Romanian National Participation at the 55th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia: Reflection Center for Suspended Histories. An Attempt

Newsroom 20/09/2013 | 07:34

Until November 24, the exhibition will become a temporary institution, a model for a center of reflection and thinking about the relevance of art history and visuality. The reflection center for suspended histories will be situated at the ground floor of an old Venetian palace, the Palazzo Correr, a building that since 1930 has been hosting the Romanian Institute for Culture and Humanistic Research.

The works of art have been selected by using a method similar to the one Johann Joachim Winckelmann applied when evaluating the Greek, Roman, Etruscan and Egyptian antiquity, mindful of the fact that historical forces have influenced art history, taste and aesthetic value. Even though determining actions of the artists are specific and have a strong regional tint, their message and visual result are universal. The thought captive within the simulacrum of Queen Mary’s golden chamber in Olivia Mihălţianu’s installation Smoking Room, the evaluation of the illusory world of fake emotions and experiences depicted by Apparatus 22 in Portraying Simulacra, the fear induced by Karolina Bregula’s film Fire- Followers that comments upon the necessity of burning old art in order to make space for new art, the suspension of a possible movement in time and space discussed in Adi Matei’s animation Bird in a Room, the interviews examining the way in which imagination operates within memorial houses filmed by Irina Botea and Nicu Ilfoveanu, or Sebastian Moldovan’s sanitary installation becoming a pseudo-architectural element , and mark of habitation, are all elements of agency, and an the assuming of a space that is commonly shared by the artworks and their viewers. Therefore, the visitor is offered a generous personal space along the exhibition parcours, which has also developed the features of a perfect hideaway.

The visitor entering the center can access an on-line questionnaire evaluating the degree of fake in her/ his life. Subsequently, she/ he can experience solitude in the meditative space of the golden chamber. The institutional atmosphere is enhanced by a sanitary installation creeping on the wall and ceiling like a climbing bean plant. The custodians of three memorial houses address the visitor describing their working environment. The drawing room that has been opened as an addition to the initial space surprises the viewer by a hidden image that can be only peeped at and is only made available to the curios beholder who is ready to explore another department of the reflection center for suspended histories. The film projected on the back wall of the dark room completes the experience, which combines fear and uncertainty with a dilemmatic art history.

For the passer-by on Cannaregio, the reflection center for suspended histories is on view 24/7, as the large street windows provide a continuous perspective onto the center’s dynamics.

The exhibition Reflection Center for Suspended Histories. An attempt , one of the two projects officially representing Romania at the 55th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, is accompanied by two publications. A newspaper containing a guide for reading the exhibition conceived by the curator, together with a series of six interviews with the participating artists, conducted by Luigi Fassi, Anca Rujoiu, Bettina Spörr, Agnieszka Sural, Borbála Szalai and Jürgen Tabor, will be available at the reflection center throughout the entire period of the exhibition. In August, the second publication will be launched in the format of a reader comprising an interview with Zdenka Badovinac on the concept of interrupted histories, as well as texts by Liviana Dan on exhibiting contemporary art in the 90’s in a classical Romanian museum, and a contribution by Patrick D. Flores on the need for postcolonial art history, Ioana Vlasiu on showcasing Romanian art in the 20’s, and Monika Wucher on Romanian avant-garde and art research in Romania at the beginning of third millennium.

 

artists: Apparatus 22, Irina Botea and Nicu Ilfoveanu, Karolina Bregula, Adi Matei, Olivia Mihălţianu, Sebastian Moldovan

curator: Anca Mihuleţ

commissioner: Monica Morariu

deputy commissioner: Alexandru Damian

 

Venue:

New Gallery of the Romanian Institute for Culture and Humanistic Research

Palazzo Correr (Campo Santa Fosca) Cannaregio 2214, 30121 Venice

June, 1st – November, 24th 2013

Opening hours: 10:00 – 18:00

Closed on Mondays

 

Oana Vasiliu

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