A Spring of Hope, A Winter of Despair creates a context for observations and reflections on a particular segment of the conceptual art of the 1970s and 1980s in the former Socialist Republic of Romania and Czechoslovakia as well as în the period following the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Starting from a quote from the introduction of Charles Dickens’ book A Tale of Two Cities published in 1859, the project aims to present insights into the tensions generated by political emergencies and deeply human needs in two geographical areas part of the former Eastern Bloc following an apparently contradictory structure based on the relationship between hope and despair.
By no means Romania and Cechoslovakia should be regarded as disconnected form a broader analysis on the conceptual art of the socialist East, but rather as a case study sample.
The project has the mission to illustrate the complicated design of inter-human conflicts, the despair, resistance and survival in various forms of political regimes from totalitarianism to capitalism and the practice of hope.
Presenting conceptual and aesthetic similarities the works by Romanian and Czech artists reflect the transition of hope and the process of its redefinition following a historical course with interconnected roots that recontextualize the understanding of conceptualism in Eastern Europe and the invisible connectedness between artists in spite of the limitations imposed by the political regimes. The exhibition brings together works that present a certain image of coexistence, which is a way to formulate a replica of simultaneous and transhistorical realities. (Olivia Nițiș) More here
My video work ”Self-Portait as a Falling Tree” will be shown there. It is a A performance for video made in front of my grandparent's walnut tree and the remains of the willow tree's branches taken down by a fast storm on the 14th of July of 2023. It is a response to the massive tree cutting action undertaken by Ilfov county council to pave the way for the enlargement of the county road. According to my calculations over 3000 thousand trees have been cut so far. The film can also be seen as an `hommage` to Bas Jan Ader.
Comments