New Genres: art research

Lia & Dan Perjovschi: "The exhibition as a museum of knowledge and the exhibition as a newspaper"

March 27, 2024 | Cosmina Marcela OLTEAN ArtPage

In the following period, the Brașov Art Museum invites the public to discover "Emergencies", a double solo show by internationally renowned contemporary artists Lia and Dan Perjovschi.

The exhibition presents aspects of the artists' research in the last 35 years, bringing two distinct and complementary perspectives on the realities, complexities and challenges of the present. The fascinating works of Lia Perjovschi, grouped under the title "Survival Kit" (selection from the "Museum of Knowledge"), meet in harmony with the impactful creations of Dan Perjovschi, presented in the "Press Stress" section.

"Emergencies" is a research of the contemporary world in which two distinct but complementary artistic visions intertwine, separate or merge. The exhibition as a museum of knowledge and the exhibition as a newspaper. The bird view and the daily newspaper in the same space. – states Lia and Dan Perjovschi.

"The exhibition brings together two interconnected perspectives, highlighting knowledge, creativity and survival in a contemporary context. Under the concepts of 'Survival Kit' and 'Press Stress', Lia and Dan Perjovschi bring to the forefront deep visions of the realities and challenges of today's world:

In the 'Press Stress' section, Dan Perjovschi gathers the worlds-pages of the press into a puzzle of today's society. Here, the world is changing, the printed media is disappearing, but the stress remains constant. Through his creation, the artist offers a deep perspective on social changes and the impact of the information environment on everyday life.

The exhibition space, transformed into a huge mental map, is organized by Lia Perjovschi around some thematic cores that address specific topics of the 21st century. 'Survival kit' offers a bird's eye view of the current century, bringing into discussion humanity, alienation and various strategies of survival. In an inventory of the present time, themes such as climate change, globalization and technological developments become parts of a huge puzzle", explains Alexandra Ilnițchi-Ardelean (PR&Communication at Brașov Art Museum).

Dan Perjovschi offers a deep picture of social changes and the impact of the information environment on everyday life:

"Every day something happens. On the street where this museum is, in the city where this museum is, on this continent or somewhere in the Milky Way. Every day a butterfly flaps its wings. For me, the newspaper page is the whole world. "Press Stress" gathers the world-pages in a puzzle of contemporary society, with its tragedies, its heroisms and its barbarisms. The world is changing, print media is disappearing, stress remains. This 'remains' is the subject of my art. An art poor in means, but rich in meaning" - emphasizes the artist.

More about the artists

Lia and Dan Perjovschi were born in 1961 in Sibiu, Romania, attended the same School and Art High School (1970-1980) and got married in 1983. They live and work in Sibiu, but also in the rest of the world. Their artistic works have been exhibited in hundreds of exhibitions and festivals in Romania and internationally. They exhibited together at public cultural institutions such as: Total Museum Seoul, Rupert Vilnius, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Tranzit.ro Cluj, Espaivizor Valencia, IFA Berlin & Stuttgart and galleries such as Christine Koenig Wien, Michel Rein Paris, Kula Split. In 2007, the artists had a comprehensive retrospective exhibition at the Nasher Museum at Duke University.

With an artistic career spanning over 30 years, Dan Perjovschi has developed his own distinctive, stripped-down visual language that condenses intricate subjects without removing the complexity of reality. As an artist and journalist, his artistic practice developed as a form of "visual journalism". From the collaboration with Revista 22 since the 90s to the work "Ziarul Orizontal", a 30-meter public wall in Sibiu that he has been developing with new artistic content for over 10 years, the artist expresses his vision of contemporary society through drawings .

Lia Perjovschi, is the founder and coordinator of CAA CAA (Contemporary Art Archive and Center for Art Analysis) and KM (Knowledge Museum), an interdisciplinary research project. He has participated in more than 700 exhibitions, conferences and workshops worldwide. His diverse artistic practice reflects a journey from his physical body to the universal body of knowledge, characterized by a wide diversity of mediums of expression.

The exhibition can be visited until April 30.

