Simona Dobrescu - Reaction Rate Equation*
Curator: Olivia Nitis
Location: Atelier 030202, Sf. Vineri Street nr. 11, Bucharest
Period: April 5th-24th 2012
Opening: Thursday, April 5th at 7 pm
Simona Dobrescu investigates gender relations under the conventional approach of heterosexuality. It is a personal discourse about the kinetic chemistry between man and woman, two individuals in whose lives interfere a wide range of socio-cultural aspects that influence their reactions and define their identity. Questioning identity represents the reserve of lucidity o each person within the context of the noisy and limiting dynamics of contemporary time and space. The identity of the couple is embraced by society often at the expense of personal identity, because it is a reality compliant to social norms through the idealism of social stability provided by the family role. Simona Dobrescu identifies not only the outside interference, but also that of the intermediate space between the two protagonists caught in a kind of action situated between the apathetic consensus and conflictual chemistry, in an involuntary performance of mechanical repetitive responses determined by the limits and frustrations of interpersonal communication.
*Kinetic reaction rate equation r = k (T) [A] n '[B] m' is a mathematical formula used to link the chemical kinetics of response of each reactant concentration.
Mihai Zgondoiu, The Artist's Golden Hand
Date and Location: February 25 - April 1st, 2012, The Contemporary Art Gallery, National Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, (RO), 6 Tribunei Str.
Curator: Olivia Nitis
Opening: Saturday, February 25, 2012, 12:00 hours
The contemporary artist watches permanently. He is looking for visual and conceptual solutions in the closeness of things, and also in the expression of the accidental, of the daily self-referential phenomenon, as, for example, a fracture. The Artist's Golden Hand is a delightful satirical visual discourse, as the literary writing Metamorphosis or The Golden Donkey by Apuleius, where the author reflects the reality of a society still divided nowadays between materiality and spirituality. Mihai Zgondoiu uses the accident in postmodern key applying the theory fragmentarity on his own body. The hand, arm and namely the artist’s forearm is the tool of irony towards the status and identity of the contemporary artist, that trendy artist, well marketed and enveloped in an aura of inaccessibility. Mihai Zgondoiu turns his wounded hand into an artifact, into an object worthy of aesthetic contemplation, an object which went through all stages of transformation, like in alchemy, towards the revealing gold. The photographs in this preview capture very well the almost fetishized nature of the hand, being completed, in the extended version of the project, with object and video-performance where the ironic narrative comes to reveal the polishing process directly related to the iconic result. Beyond the corrupted individuals’ reaction to the many manipulating facets of the body fragment, beyond social hysteria, Mihai Zgondoiu seeks, above all, a reference to himself through amusement and ironic detachment. The Artist's Golden Hand is not only a scan of contemporary reality, but also a healthy approach of self irony in a world where the value balance strongly influenced by political, economic, psychological... factors it's hard to keep. (Olivia Nitis)
Sorin Oncu (RO) - Izomorphism
February 13-27 , 2012, Atelier 030202, 11 Sf. Vineri Str., Bucharest
In Romanian art practice gay culture doesn’t have a history. The representation of masculine nudity, for instance, considered taboo before 1989, as nudity in general, interested a few Romanian artists after the revolution, but only as an exploration of the forbidden subject. Gay artists seem not to exist. It might be a matter of fear of expression in the public sphere. Nonetheless, one artist, Sorin Oncu brings forth a possibility, a field of open debate on what is legal, human and democratic. He uses simple and ordinary iconographic elements of every day reality in ironic connections. The old and the new, the tradition and the modern perspectives, the bold and the beautiful, the kitsch and its opposing features, the mechanical approach of ideas, these are all analyzed by Sorin Oncu, by trying to understand how the shape of things still affects their content in collective conscience. Isomorphism is a project about looking at otherness and about the constant possibility of each of us being the other in the contemporary social dynamics. This is a project about defining the norm, an invitation to intelligent and ironic meditation and to accepting the other not as opposed to you, but more as the possibility of you. view more
Valeriu Schiau (Ro) - Personal Issues
November 11 - December 5, 2011, Atelier 030202, Bucharest (RO)
Personal Issues is a unique performance in which the artist Valeriu Schiau draws with gasoline and fire. Our personal problems, which we are constantly working to keep them hidden from the public, influence us, overwhelm us and constrain our professional development. The balance between private and public life is very fragile, and each of us is trying to find ways to escape, as Valeriu Schiau is exteriorizing his personal issues in a kind of ritual action, of pyro-graphics, of continuous printing by repeated burning. view more |
