The Art Encounters Foundation invites you to the photography exhibition “The Poetics of Politics” by artists Michele Bressan, Dani Ghercă, Nicu Ilfoveanu, and the invited artist, Alexandra Croitoru, who will present a series of works in collaboration with Ana Conțu, Ioana Dumitrescu, Sonia Lupșa, Crăița Niga, Cătălina Pintilie, Roberta Roată; which will take place on Thursday, September 21, from 18:00, at the permanent headquarters of the Foundation, Blvd. Take Ionescu 46C (Casa ISHO, 1st floor), Timișoara.
Curated by Belgian art critic and curator Sam Steverlynck, this project was conceived as an exhibition diptych held at Harlan Levey Projects in Brussels (June 10 – July 15, 2023) and the Art Encounters Foundation in Timișoara (September 21 – October 28, 2023), within the framework of Timișoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture.
Whereas the exhibition at Harlan Levey Projects focused on the shift from communism to a market economy – which was an essential subject for an entire generation of artists from the beginning of the 1990s onwards – the exhibition at the Art Encounters will expand this topic by reflecting on the oscillation between the ruins of the past and possibilities for the present, both from a personal and a political perspective.
Thus, the Timișoara exhibition brings together the works of an emerging generation of Romanian photographers (Michele Bressan; guest artist Alexandra Croitoru; Dani Ghercă; Nicu Ilfoveanu) who graduated from the Academy of Arts in Bucharest, where many of them also teach. Growing up after the 1989 Revolution and experiencing firsthand the sudden transition from communism to capitalism, as well as its long-lasting social, political, economic, and urban effects, what unites their practice is a cautious approach toward the use of imagery for various narratives and a meta-reflexive way of dealing with the medium photography. Adhering to a conceptual approach instead of a documentary one, they reflect on a period of economic, social, and technological transition, examining the notion of the image in all its forms.
Experimenting with different presentation modes, switching between analog and digital, projected image and moving image, while sometimes also incorporating found footage and text, they want to overcome the limitations of the still image while stretching its possibilities. Though they do not proclaim themselves as outspoken in political terms, their way of looking at society bears a political dimension expressed through a visual language that is experimental, aesthetic, and poetic.
The exhibition hosted by the Art Encounters Foundation can be visited from Tuesday to Saturday between 12:00 and 18:00, offering a guided tour every Saturday from 17:00.
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The exhibition is organized by the Art Encounters Foundation and SwitchLab and is co-financed by the Municipality of Timișoara through the Center for Projects and AFCN.
*The project is part of the national cultural program “Timișoara – European Capital of Culture in 2023” and is financed by the European Echoes program, run by the Municipality of Timișoara through the Center for Projects, with amounts allocated from the state budget, through the budget of the Ministry of Culture.
**The project does not necessarily represent the Administration of the National Cultural Fund’s position. AFCN is not responsible for the project’s content or how the project results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.