Photos by Brașov Art Museum

art historians

ICMA talk on the Autoethnographic turn, a recent concept in art theory that “rely on personal/subjective while conducting research or making art”

June 09, 2022 | Cosmina Marcela OLTEAN ArtPage

ICMA Institute for Multidisciplinary Research of UNAGE Iasi organized on Thursday, June 2nd, a discussion between art historian Mirela Tanta (Millikin University, USA) and visual artist Smaranda Ursuleanu (Iasi, RO), event moderated by Cristian Nae.

The main questions that were answered during the meeting were “What is autoethnography and how are present-day artists, curators, social scientists, and art historians using autoethnography in their research and artistic practices?” Autoethnography, a recent concept debated by todays art theory, is defined as “an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyze personal experience in order to understand cultural experience.” (Carolyn Ellis, Tony E. Adams &, Arthur P. Bochner, Autoethnography: An Overview, 2010).

“In other words, doing autoethnography means to rely on personal/subjective while conducting research or making art. It is also a phenomenological quest which brings the body and its unique, and therefore personal, experiences to the forefront of research. Autoethnography allows for multiple voices and challenges the myth of objectivity or truth with capital T. Instead, it affirms that the ability to understand the other is conditioned by our willingness to understand ourselves”, pointed out assoc.prof. Cristian Nae, art critic.
”Mirela Tanta’s interest in autoethnography in art history seeks to connect the personal story to the official history. She invites artists to consider the following questions/statements as a starting point for talking about their own artistic practice and research methods: Why now? Why is autoethnography such a recent method? Are there any limitations when using autoethnography?
Autoethnography also means “relational ethics” (researchers do not exist in a vacuum). Is autoethnography solution for a crisis of representation? Is this possible, to have research that is rigorous and emotional?”, he added.
The discussion took place at the Faculty of Visual Arts and Design of UNAGE Iasi and was broadcasted on Microsoft Teams and live on the Facebook page of ICMA.

The art historian

Mirela Tanta is currently a Fulbright Scholar researching contemporary artistic and curatorial practices addressing women’s reproductive rights in Romania. She is an Associate Professor of Art History at Millikin University. Dr. Tanta completed her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) with a focus in Modern and Contemporary Art, Socialist Realism, and Gender Studies. Prior to Millikin, she taught at Loyola University, Columbia College Chicago, North Central College and UIC. Her interest in the ways in which underrepresented, ephemeral, and personal art objects can empower the individual to become a maker of knowledge informs her poetry as well as her research and teaching. She received awards and fellowships from the UI-Chicago (Institute for the Humanities Dissertation Fellowship, The Dean’s Scholar Award), Mellon Foundation (CLIR) (Mellon Fellowships for Dissertation Research in Original Sources) and New York ArtsLink Program (International Writing Program at the University of Iowa).

The artist

Smaranda Ursuleanu (b. 1995) is a graduate of the Faculty of Visual Arts and Design in Iași (UNAGE, specializing in Mural Art). In 2016, she was awarded an Erasmus+ scholarship at Novia University of Applied Sciences, Fine Arts Program (Jakobstad, Finland) and in 2021 at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, The School of Conceptual and Contextual Practices, Copenhagen (DK). Smaranda renders stereotypes and social taboos concerning identity and sexuality in subversive, usually feminist visual representations, multiplied and transposed in space through various techniques. Selected exhibitions: Lay Me Down Across The Lines, Kunsthalle Bega, Timișoara (2019), Libidoland 2, apARTe Gallery, Iaşi (2019), ppm#4 copy art show, Aici Acolo Pop up Gallery, Cluj-Napoca (2019), Soon this body will be still, MATCA Art Space, Cluj-Napoca (2019) Common Space - Images, Stories, Voices, Art Encounters Foundation, ISHO House, Timișoara (2018), Where do we go from here?, Salonul de Proiecte, Bucharest (2018), Art Encounters Biennial. Life A User’s Manual 2nd edition, 2017, Timișoara (2017).

About ICMA

ICMA acts as a catalyst for advanced knowledge and artistic experimentation promoting intersectional research in the history and theory of visual arts, music and performing arts, as well as in the field of artistic research.

The Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Art (ICMA) encourages the analysis of the forms and practices of artistic knowledge developed in modern and contemporary art, and in a broader sense, in contemporary culture and society. ICMA conducts research projects in partnership with institutions of higher education, of research and development, as well as with other institutions that produce and promote artistic events.

ICMA also seeks to contribute to the intellectual dynamics of the University by organizing conferences, seminars, exhibitions, publications, workshops and performance events. Constituting a separate department within the George Enescu National University of the Arts, ICMA therefore acts as a link between the Research Centers and the existing Doctoral Schools within the institution.

art research

"Inside we are all pink" by Carolina Acosta

April 18, 2022 | Analía Vallejo Larrea

The new exhibition of Carolina Acosta (Eug), is part of the Residency Project La Pajarera, of the visual arts degree at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Ecuador. This residency took place from November 2021 to March 2022. It’s one of the permanent programs of the Parterre Gallery, which seeks to establish a dynamic space for creation that dialogues with the pedagogical processes linked to the arts. This exhibition is the final product of the residency.

Before I die I want to stop being sad (2020) by Carolina Acosta (Eug)

Carolina Acosta has been working for several years in the production and distribution of art, both on the streets and in galleries. She is co-founder of the cultural management and graphic self-publishing collective Zeptika, with which she manages cultural events focused on the creation, commercialization and distribution of graphic art. She is also a member of Rey Neblina, a graphic printing and distribution collective.

With her proposal, Carolina works on topics such as trauma, vulnerability, unpleasantness, corporality, among many other conceptions. In this way, for the development of her work, the artist bases her research in the fields of medicine and psychology.

Before I die I want to stop being sad (2020) by Carolina Acosta

In this way, she takes a journey into the visceral elements of the human body, hence the beautiful analogy of the exhibition title, Por dentro todos somos rosados (Inside we are all pink).

Doble circular cord (2019) by Carolina Acosta

Through her artworks, we can see a constant contrast of elements, the pleasant and the unpleasant, the real and the unreal, life and death, soft and hard, hope and the lack of it, all this through the clear delimitation between what is inside the body and the outside world that surrounds it.

In this exhibition we can find multiple techniques, Carolina starts from illustration, however, she uses other media such as engraving, sculpture or installation, creating a questioning space that immerses you in an aesthetic experience, where the viewer faces their own vulnerabilities.

Before I die I want to stop being sad (2020) by Carolina Acosta

Her illustrations seek to reflect the physiological changes generated by anxiety disorders, and how living through a traumatic episode can affect you to unthinkable levels. This is achieved thanks to a detailed study of the human body.

Image: Carrera de artes visuales PUCE

With her work Doble circular cord, the artist reflects on the fragility of life from its first moments and the inevitability of death. Starting from the fact that asphyxia with the umbilical cord is one of the main fetal deaths at the time of childbirth, Carolina proposes the idea that it is the impulse to live that necessarily leads us to the encounter with death.

Doble circular cord (2019) by Carolina Acosta

We also found an installation, which seeks to emulate intestines made of nylon and down, when the viewer approaches it can hear a sound environment, where the viscera tell you something you do not want to hear, which happens when your body gets sick.

Image: Carrera de artes visuales PUCE

Carolina Acosta's work is extremely honest, where reality distorts appearances to give meaning to life experiences. For this reason, she is a provocative artist, seeking to question the viewer with her crude but particularly beautiful artwork.

Along with the collection of Carolina Acosta, there are also the artworks of Moisés Yunga Veintimilla with his exhibition Fluctuations, who was also part of the Residence La Pajarera.

Fluctuations (2022) by Moises Yunga

Moises Yunga, on the other hand, raises the fundamental union between art and science, in this way, in his work he investigates the physical phenomena that are present in our daily life, but that are usually ignored, such as gravity, for example. In this way, his intention is to understand how nature works, why certain things develop in a specific way and not in another, and then translates all this research into visual language.

Image: Carrera de artes visuales PUCE

In Fluctuations, Moises presents both contemporary drawing and video art, and is dedicated to studying the conception of time, thus presenting a large-format drawing where he captures the movement of people in their daily lives. On the other hand, through video art he investigates concepts related to time such as biological time or movement.