The purpose of the project revolved around the need to preserve crafts and promote traditional culture through contemporary art, this project putting a local craft in the foreground.

"The charcoal makers from Lupeni (Farkaslaka) Harghita county have a tradition of over three centuries. Generations have taken care of this craft, by which they produce mangal - charcoal from burnt hardwood. Thick wooden branches are cut and built into huge cones, called bushes, then covered with sand and earth, after which a smoldering, flameless burn takes place in the absence of oxygen for nearly two weeks. As a result of this burning, the carbonization of the wood occurs.

Finally, the coal thus obtained is crushed, packed in paper bags and sold. The beneficiaries are all of us, when we light these coals on the grills, to fry various goodies. Recently, technology has been imposed in this field as well, with wood charcoal being obtained in special furnaces. There are only a few genuine charcoal burners left in the area who still practice this craft. Like other jobs, this risks being forgotten too. Within this camp, we set out to value of charcoal in the most noble way possible, namely to be used in drawing and other artistic techniques by contemporary artists. Thus, the work of art obtained with a few grams of coal can be worth as much as the equivalent of tens of kilograms of coal. Another approach to the theme was the representation of charring through other artistic techniques. So - with or without coal, but about coaling - it became the motto of the camp...", said Lucian Muntean, camp coordinator.

At the first edition of the project, a group of 6 artists were invited to take part in "a creative camp where they documented the activity of the coal miners, visited the cultural and historical sites in the area, then created a series of contemporary art works, using locally produced coal as a working material. During the creation period, as well as at the end of the camp, there were demonstration workshops attended by children from the community or those interested. The works of art were later exhibited in Lupeni, but also in itinerant exhibitions around the country, which are to be scheduled", Lucian Muntean also conveyed.

The project was attended by: Botár László (Miercurea Ciuc), Lucian Muntean (Bucharest), Justinian Scarlătescu (Bucharest), Marius Stanciu (Bucharest), Radu Șerban (Cluj-Napoca), Aurel Tar (Bucharest). Guest artist Florin Gherasim (Cluj-Napoca)

Organizers of the exhibition: Harghita County Council, Harghita County Cultural Center, Harghita County Council Gallery and Cultura Nostra Association.

"Pupil" by Eduardo Basualdo

Basualdo's work is part of "A Day on Earth," an exhibition program put on by the museum that revolves around the relationship of human beings with planet Earth. "Pupil" was recently inaugurated as the second part of this edition along with " The place of the soul" by Colombian artist Delcy Morelos, a monumental work that transforms the Museum's second basement into a space for reflective contemplation that problematizes the territory and the earth as matter.

The exhibition can be divided into two parts. It begins with the artist's drawings where he proposes "to see the dark matters that inhabit us". They are mirrors of singular and disturbing visions. These works express a gesture: "The eye that turns around and, as it can no longer see the outside, looks inward," according to the artist. Thus begins a literally introspective journey.

For its part, the mega installation is a "fabric" of numerous folds in a finite black aluminum like an indefinite mass spread out on the floor that proposes rough and also reckless forms. The viewer can perceive that there is a monster or even trapped people. This large figure occupies a surface of 10 by 15 meters.

"Pupil"

Draws by Eduardo Basualdo

"Pupil" is a proposal crossed by the idea of the sinister. It also refers to the trauma of the experience of the pandemic, confinement, and the mental space of confinement, through the presence of the domestic in his drawings. The post-pandemic character is another problematized theme in "A Day on Earth".

Basualdo builds through his works an interesting perspective on the power of the gaze as a constituent action of the human development process, but also as a performative action and, therefore, transforming life. "Pupil" is the result of an extensive research process by the artist. It is the journey of images and a fictitious narrative that begins as a series of chronologically ordered drawings and concludes as a great nightmare in the all-seeing eye. "Pupil" seeks to evoke and understand the experiences of the past and present.

Participating Artist:

Eduardo Basualdo