The White Night of Galleries reaches its 8th edition: Record number of participating locations

The eighth edition of the White Night of Galleries (NAG#8) brings a new itinerary of contemporary art events in Bucharest, with 38 galleries and 32 alternative spaces participating in the May 23rd event. The organizers have designed a varied program (from 7 pm to 4 am), including artists’ premiers, special productions, performances, installations and launches of new projects.

The event, organized by Ephemair Association, is developed mainly in Bucharest but organizers say they are looking at expanding it in other significant urban cultural centers in Romania.

BR talked to Antigona Silvia Rogozea, initiator and organiser for the White Night of Galleries), about what the audience can expect from the 2014 edition.

What galleries are included this year? Who are the newcomers?
This year we are going to have a record number of galleries participating: 72 in total, 38 galeries and 34 alternative spaces. This numbers wasn’t achieved even when NAG#5 took place simultaneously in two urban centers of great importance to the visual arts: Bucharest and Cluj. In that year, 2011, the NAG map included 66 locations in Bucharest and Cluj. In order to achieve a full understanding of how NAG evolved, in terms of participation consider this: the first edition in 2007 had 12 galleries, NAG#2 2008 – 14 locations, NAG#3 2009 doubled the number to 28 venues, NAG#4 2010 – 40 locations, NAG#5 2011 – 54 venues in Bucharest and 12 in Cluj; NAG#6 2012 – 30 locations ; NMAG#7 – 54 locations.

As we’ve noticed in 2010, the category of alternative spaces is in constant expansion, with a diversity and creativity that are specific to them and they grant the event a serious dose of energy. This year, the night tour will involve 20 new venues, galleries and alternative spaces, and we will let the audience discover them all on the map on noapteagaleriilor.ro or through the iOS and Android phone apps.

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What other novelties will the White Night of Galleries bring this year?
#NAG 8 will continue the series of productions for works/ exhibits of contemporary art; this is one of the very first objectives we set out to achieve in 2007, when, as it happens, all the 12 exhibits included were created by NAG. This year we have several premieres: the exhibit NAG produced this year, “Passage”, created by Lea Rasovszky, Larisa Sitar and Michelle Bressan, curated by Diana Marincu. The exhibit will be showcased in a partnership with the National Museum for Contemporary Art over a longer period of time in the MNAC Annex (23.05.2014-22.06.2014).

At the same time, we will inaugurate a new program in the NAG portfolio, namely Art on Display, a program which proposes to integrate production and presentation of contemporary art pieces with the urban landscape by using commercial, private and public spaces in Bucharest. The program will debut through NAG#8 and the work of Ioana Ciocan, Blue Heart, which will be presented in a window display on Blv. Magheru 1.

Also, the Night of Galleries is diligent in discovering and supporting young graphic artists. We invite an artist every year to design our visual identity. In 2014, Mircea Pop filled this important role, and we will present him at NAG Info Point on Piata Amzei nr. 5.

What are the connecting events for NAG?
Given that we have so many open venues on May 23 (7 pm – 4 am), we will supply the audience with bicycles this year. We are proud that ever since our first edition in 2007 we have encouraged our audience to make the gallery rounds on bikes, and in 2010 it was the first event of its kind that managed, with the help of Raiffeisen Bank, to equip 200 bicycles with night equipment (for lights and security) giving the people an efficient and non-invasive mode of transport.

What are the main emerging contemporary arts? But what about the most significant Romanian artist that represent these emerging contemporary arts?
As organisers of the most popular event after the Night of Museums, we desire to offer our audience new attractions every year, produced by participants. Given this, NAG#8 will bring to the attention of art lovers grafitti, comic books, interactive acoustic installations, performances, book launches, theater and music.

Emerging trends in Bucharest, because there is a difference in trends and approaches from city to city, are more about making up for lost time: on the one hand we have interactive and interdisciplinary installations, on the other hand we have performances, happenings and nonformal comments, speech manifestos, etc.

There are contemporary Romanian artists, from different generations, that have made it to the Venice Biennial, the kunsthalle, the Manifesta, in museums all around the world, in private collections, in international art fairs. We invite those who are interested in getting to know them to identify these artists in special NAG#8 locations on the night of the events and to keep following the schedule for galleries and happenings in alternative spaces in Bucharest.

What exactly is an urban cultural centre? Can we find places like this in Bucharest? If the answer is yes, can you point them out?
Bucharest is, essentially, an urban cultural center. We can look for instance at the last two weeks and what they mean for contemporary art: between May 16 and 25 we have Romanian Design Week, The Night of Museums, Art Safary, the Night of Galleries and the Bucharest Biennial.

If we are talking about urban cultural hubs, the city’s recent history encouraged art locations to spread out through the whole city, on tiny streets. The economic crisis and a lack of functioning collaborations or associations between centres and galleries have made it so that Bucharest doesn’t have any multidisciplinary cultural centres.

Do you believe the association between culture and civic responsibility can become sustainable in a city like Bucharest?
Evidently yes! Public-private partnerships can be a solution for a “make-over” of the city, we need Bucharest to be sexier, and contemporary culture is as attractive as it is efficient in changing mentalities. The Night of The Galleries was born out of responsibility to the city and its inhabitants, developing new projects, urban interventions (like, for instance, Art on Display) and comments year after year, through the constant support of Raiffeisen Bank.