On 20th of July took place an ecoperformative conference embodying results of an art research funded under Culture moves Europe program and Goethe Institute.

Two ecoperformative trajectories embodied, on the one hand, the building of the body of nature as body of collapse; on the other hand, the alchemical process for transmutation of matter.

The immersive event was designed to recreate and showcase the results of the artistic research undertaken by Alina Tofan and GCV (co-founders of Plastic Art Performance collective) in Norway.

The ecoperformative conference was guided using points of visual installation, object installation and sound-design. The public could explore it with all senses and become part of the performative journey.

Between April and May 2023, the two resident artists have been hosted in Vestfold, Telemark region in Norway, working together with Creatorium International, an active NGO based in Steinsholt, in order to develop an art methodology centered on ecoperformance and bringing together practices at the intersection of art and ecology.

As a result of the 3-week-long program of practices, co-developed with the participation of Vladislav Calestru, a series of art products emerged: a durational ecoperformance installation opened for the public in Kruttverket art gallery center in Oslo, site-specific performances in various Norwegian landscapes, two video-art / ecovideoperformances, sound-art installation, as well as nature-object installations.

The resulted methodology stands as the group’s corpus of practices, developed, tested and implemented throughout the last 3 years in Romania, in the territory of ecoperformance - an international artistic practice, movement and community sprouted in Brazil and guided for the past 30 years under Taanteatro Companhia, initiators of the vision, practice and the first Ecoperformance Festival.

Plastic Art Performance Collective is an art group active in the Romanian arts and cultural scene based in Bucharest, focused on connecting awareness, body and ecology through various art forms. The group creates ecoperformances, immersive events and multimedia projects centered around the relationship with the environment.

Creatorium is a non-for-profit organization based in Steinsholt, Norway, developing international projects focused on active learning methods, community building, internationalism and global awareness, with focus on the self-development needs and creative expression.

The art mobility was awarded a grant by Culture moves Europe program.

Sector 1 Gallery presented a premiere performance by Norwegian-Brazilian artist Kiyoshi Yamamoto, entitled “It Takes No Compromise to Give People Their Rights”, 2023. The event took place on Saturday, July 22nd, in Bucharest.

Kiyoshi Yamamoto’s works convey political messages and address social issues, with a focus on the LGBTQ+ community and human rights. Inspired by the indigenous cultures of the Amazon, such as the Tupi and Maracatu populations, who have been colonized and exploited by the Portuguese since the 14th century, Yamamoto uses the traditions of Native American cultures to express their vibrant colors in the context of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Kiyoshi also integrates industrial production as an artistic method through which he creates his works, giving them functionality, such as sunglasses, bandanas, and costumes. The title of the new artwork presented at Sector 1 Gallery is inspired by a phrase from gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, recreated on the masks and costumes worn by the five performers, including the artist himself, each belonging to a different generation, from 20 to 60 years old. They will move to the melodies of Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos, wearing Yamamoto’s creations. Live music will be performed by Bogdan Postolache on cello and Monica Postolache on violin.

Kiyoshi Yamamoto (b. 1982) works in a variety of artistic techniques, including textiles, painting, printmaking, installation, and video. He has exhibited in various international contexts and holds a master’s degree from the National Art College in Bergen (2013). Currently, he lives and works in Bergen, Norway.

The performance was part of the exhibition “Mother’s Nature”, curated by Maya Økland and Cristina Bută. Partner: VISP – Produksjonsenhet for visuell kunst.

"Fulguraciones" is a solo exhibition by Argentine artist and set designer Renata Schussheim held at the Borges Cultural Center. Schussheim exhibits sculptures of ethereal swimmers suspended in the dome of the building, the most beautiful space in this place. The exhibition continues in the Berni Pavilion, where she exhibits large-scale intervened photographs showing strange men disguised as polar bears who, in turn, are photographed with young and old. According to the artist, it is the strangest exhibition she has ever done.

Catinca Tabacaru Gallery recently presented in Bucharest a solo exhibition by Ana Pascu - "Towards Inmost", curated by Iselin Huluba.

“Towards Inmost” is a 5-channel video installation that investigates the interaction between the human experience and the external environment. Through performance, video, sound and object, the installation invites the viewer to reflect on the mechanisms that shape our relationship to the physical reality.

<<The performance captures the fluidity and dynamism of human experiences, translating inner thoughts and outer interactions into a choreography of feelings, while the sound reproduces the soundscape of the border between the two spaces.

The installation highlights two planes - one physical and one intangible, both explored through movement. Through the interaction of the characters moving along the screens and through the imposing presence of the oversized self observing from the outside, the installation presents the metaphysical journey within the human-environment relationship>>, points out the artist.

<<At a form level, the objects within the installation detach themselves from their ordinary functionality and become casings for the screens they contain. This relation between the containing object and the containing screen launches a first attempt to thin the boundary between the two media.

Within the installation, the screen in its original function, becomes a window, which reveals the space proposed by the video material. In addition to the existing screens inside the objects, the concept of the internal is also supported by the two projections that are found on the outer walls of the space. In this way, the two spaces are demarcated even more strongly by relating to the architecture of the exhibition space.

