CHIŞINĂU - Art, Research in the Public Sphere
The transdisciplinary seminar and the workshop dedicated to documentation and research were a part of the CHIŞINĂU- Art, Research in the Public Sphere - a cross-disciplinary platform that investigated the connections between political and cultural symbols and propaganda and its impact on the urban environment, the interference between personal narratives and imported ideologies and cultural discourses in relation to the public sphere.
The project took place from 24 May to 7 June and aimed to explore the dominant institutional and political discourses that have shaped the society and the urban landscape of the city of Chişinău in the course of its recent history. A number of visual artists, curators, historians, designers and sociologists from the Balkan (Romania, Serbia, Montenegro) and Baltic (Lithuania and Estonia) countries, as well from other EU countries (Poland, France, Austria, The Netherlands) that had experienced similar social and cultural processes and phenomena presented their research and case studies related to projects dealing with art and the public sphere and to the connections between the public and private acceptions of space placed in various cultural and ideological backgrounds.
From September 22-24, 2010, a conference in Chisinau was, which exemplified the discourse in the public sphere and the way it reflects the current state of the city and society in general. The participants from Romania, Croatia, Lithuania, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands and Moldova that had experienced similar social and cultural processes and phenomena presented their research and case studies related to the connections between the public and private acceptions of space placed in various cultural and ideological backgrounds.
In the workshop the participants examined how certain versions of the past were produced and given prominence in the public media, civic life and state politics, and in the flow of daily lives, from the former policies to the present political and economic discourses that dominates the society. Launching a project related to the public sphere today, in the middle of globalization and of an aggressive capitalist society that has reduced the role of art to that of mere decoration, means that public art should become a tool of critical engagement, with political and social connotations.
What is the current look of the city and where are the real roots of the deep nostalgia for the former symbols and the ghosts that still haunt the society – these are some of the questions that the project participants have tried to answer with their own projects and contributions to the project.
Among the participants were: Angela Serino – curator, art manager, The Netherlands, Klaus Schafler – visual artist, Austria, Vladan Jeremic&Rena Raedle – curators, social activists, Serbia, Danilo Prnjat – visual artist, Serbia, Joanna Rajkowska – visual artist, Poland, Kaja Pawelek – curator, Poland, Dumitru Oboroc – visual artist, Romania, Alina Popa&Irina Gheorghe (The Bureau of Melodramatic Research) – visual artists, Romania, Ferenc Gróf &Jean-Baptiste Naudy (Societe Realiste) – visual artists, France/Hungary, Rael Artel – curator, art manager, and many more.
Projektdauer: 24. Mai bis 7. Juni 2010
Projektort: State University, Chişinău
Projektpartner: KSAK - Center for Contemporary Art, Chişinău
