Artists: Ioana Bătrânu, Ion Bârlădeanu, Ștefan Bertalan, Michele Bressan, Mircea Cantor, Andrei Chintilă, Harun Farocki & Andrei Ujică, Constantin Flondor, Adrian Ghenie, Bogdan Gîrbovan, Ion Grigorescu, Radu Grindei, Ana Lupaș, Alex Mirutziu, Florin Mitroi, Vlad Nancă, Miklos Onucsan, Andrei Pandele, Christian Paraschiv, Șerban Savu, Decebal Scriba
Curator: Diana Marincu
December 12th 2019 – February 7th 2020
Opening: December 12th 2019
Art Encounters Foundation, 46C Take Ionescu Blvd. (Casa ISHO), Timișoara
The title of the exhibition is inspired by a poem-manifesto written by artist Alex Mirutziu in 2015. “Because in our dreams we took risks”, one of the lines of this manifesto, transforms the burden of a verdict into a connecting knot for different generations. This knot temporarily weaves together chronological threads, historical narratives and cultural landmarks that make up a multi-layered image of the art before and after 1989, as it is represented in the present exhibition – a cut-out from the Ovidiu Şandor collection. Taken as a landmark for the change of the political regime and also for the clash between illusions and disillusions, the year 1989 is marked in the exhibition through a documentary section in which photography and film (Andrei Pandele, Radu Grindei, Andrei Ujică & Harun Farocki) claim their power to grasp the instant reality, while the tension between “pure” truth and constructed truth brings out questions that are still valid today.
The reading of the artistic context from the communist period and its reminiscence in the post-communist period is fighting to penetrate the patterns imposed by labels such as subversive art, while many nuances of different artistic processes are erased. Exceeding the perspectives associated either to heroism which is characterised by experimental artistic approach, either the culpability present in the speeches and the evaluations of recent history. Another section of the exhibition brings together a series of portraits and self-portraits of the artists, personal microhistories that value their artistic autonomy and the creative laboratory as a space of absolute freedom (Ştefan Bertalan, Constantin Flondor, Adrian Ghenie, Ion Grigorescu, Ana Lupaş, Florin Mitroi, Christian Paraschiv, Decebal Scriba).
The artists vacillate between continuous searches of their own identity marks and the lucid scanning of the context surrounding them, of the unaltered reality and its anonymous and marginal actors (Ioana Bătrânu, Ion Bârlădeanu, Michele Bressan, Bogdan Gîrbovan, Şerban Savu), inevitably affected by the events that made history, such as Mineriada, illustrated in the poster of the exhibition The Book (Miklos Onucsan). In parallel, utopian constructions continue, from the colonization of galaxies (Vlad Nancă) and imagining an infinite column that connects the human DNA to outer space (Mircea Cantor), to the dream of immortality that takes the place of existential desperation. Because in our dreams we took risks, after waking up, reality becomes only one face of existence, while remorses and fears fade away.
Exhibition view, Mircea Cantor, Epic Fountain, 2012, 24K gold plated safety pins. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Mircea Cantor, Epic Fountain, 2012, 24K gold plated safety pins. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Mircea Cantor, Epic Fountain, 2012, 24K gold plated safety pins. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, foreground, from left to right: Ioana Bătrânu, Enclosed Garden, 1993, oil on cardboard; Florin Mitroi, 7.XI.985, 1985, india ink on paper; 16.VII.82, 1982, india ink on paper; background: Michele Bressan, Fast Eco Building, 2012, Lambda print. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Ioana Bătrânu, Enclosed Garden, 1993, oil on cardboard; Florin Mitroi, 7.XI.985, 1985, india ink on paper; 16.VII.82, 1982, india ink on paper. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Florin Mitroi, 7.XI.985,1985, india ink on paper; 16.VII.82, 1982, india ink on paper. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Ioana Bătrânu, Enclosed Garden, 1993, oil on cardboard. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Ion Bârlădeanu, Series of Collages 1981–1982. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Ion Bârlădeanu, Series of Collages 1981–1982. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Andrei Chintilă, Aggression, 1985, oil on canvas; Șerban Savu, Park, 2012, oil on cardboard; Michele Bressan, Series of three photographs Untitled, 2009, Lambda print. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Șerban Savu, Park, 2012, oil on cardboard; Michele Bressan, Series of three photographs, Untitled, 2009, Lambda print. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Michele Bressan, Series of three photographs Untitled, 2009, Lambda print. