Until November 24, 2024, Romania will present an exhibition exploring the complex relationship between work and leisure at the renowned Venice Art Biennale, highlighting the creations of Serban Savu. Business Review spoke with Cristian Alexandru Damian, the project manager of the national pavilion, to delve into the details and efforts involved in orchestrating such a project.

Can you provide insight into the logistical challenges and considerations involved in coordinating Romania’s participation in the Venice Biennale 2024, from selecting the project to managing the exhibition logistics?

One of the few Romanian competitions with significant state funding is dedicated to participation in the Venice Biennale. The national competition, refined over the years, emerged as a necessity of the local artistic environment and at its request. In 2010, an interinstitutional collaboration protocol was established between the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Romanian Cultural Institute, in which I participated. Thus, the method of participation was already known to me, especially since I was, between 2010-2018, the deputy commissioner/representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Romanian Cultural Institute for Romania’s participation at the Venice Biennale of Art/Architecture and also a member of the respective juries. Additionally, after my work at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Venice ended, I had the opportunity to coordinate and produce the national project of 2019. For this year’s exhibition, I have, of course, leveraged all the experience accumulated over the years, and I believe that the entire team – whom I take this opportunity to thank for their involvement and professionalism – has the necessary experience for a project of such magnitude.

Given the diverse nature of the exhibition, featuring paintings, installations, graphic interventions, and public debates, how did you manage the coordination between different artists, curators, and contributors to ensure a cohesive and impactful presentation?

The great advantage in forming the project team is precisely the starting point of this team: the connection between Șerban Savu and Ciprian Mureșan. They are, first and foremost, friends and studio colleagues, both artists, so the idea of participating in the Biennale as a duo was a natural one, born from the organic nature of their relationship. Personally, I have known them for many years (to not express in decades), and the integration of all the elements we intended to present came naturally. To add value to the project idea, which addresses the dimensions of work and leisure, we invited the graphic design studio Atelier Brenda from Brussels (Nana Esi and Sophie Keij) to create the “covers” of this exhibition. Their involvement in the project consists of a monumental (yet anti-monument) intervention on the facade of the pavilion, with additional visual elements inside, intended to provide the public with an initial key to understanding our project.

Could you discuss the budgetary considerations and funding sources involved in bringing the Romanian exhibition to the Venice Biennale, considering the various components such as artwork transportation, installation, and promotional activities?

Unfortunately, participants in the competition organized to represent Romania at the Venice Biennale (Art and Architecture) face two major interrelated problems. The first would be that, compared to other countries, Romania struggles by waiting for the appointment of the general curator and the launch of the general theme of the edition, a theme always comprehensive, which could include any subject, although national projects are not expressly required to follow it; even if this aspect is particularly pursued, adapting a project to the general theme can also be done in the second stage of the competition or even later. Currently, the first stage of the competition takes place in November, and the second stage in January of the following year, leaving only three months until the opening, a very short time to cover all the key elements necessary for implementing such a project: logistics, obtaining external funding, preparing publications, borrowing and insuring the works (where necessary), etc.

The second problem is that there is no multi-year state funding for national participation in the Biennale, which is so necessary. For example, in the fiscal year 2024, the state will not allocate any funds for the Architecture Biennale next year (2025), so (as in our case) the first tranche of money that next year’s project will receive will be, at best, in March of the following year (about a month before the opening). As for the Romanian Pavilion in the Giardini della Biennale, there are still some technical problems with the building: the skylight’s polycarbonate plates need replacement, there is no installed alarm system, no wired internet connection, and no heating or air conditioning system. Generally, these issues have consistently fallen on the participants to resolve, who have had to find immediate solutions within a limited budget.

This year, we are able to deliver the project on schedule and to the necessary standards, thanks to the support from Gallery Plan B, other private sponsors, and the Idea Foundation, which served as the organizational “umbrella” under which we entered this competition.

How did you approach the promotion and marketing of the Romanian Pavilion and its associated events, both within the Biennale venue and through external channels, to maximize visibility and attract diverse audiences?

Romanian exhibits at the Venice Biennale consistently enjoy enhanced visibility, both internationally and within the country, particularly among experts. For this year’s event, we have collaborated with two key press agencies: Sutton, based in the United Kingdom, which manages our international promotion, ensuring significant exposure in global artistic communities, and DBO (Dăescu Borțun Olteanu), an agency renowned for its effective promotion of significant events within Romania. Additionally, we have not only prepared and organized the custodian teams, but have also set up a series of public debates. These discussions, coordinated by Ovidiu Țichindeleanu, a prominent cultural critic from Chișinău, will explore topics such as the history of mosaics, theories of labor in contemporary anthropology, economics, philosophy, and related subjects, and will be held in the New Gallery of the IRCCU Venice.

How do you anticipate the exhibition contributing to Romania’s cultural representation on the international stage and fostering dialogue on pressing socio-cultural issues addressed within the project?

The exhibition addresses a highly topical socio-cultural theme: the relationship between work and leisure. We are witnessing a shift towards fewer working hours and more rest days, sometimes on an experimental basis. Moreover, the line between the workplace and our living spaces is blurring, a trend accelerated by the pandemic which has brought the office into our homes. Additionally, we are rethinking the concept of labor as a medium of exchange: if work is compensated with leisure, traditional financial or monetary values may become redundant. Reflecting this concept, visitors to the Pavilion will encounter an installation by Atelier Brenda. This piece features a coin devoid of its conventional symbols (value and authority), replaced with pictograms representing human activities, proposing a new form of financial value.

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