUROPA BLUE  of the 12 seas

SO Take a seat.

Be part of it