The powerhouse stays switched on.
Nicosia’s old power station became an arts centre in 1994. Its second life includes exhibitions, but also rooms where children learn to make and interpret images.
CY CyprusIn practice. The Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre opened in the restored Old Powerhouse in January 1994 and continues to run exhibitions and educational activity.
What to keep in view
This is an established reuse project, not a new opening. Exhibition access is programme-dependent. The centre is in the Republic of Cyprus-controlled area of Nicosia.
The old powerhouse stays in use
NiMAC occupies the restored Old Powerhouse in the historic centre of Nicosia. The conversion received a Europa Nostra award in its opening year, establishing a cultural use within an existing industrial building.
The centre connects artists in Cyprus with exhibitions and collaborations abroad. Its history is a reminder that reusing a building for culture is not a new fashion: the harder question is how a programme keeps a place useful over time.
More than a room to look at art
An educational centre opened within the complex in 2008. NiMAC describes courses and workshops in contemporary art, engraving, cinema and new media for children and young people, alongside education linked to exhibitions.
That makes two different encounters possible: seeing an artist’s work and learning something about making your own. Consult the current programme for exhibitions, workshops and participation conditions; the building’s long history does not guarantee that a particular activity is running today.
Use NiMAC’s current programme to check what is on and whether an activity needs registration. Our coverage concerns the Republic of Cyprus-controlled area.
Explore NiMAC’s programmeRead next.
Hang the new inside the old.
A power station and a sugar refinery become settings for contemporary art. Compare the relationship between old fabric and new rooms.
Let the old room keep speaking.
Another cultural conversion keeps an earlier social history present while making space for new work.