The video content consists of capturing the body movement within a white cube space, a space whose borders are defined by the communication between the screen and the subject that contains it. From this moment, we can talk about the existence of a third space, only formed at the level of perception and investigated by the performative action of the character present in the screens.

The video is divided into all the screens of the installation, and its continuity is ensured by the singular and sequential presence of the subject in each object. Although, on a technical level, these are separate videos, the sensation perceived by the viewer is an integral one, of the same material, which is discovered from different perspectives through the objects that contain it>>, adds the artists.

<<With the 5-channel video installation, “Towards Inmost,” Ana Pascu invites the viewer to embark on a metaphysical journey of self-discovery and spatial awareness.

Integrating screens within domestic artifacts, the installation aims to open a dialogue between the inner and outer worlds; mediating the meeting through technology and performance. In an attempt to evoke the complex, yet eerily fluid human experience, Pascu transgresses her performers across the multiple screens while simultaneously introducing a larger than life “self” figure looking “in” from outside the insect-based installation.

The artist asks the viewer to reflect on the mechanisms that shape our perception of ourselves and our surroundings; to question the boundaries between the personal and the impersonal, the familiar and the foreign, the physical and the intangible>>, we learn from the curator.

"Towards Inmost" project is part of the Graduation exhibitions of the Photo-video computerized image processing department of the National University of Arts Bucharest, class of 2023.

Art Installation by Ana Pascu

Coordinator: Răzvan Tun

Choreography & performance: Anca Stoica

Soundscape: Shai Lavi

Photographer: Cătălin Georgescu

The opening of the exhibition “Mother's Nature”, curated by Maya Økland & Cristina Bută, took place on July 13th at Sector 1 Gallery, Bucharest, along with a performance by Monica Winther. “Mother's Nature” is a group exhibition which "tackles instances of the notion of mother in various contexts and art practices. From a personal to a post-anthropocentric dimension, the exhibition traces the potential meaning of the notion of mother in various contemporary art practices", we learn from the curatorial team. The exhibition is ongoing until August 28th.

<<In Norwegian, the word føde means both food and give birth. Nature is commonly referred to as Mother Earth, as she is portrayed in almost every culture: to the Aztecs, Earth was called Tonantzin - "our mother"; to the Incas, Earth was called Pachamama - "mother earth", the word pacha in Quechua also signifying "space-time" or "universe". The Chinese Earth goddess Hou Tu is similar to Gaia, the Greek goddess personifying the Earth. In other words, mother is simultaneously the symbol of our entire existence, and the everyday woman we all must relate to whether we like her, or not. She can be a he, she, them or they, biological, cultural, or spiritual. Absent, present, good, and bad. We dream of her unconditional love just as much as we find it hard to resist the desire to control her. Honored and blamed, the multitude of ambivalence in her relations holds no limits. She can destroy us and nurture us, all at the same time.

In her writings, philosopher of science Isabelle Stengers calls Gaia/Earth a devastating power that shifts our categories of thought. Mother Nature is not the constant giver promising us nourishment, or, in a paradoxical fashion, the land of resources our capitalist societies continue to exploit. The title of the exhibition references both Mother Nature beyond her romanticized personification, as well as the relations and non-relations that we have with our mothers and other maternal figures and constructs. Within a society that is still prejudist towards gender, race and sexuality, in which certain stories and histories are or remain silenced, ecologies of care appear. How do we negotiate the relationship between care and emancipation? How do we grow with the other? From queer and feminist perspectives, the artworks and performances of Norwegian and Romanian artists Cristina David, Jasmina Al-Qaisi, Kiyoshi Yamamoto, Monica Winther and Ștefania Crișan trace existential affection, power, anxiety and love while calling upon Mother.>> - excerpt from the curatorial text.

The exhibition program includes three performances throughout the month of July:

• July 13, Monica Winther - „Paction drawing"

• July 22, Kiyoshi Yamamoto - „It Takes No Compromise to Give People Their Rights"

• July 28, Ștefania Crișan - „Reverse the Entropy”

The project is financed with the support of EEA Grants 2014 – 2021 within the RO-CULTURE Program, having VISP – Produksjonsenhet for visuell kunst as project partner.

The EEA Grants represent the contribution of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway towards a green, competitive and inclusive Europe. There are two overall objectives: reduction of economic and social disparities in Europe, and to strengthen bilateral relations between the donor countries and 15 EU countries in Central and Southern Europe and the Baltics.

RO-CULTURE is implemented in Romania by the Ministry of Culture through the Project Management Unit. The Programme aims at strengthening social and economic development through cultural cooperation, cultural entrepreneurship and cultural heritage management. (www.ro-cultura.ro)

"¿Cómo sentir? Diarios íntimos para el presente" (How to feel? Intimate diaries for the present) is an exhibition of visceral contemporary art by Argentine artists that invite to go through different states of mind taking as a starting point the mental health during -then- the pandemic. The exhibition, curated by Nicolás Cuello, takes place at the Casa Nacional del Bicentenario, a cultural space for contemporary artistic production.