近期，刘毅在有着“地中海的明珠”之称的岛国——塞浦路斯进行她为期一个月的驻地项目《流动的盛宴 Aliens and Immigration Office – Soup Salad Pasta Pizza》。这是第十八届塞浦路斯国际动画电影节相关的首个驻地项目，得到了当地媒体的持续报道与关注。同时，刘毅也作为此次电影节的评审之一出席了活动
塞浦路斯国际动画电影节（Animafest Cyprus）是塞浦路斯历史最为悠久的电影节之一，今年驻地项目主题为“动画与当代艺术”（Animation and Contemporary Art），由Gerben Schermer和Yiorgos Tsangaris策展。七月驻留期间，刘毅在位于Paphos区多山腹地之间的Salamious村进行一个月的在地创作计划，并在回国后继续她的第二部分动画电影计划。
“作为一名艺术家，我的身份等同于要在移动的环境中安置自己，我花了很多时间在城市各个角落溜达，有机会去思考不同地区的人们的生活、历史以及相关的事情，也因此学到很多，特别是亲临现场之后感受到的力量，和拥有生活近距离的观察，触发各种感官，视觉、嗅觉和听觉。尽管我身处不同地方，却发现他们拥有同样的特质。
展览另一部分会有驴、牛等动物远道赶来来消化“展品”，对于粮食,无论人或者动物，我们都是共享物种的一部分，它是迁徙运动中，最没有边界的一种。他们都和这个城市发生反映，连接起人与人的关系，人与自然的关系。我想即便对艺术作品没有兴趣的人，在新的空间体验中，不经意间发现这或许和自己的生活有关系。”
——刘毅, Salamiou, 2019.07.24
刘毅的驻留创作《流动的盛宴》于7月24日至27日在电影节期间展出。
策展人Gerben Schermer（Curator of Animation and Contemporary Art）在评价此次刘毅的驻地创作时提到：“这次夏天在塞浦路斯的驻留期间，刘毅创作了一件非常独特的作品。她在日常经历、情绪和周遭体验上作画，作为现实中的一员她能够贴近主题，同时她也能跳脱出现实进而成为一名合格的观察者。观众将受邀进入她所创造的平行世界，开始一段旅程。”
The parallel world of LIU Yi
LIU Yi (1990, Ningbo, province of Zhejiang, China) graduated from the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where she lives and works. Her primary research direction was early Chinese art film and experimental animation.
LIU Yi is a versatile young artist. She effortlessly moves between different art forms. She uses animation and live-action film, installation, painting, sculpture and other forms to find the most accurate way to transmit her art, always searching for new forms of presentation. Her work is conceptual and socially engaged.
During her residency in Cyprus in the summer of 2019, LIU Yi creates a special work. She draws on the experiences, sentiments and everyday conditions of her surroundings. As a participant in reality she’s able to get very close to her subjects, but she is also an observer standing on the sidelines of this same reality. The spectator is invited on a journey in the parallel world she creates.
LIU Yi compares Cyprus to a water lily in the Mediterranean Sea, a safe area surrounded by (potential) areas of conflict. She is fascinated by the differences between the city and the village in relation to the recent history of Cyprus. Abandoned houses in the city have a lot of stories to tell. Villages have a strong sense of community, elderly residents remain. Along the way empty haystacks. A dead cat eaten by birds as an apt metaphor for an upside-down world. The power of the perception touches all the senses.
LIU Yi has participated in residencies in South Korea and France. Her work has been displayed in art galeries and museums in China and abroad and included in art collections across the world. Her films were screened at several international (animation) festivals.
Previous work includes A Crow Has Been Calling for a Whole Day (2016), a creative documentary and gripping diary of a trip through India. The Earthly Men (2017), drawn on paper in different layers, is a philosophical inquiry into earthly men.
Gerben Schermer
curator animation and contemporary art
