Shrinking Cities In Romania
20 Apr - 09 Oct 2016
SHRINKING CITIES IN ROMANIA
20 April – 09 October 2016
Curator: Ilinca Păun Constantinescu
The “Shrinking Cities in Romania” exhibition discusses the shrinkage of Romanian cities, as a widespread phenomenon. Statistical data show that most Romanian cities are facing various types of decline: socio-cultural, economic, physical, demographic. Half of the country’s cities currently have 20% fewer residents than in the 1990s. This phenomenonis insufficiently discussed, although more than a decade has passed since it was first theorized by German researchers.
Because it aims to be visible, active, and to generate debate, the project comprises a permanent exhibition (gathering a larg group of academics, researchers, artists, architects, and urbanplanners) and several recurring, interdisciplinary academic and artistic events (international conference, meetings and debates, workshop report-outs, theatre performances, screening nights and other happenings). The exhibition is structured in three sections:
The first, THE INFORMATION FILTER, providesa panoramic view on shrinkage through texts, metadata, volumetric maps and interactive installations that highlight depopulation in Romania and the types of citiesaffected.
The second, URBAN CONDITIONS- A DIRECT INVESTIGATION, presents stories that build a collective history of degradation, a blueprint of the shrinkage phenomenon in Romania, delineating the symptoms and effects of urban decline through installations, documentaries, photoghaphic essays and actual urban microfragments collected from the abandoned sites.
Finally, the third section, REACTIONS/ INTERVENTIONS, illustrates possible attitudes and actions in such cities, by recreating `Planeta Petrila`, which was for decades the artistic environment of the artist Ion Barbu, portayed by himself and seen from the inside and outside by the director Andrei Dăscălescu.
Shrinking Cities in Romania is a pioneering initiative to raise awareness about an acute and pervasive, yet too little discussed matter, which is presented in an attractive and interactive formulation, aiming to create a positive perspective on a negative phenomenon.Shrinkage can be a driver for modernisation and innovation, re-use, alternative resources, artistic creation, and reevaluation of interpersonal relationships.
ARTISTS:
Permanent artists in the exhibition:
„ Petrila Planet” // photographic and video installations, connected events // Ion Barbu
// transmedia project // Andrei Dăscălescu
„the Phenomenon” // photographic installation and object // Tudor Constantinescu and ideilagram
„Site under Construction” // video installation // Mihai Sima, Andreea Iancu, Raluca Sabău, Stejara Timiș, Anca Trestian
„Post-Industrial Stories” // photographic project // Ioana Cîrlig and Marin Raica
„The House of Culture.WhoSe Home?” // installation // Irina Tulbure, Andreea Chirică, Celia Ghyka, Alex Călin and Asociația «cu a mic»
„Cinema, mon Amour” // documentary // Alexandru Belc (70min)
„Waiting for August”// documentary // Teodora Ana Mihai (88min)
20 April – 09 October 2016
Curator: Ilinca Păun Constantinescu
The “Shrinking Cities in Romania” exhibition discusses the shrinkage of Romanian cities, as a widespread phenomenon. Statistical data show that most Romanian cities are facing various types of decline: socio-cultural, economic, physical, demographic. Half of the country’s cities currently have 20% fewer residents than in the 1990s. This phenomenonis insufficiently discussed, although more than a decade has passed since it was first theorized by German researchers.
Because it aims to be visible, active, and to generate debate, the project comprises a permanent exhibition (gathering a larg group of academics, researchers, artists, architects, and urbanplanners) and several recurring, interdisciplinary academic and artistic events (international conference, meetings and debates, workshop report-outs, theatre performances, screening nights and other happenings). The exhibition is structured in three sections:
The first, THE INFORMATION FILTER, providesa panoramic view on shrinkage through texts, metadata, volumetric maps and interactive installations that highlight depopulation in Romania and the types of citiesaffected.
The second, URBAN CONDITIONS- A DIRECT INVESTIGATION, presents stories that build a collective history of degradation, a blueprint of the shrinkage phenomenon in Romania, delineating the symptoms and effects of urban decline through installations, documentaries, photoghaphic essays and actual urban microfragments collected from the abandoned sites.
Finally, the third section, REACTIONS/ INTERVENTIONS, illustrates possible attitudes and actions in such cities, by recreating `Planeta Petrila`, which was for decades the artistic environment of the artist Ion Barbu, portayed by himself and seen from the inside and outside by the director Andrei Dăscălescu.
Shrinking Cities in Romania is a pioneering initiative to raise awareness about an acute and pervasive, yet too little discussed matter, which is presented in an attractive and interactive formulation, aiming to create a positive perspective on a negative phenomenon.Shrinkage can be a driver for modernisation and innovation, re-use, alternative resources, artistic creation, and reevaluation of interpersonal relationships.
ARTISTS:
Permanent artists in the exhibition:
„ Petrila Planet” // photographic and video installations, connected events // Ion Barbu
// transmedia project // Andrei Dăscălescu
„the Phenomenon” // photographic installation and object // Tudor Constantinescu and ideilagram
„Site under Construction” // video installation // Mihai Sima, Andreea Iancu, Raluca Sabău, Stejara Timiș, Anca Trestian
„Post-Industrial Stories” // photographic project // Ioana Cîrlig and Marin Raica
„The House of Culture.WhoSe Home?” // installation // Irina Tulbure, Andreea Chirică, Celia Ghyka, Alex Călin and Asociația «cu a mic»
„Cinema, mon Amour” // documentary // Alexandru Belc (70min)
„Waiting for August”// documentary // Teodora Ana Mihai (88min)