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Michele Bressan, Fast Eco Building, 2012, Lambda print; Bogdan Gîrbovan, 10 / 1, 2008, series of 10 photographs, fine art inkjet pigment print. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Michele Bressan, Fast Eco Building, 2012, Lambda print; Bogdan Gîrbovan, 10 / 1, 2008, series of 10 photographs, fine art inkjet pigment print. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Bogdan Gîrbovan, 10 / 1, 2008, series of 10 photographs, fine art inkjet pigment print. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Andrei Chintilă, Aggression, 1985, oil on canvas. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Ion Grigorescu, Boxing, 1977, digitalized 16 mm film. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Vlad Nancă, Colonisation of space (after Fedorov), 2018, murano mosaic plastered on MDF; Alex Mirutziu, Because, 2019, wooden object, cutout text; Ion Grigorescu, Teamster, 1987, mixed media on photography on canvas. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Constantin Flondor, The Inauguration of the Monument, 1973 – 1974, photographic collage; Ana Lupaș, War Flag, 1990, bronze, metal chain, metal support. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Constantin Flondor, The Inauguration of the Monument, 1973 – 1974, photographic collage; Ana Lupaș, War Flag, 1990, bronze, metal chain, metal support. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Ana Lupaș, War Flag, bronze, 1990, metal chain, metal support. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Ana Lupaș, War Flag, 1990, bronze, metal chain, metal support; Adrian Ghenie, Untitled (Darwin), 2014, oil on canvas. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Adrian Ghenie, Untitled (Darwin), 2014, oil on canvas. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Constantin Flondor, The Inauguration of the Monument,1973 – 1974, photographic collage; Ana Lupaș, War Flag, 1990, bronze, metal chain, metal support. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Ion Grigorescu, Teamster, 1987, mixed media on photography on canvas; Christian Paraschiv, Historyline, Muzzle, 1971 – 1977, series of 5 works, mixed media on photograph. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Ion Grigorescu, Teamster, 1987, mixed media on photography on canvas. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Christian Paraschiv, Historyline, Muzzle, 1971 – 1977, series of 5 works, mixed media on photograph. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, foreground: Vlad Nancă, Colonisation of space (after Fedorov), 2018, murano mosaic plastered on MDF; background: Radu Grindei, Series of photographs December ‘89, 1989. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Alex Mirutziu, Because, 2019, wooden object, cutout text; Radu Grindei, Series of photographs December ’89, 1989. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Miklos Onucsan, cARTe, 1991, poster with stamp; Andrei Pandele, Series of photographs from the period 1975-1992. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Alex Mirutziu, Because, 2019, wooden object, cutout text. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Harun Faroki & Andrei Ujică, Videograms of a Revolution, 1992, video, found footage. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Adrian Ghenie, Study for Self-Portrait as Charles Darwin, 2013, charcoal on paper; Ștefan Bertalan, Inner Emigration, 1983, mixed media on paper; Andrei Chintilă, Awaiting, 1976, mixed media on paper; Decebal Scriba, Mask #2, 1976, b/w photograph, gelatin silver print, triptych. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, from left to right: Adrian Ghenie, Study for Self-Portrait as Charles Darwin, 2013, charcoal on paper; Ștefan Bertalan, Inner Emigration, 1983, mixed media on paper; Andrei Chintilă, Awaiting, 1976, mixed media on paper; Decebal Scriba, Mask #2, 1976, b/w photograph, gelatin silver print, triptych. Photo credit: infi.ro 
Exhibition view, Decebal Scriba, Mask #2, 1976, b/w photograph, gelatin silver print, triptych. Photo credit: infi.ro
The exhibition Because in our dreams we took risks is part of Art Encounters Foundation’s program, CAMP – CONTEMPORARY ART MEETING POINT, a platform for dialogue and public engagement in the knowledge exchange mediated by contemporary art. Cultural project co-funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN). The project does not necessarily represent the position of AFCN. AFCN is not to be held responsible for the content of the project, nor for the ways in which the results of the project might be used. Those are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the grant.
Wall text: Techside
Special thanks: Rămăria
