Ex-East. Past and recent stories of the Romanian avant-gardes

Artists: Arthur Segal, Constantin Brâncuşi, Marcel Iancu, Tristan Tzara, Benjamin Fondane, Victor Brauner, Jacques Hérold, Horia Damian, Isidore Isou, Geta Brătescu, Pavel Ilie, Ştefan Bertalan, Andrei Cădere, Roman Cotoșman, Constantin Flondor, Cornel Brudaşcu, Horia Bernea, Florin Mitroi, Paul Neagu, Ana Lupaș, Mihai Olos, Doru Tulcan, Decebal Scriba, Ion Grigorescu, Rudolf Bone, Miklós Onucsan, Teodor Graur, Iosif Király, SubREAL, Dan Perjovschi, Daniel Knorr, Kinema Ikon, Aurora Király, Victor Man, Anca Munteanu Rîmnic, Simon Cantemir Hauși, Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan, Mircea Cantor, Adrian Ghenie, Ciprian Mureşan, Gabriela Vanga, Şerban Savu, Mircea Suciu, Liliana Basarab, Marius Bercea, Vlad Nancă, Ioana Nemeş, Andra Ursuța, Olivia Mihălțianu, Alex Mirutziu, Pusha Petrov, Mi Kafchin, Lea Rasovszky.
Curator: Ami Barak

February 5th – March 16th 2019
Opening, 5th of February 2019
Espace Niemeyer – French Communist Party headquarters
2 place du Colonel Fabien, Paris

Ex-East. Past and recent stories of the Romanian avant-gardes is a modern and contemporary art exhibition organised by the Art Encounters Foundation in Paris under the auspices of the France – Romania Cultural Season, curated by Ami Barak.

The main protagonists of modern art will stand alongside the actors of the contemporary scene with a view to highlight the essential contribution of the Romanian artists to the 20th century and the undeniable contribution of the new generations and their ways of relating to the present time. A “small nation” at the borders of the Levant, Romania has been successful, in the early 20th century, in bringing to light undeniable and uncontested figures: Constantin Brâncuşi and his echo, fundamental to the thought that structured all 20th century art, or Tristan Tzara, co-founder and icon of the Dada movement.

The post-war period and the Communist regime with its share of reactions and ideological rigidity, have nevertheless revealed specific avant-garde attitudes, detached from the Western utopias and ideologies but equally complex and radical in terms of formal and conceptual vocabulary. After the fall of the wall, contemporary inquiries have developed in the light of a new era with a view to overcome boundaries imposed by the dominance of the political and cultural dictatorship.