Art attack: Bucharest premieres public art pavilion

Bucharest’s first professional and public art pavilion – Art Safari – will be a comprehensive four-day presentation of Romanian art, comparable to the great pavilions of other European capitals.

Oana Vasiliu

Art Safari is organized by ACOAR (Romanian Art Dealers Association), under the auspices of the City of Bucharest in a cultural partnership with AMPT (Monuments and Heritage Tourism Administration), with the participation of AGACOR (Romanian Contemporary Art Galleries Association) and sponsored by Deutsche Bank Romania.

It will feature a wide range of artworks from heritage pieces to contemporary creations. Over 100 galleries, museums and cultural institutions are due to attend the event. Major names – homegrown and international – will be included, such as: Brâncuşi, Klimt, Grigorescu, Rembrandt, Tonitza, Picasso, Luchian, Renoir, Aman, Chagall, Baba, Degas and Ţuculescu. Museums will exhibit works of art that values more than EUR 10 million. In the galleries area, Romanian art which values almost EUR 1,5 million will be on display. Romanian painter Nicolae Grigorescu will have five paintings with a total value of EUR 1 million, courtesy of Artmark.

“Deutsche Bank has always been a patron of the arts and an active supporter of talent and we are thrilled to support this initiative in Romania. Art can truly develop when there is an appropriate institutional environment which guarantees a working dialogue between the artist-gallery-collector, cultural institution and the art market, which is exactly what Art Safari aims to accomplish” says Mihai Ionescu, Deutsche Bank Romania Director.

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The Art Pavilion’s main purpose is to facilitate an unmediated dialogue between Bucharest’s public and the authentic values of heritage and contemporary art, presented in a refined curatorial manner. The organizers hope to encourage museum visitors, increase awareness of and interest in cultural events and contribute to the shaping of a national cultural identity.

“The music world has the George Enescu festival, the film world has the Transylvania International Film Festival, the theater world has the Caragiale Festival and the publishing industry has BookFest. Now the art world will have, as of this year, Art Safari Bucharest. By creating the Bucharest Art Pavilion we aim to encourage the renewal of the local cultural economy as well as the development of the creative industries. Our desire over the next few years is to establish Art Safari as a reference point in the Eastern European cultural landscape,” said the deputy prime minister and minister of culture, Hunor Kelemen.

Art Safari will be hosted in a specially built exhibition space in George Enescu Square, designed by Prof. PhD Arh. Dorin Ștefan. The pavilion will be divided into six distinct sections: Museums and Cultural Institutions; Heritage Art; Contemporary Art; Collectibles; Design; and Art Business & Media. An Art Dialogue area will host a series of debates, book launches and performances.

Heritage artists on display

Art Safari brings several unique exhibitions to Romania for the first time. These will include a selection of Brâncuși’s artworks from museums and private collections, an exhibition dedicated to Balchik in the Romanian arts in partnership with the Art Museum of Constanța, a works on paper exhibition by French Impressionist Masters (Pissarro, Manet, Degas, Monet, Sisley, Cezanne, Renoir, Corot) organized by the Engraving Cabinet of the Romanian Academy Library, a selection from the George Oprescu collection of the Romanian Academy (Sisley, Monet, Picasso) and a range of artworks by Gustav Klimt from the Peleș National Museum. The focus will also include a unique contemporary art selection from the Deutsche Bank collection overseen by an international curator.

The pavilion will be open from 12:00-20:00, Thursday 22 and Saturday 24 May; 12:00-02:00, Friday 23 May; and 12:00-18:00, Sunday 25 May. A one-day ticket costs RON 15. Private tours are available on request at tours@artsafari.ro.