At Nicolae Minovici Museum of Folk Art / Museum of Bucharest (MMB) can still be seen the exhibition "100% .RO - Prejudices" (April 23, 2021 - April 30, 2022), a special project by French fashion designer Philippe Guilet, which is also a novelty in the museum and exhibition activity in Romania. The museum recently announced the decision by which the project extends its deadline until next year. The exhibition proposes a unique way of relating to romanian traditional culture, reflected in the vision of a foreign artist who came to sincerely love Romania, an interpretation of art and traditions translated into creations that enter into visual and conceptual relationship with the heritage presented at Nicolae Minovici Museum. Thus, the traditional is combined with an innovative vision, and the result is simply amazing - traditional art is translated into new art.

Photos by Nicolae Minovici Museum / MMB

The "100% .RO" project started at the end of 2011 with the presentation of the collection first in Bucharest, then in Paris, followed by a worldwide itinerary. In an interview at the time, the designer stated that he did not agree with the sarcasm with which Romania is talked about in France, emphasizing that the real Romania is the one reflected by culture and especially by folk art. Through this project, Guilet presents original creations that preserves the essence of the Romanian traditional culture, emphasizing its aesthetic potential and authenticity.

“The French fashion designer Philippe Guilet collaborated with numerous Romanian craftsmen to create the 100%.RO - Prejudices collection in 2011. Removing any prejudices related to Romanian culture, Guilet created a clothing collection meant to highlight the current creation and craft tradition. Just as a number of specialists work to produce special haute couture pieces, in the same way a team of folk craftsmen and artisans, together with young designers, worked under the careful orchestration of Guilet. The sources of creation have exceeded the sphere of folk costume, the collection-experiment being inspired by the joy of Romanians, or various objects of our customs, such as the Easter egg ", we learn from the museographer Madalina Manolache (Nicolae Minovici Museum , MMB).

The exhibition opened on April 23, 2021 is waiting for visitors until April 30, 2022.

It had just been closed the doors of ArtePadova, one of the most important events of the international art fair in Italy and Europe. After the cancellation of the last edition, due to the pandemic of Covid-19, the art fairs in Europe came back to show – once again – the scene of the international art world.

Image courtesy of ArtePadova

From 12th to 15th November, the art fair of Padova exhibited over 15.000 works with over 300 galleries and exhibitors. The three pavilions dedicated to the art fair had been divided into three big categories:

-          Arte Padova, which is the main group with the most important galleries in Italy, that showed the greatest contemporary artists and the iconic ones (like Warhol, Fontana, Boetti…);

-          The Contemporary Art Talent Show, related to galleries, associations and collectives that exhibited emerging and independent artists with works under 5.000€ (this year there were also the C.A.T Prize and the Mediolanum Prize for the most talented artist);

-          Antiquiaria, dedicated to the antique (furniture, artworks, jewelry, etc.).

After almost two years from the beginning of the pandemic, the international art scene didn’t change too much, but a great change is happening: very slowly – and especially in the emerging artists – we can see more and more artists from different gender, ethnicities, races, that can finally speak for themselves and change the dominant perspective of the art world.

Image courtesy of ArtePadova

It will be interesting to see – in the next years – how this world will evolve and how the collectors and the art market will answer to these changes.

 "Interferences in urban nature" is a recently concluded exhibition that presented a selection of works made by students and graduates of the Faculty of Visual Arts and Design, National University of Arts "George Enescu" in Iasi and it was part of a series of exhibitions, editorial events and discourses carried out within the project “Extended Base of Activities and Practices in Arts - Particularly Extended Base”, financed through the grant CNFIS-FDI-2021-0093. The exhibition was presented in the space of Aparte gallery, the art gallery of  UNAGE Iași, at the beginning of October.

Photos by Aparte Gallery

The participating students: Andrei Cosmin Alexii, Doina Axinte, Oana Bejinari, Mihaela Ceban, Iulia Constantin, Răzvan Ciprian Cozma, Andrei Dilă, Eveline Enescu, Maria Filip, Ionela Gherman, Simona Elena Herciu, Smaranda Meiri (Virna), Rareș Plutașu, Gabriel Popa, Mihai Aureliu Savin, Mădălin Teletin, together with collective projects of the students of the specializations Conservation-Restoration and Textile Arts - Textile Design. The exhibition project was curated by Cătălin Gheorghe.

“The urbanity we live together is, most of the time, altered by the potential of nature's claims or our imagination. Analytical prospecting, the projection of the fantastic, the experience of spirituality are felt as interferences of the ways of coexistence. Unpredictability is captured in contingent explorations of urban space and intimacy triggered by experiences of urbanity, in situ interventions, forms of sculpturality, interspersed expressions of pictoriality, investigations of the photographic and immersions of performativity. The human world interferes with the plant and animal worlds, but also with new possible worlds. The public space is invaded by expressions of the imagination of man's relationship with the environment and the environment of his own intimacy. Rationality, affectivity and spirituality participate in the recreation of relational spaces in which the situation is detached from aspiration. Urban nature has surpassed its status as a created nature and is increasingly accepted as a lived nature of the unpredictability of multitudes of other interferences”, the curator explains.

The exhibition was coordinated by Bogdan Gavrilean, Lavinia German, Cătălin Gheorghe, Oana Nicuță Nae, Daniel Sofron, Cătălin Soreanu, Mihai Vereștiuc and the technical support offered by Vlad Onescu and Nicu Oniciuc.

Aparte Gallery - http://aparte.arteiasi.ro/ 

 The Museum of Contemporary Art in Querétaro, México, invited five female artists to collaborate on an exhibition to contemplate the role that women have in society. Curator Miryann Díaz proposed a series of dialogues where the five artists could get to know their personal stories and reflect on their role as female artists. The result was Todas Somos Todas, an exhibition that showcases the artists' perspective on the labels placed on women and their understanding of who they are and their value. Todas Somos Todas is built with video performances and photographs to reflect on contemporary social issues that affect women.

Mariceu Erthal. Self-portrait Inside Iriana’s Bedroom. From the Iriana Series, 2019. Digital photography. 28 x 43 cm.

The first photograph depicts Mariceu resting on Iriana's bed, with her eyes open, looking at the distance. The background is black, and the only light that illuminates her hand and face comes from the right side. She is also wearing a black tank top, and the bedding where she lays is of a dark blue. Her vague expression, the dark background, and the selected colors make this scene convey loss. One can only wonder if she is reflecting upon something terrible, or perhaps remembering an unfortunate event, for she has a vacant expression. It is almost as if she is dead or as if she is taking her last breaths.

Mariceu Erthal. Lights and memories. From the Iriana Series, 2019. Digital photography. 28 x 43 cm.

Mariceu Erthal. Self-portrait Inside Iriana’s Bedroom. From the Iriana Series, 2019. Digital photography. 28 x 43 cm.

Mariceu Erthal. From the Iriana Series, 2019. Digital photography.