PAVILION at ART ACADEMY CLUJ
100 ROMANIAN MINUTES
Curator: Andrei Craciun
Artists: Stefan Constantinescu, Teodor Graur, Ion Grigorescu, Ciprian Homorodean, Sebastian Moldovan, Corneliu Porumboiu
Romania, the complex of European Romanians and the pride of Romanian Europeans, continues to place itself in the East, incapable of escaping the East-West hierarchy, curse of the Balkans- a linguistic invention adopted much too easily. The way of relating to the local, national, European, global reference points suggests the way we relate to our own nationality, excited by an unconscious nationalism, flat and auto-destructive or tired of our own history and willing to deny it, paralyzed by the incapability of action.
Romanians assume the status of ideological victim of circumstances, reliving the traumas of communism, under the shelter of capitalism. It seems that democracy was too expensive for us to afford the luxury of delving into it; instead we afford the liberty of not getting involved, the liberty of not contributing, and the liberty of not choosing. We establish parties and we suppress the civil society. We dispose of responsibility and we invoke the right to suffer.
Self-criticism and auto-irony are the instruments of the Romanian artist, the result being the self-criticism and auto-irony of society. The artist underlines, draws attention and makes room for inquiries. We become immigrants. Their immigrants, of those that we wanted to be. Romanians seem to want to be themselves, a sort of artificial transposition into something that we don’t understand. The immigrant is the one that suffers. We go everywhere and it seems that everything slips away. We live suspended in an absurd temporality, but on a safe ground.
The contemporary Romanian artist seems touched by the melancholy and fatalism of trying to justify the past through the analysis of rethinking it, trying to question its authenticity, authority and validity. No matter if these artists are actors in famous movies, immigrants in the battle with the “other”, hidden participants in the destruction of a status quo, no matter if they mock reality or get involved in the emotion of the present, they all want to contribute to the new history.
Andrei Craciun (b. 1988) is a curator and theoretician, studying architecture at University of Architecture and Urbanism “Ion Mincu”, Bucharest. His research and curatorial practice is focused on the relations between architecture, politics and the social sphere. Consequently, he is interested in areas linked to activism, gender, as well as participative architecture. Currently he is working on his new curatorial projects “Utopia of Exotic” and “Destroying Public Harmony”. Since 2008 he is the coordinator of PAVILION UNICREDIT - center for contemporary art & culture and he was appointed as assistant curator for BUCHAREST BIENNALE 2010. Living and working in Bucharest. (Extras from 100 Romanian Minutes publication).
Image: Ciprian Homorodean, 9’00’’, videostill from “I am Luke Skywalker”, 2006. Courtesy of the artist.
100 SWEDISH MINUTES
Curator: Catrin Lundqvist
Artists: Magnus Bartas, Loulou Cherinet, Mats Hjelm, Jesper Nordahl, Marika Orenius, Lina Selander,
Alexander Vaindorf
From the middle of 20th century, Sweden had rapid industrial growth which has contributed to a stable economy. The country adopted the Swedish model that turned Sweden into social, cultural and economical well fare state. This was also the period when immigration increased in Sweden due to the need of labor in Swedish industries.
Sweden did not experience any war for many centuries. Generally Swedish people do not like disputing too much, in stead they prefer coming to consensus based on discussion. People rarely talk about
their political ideologies.
These general ideas about the Swedish political landscape, together with the lack of conflicts and political unrest might make politics, a less frequent subject to Swedish artists. In Sweden today you might find more artists working on how political engagement affects personal life on a psychological level rather than working on political standpoints or artists may find interest in working with political or sociological phenomena abroad.
Catrin Lundqvist is a curator of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm and a free-lance curator with her own company Domestic Art. At the Moderna Museet, she is currently working with film, video, and performance-based art, and organising debates and seminars on contemporary art.
From left to right: prof. Bogdan Iacob, theoretician Razvan Ion, curator Andrei Craciun, theoretician Eugen Radescu and prof. Mara Ratiu in the panel discussion.
Curator Andrei Craciun presenting the “100 Romanian Minutes” project.
