urmăreşte o zi din viaţa a două categorii de oameni: o familie de noi îmbogăţiţi ...
7 artistic bazându-se pe spaţiu deschis, umor şi curaj. Pentru WAKEFIELD.
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WAKEFIELD MEADOWS
Impuls teoretic / sisteme de vieţuire şi non-locuri WAKEFIELD MEADOWS este un mediu de viaţă artificial, care a fost generat de experienţele reale ale curatorului şi ale artiştilor, şi recreat în spaţiul Pavilion Unicredit. WAKEFIELD MEADOWS explorează convenţiile sociale şi sistemele de viaţă contemporane artificiale şi supra-saturate, prinse în obsesia turbinei istorice, incapabile să meargă mai departe – clişee ale vieţii zilnice, familia de mijloc capitalistă şi underground-ul social, super-structurile consumeriste, traiectoria informaţiilor secretizate şi piaţa de artă invazivă. Aceste aspecte ale modului de viaţă contemporan sunt văzute ca prelungiri ale non-locurilor, identificate de către Marc Augé în cartea sa Non-locurile – Introducere în Antropologia supermodernităţii. El declara că în cazul în care ‘locul poate fi definit ca relaţional, istoric şi preocupat de identitate, spaţiul care nu poate fi definit ca relaţional, sau istoric, sau preocupat de identitate va fi un non-loc‘. Non-locuri, cum ar fi hotelul, supermarket-ul, aeroportul, autostrada, staţia de benzină sau spaţiul creat în faţa unei opere de artă, a scenei, televizorului, calculatorului sau casei de marcat, ‘sunt spaţii temporare pentru trecere, comunicare şi consum‘. Dezbatere curatorială / Wakefield Unul dintre punctele de la care a pornit dezbaterea curatorială a fost cazul lui Wakefield, ‘personajul universal‘ din povestirea cu acelaşi titlu a lui Nathaniel Hawthorne. Într-o zi, Wakefield şi-a părăsit casa şi soţia, revenind după 20 de ani ca şi cum nimic nu s-ar fi întâmplat, continuând să îşi trăiască viaţa ca şi până atunci. Morala povestirii: ‘În mijlocul confuziei aparente din lumea noastră misterioasă, indivizii sunt atât de uşor de ataşat unui sistem, şi sistemele unul altuia, apoi întregului, încât, în momentul în care un individ păşeşte pentru o clipă în afara sistemului, se expune riscului de a-şi pierde locul pentru totdeauna’ (fragment preluat din Wakefield de Nathaniel Hawthorne, în traducere liberă). Dintr-o perspectivă contemporană, putem încerca să aflăm care este motivul plecării lui Wakefield şi care este motivul întoarcerii sale. Este posibil să fi plecat pentru că nu era mulţumit cu viaţa sa, dorea să aducă o schimbare radicală sau să îşi ia timp pentru a medita asupra direcţiei în care avea să evolueze. Dar în tot acest timp, Wakefield nu a părăsit cartierul său. 2
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solitară’ (Marc Augé), până la momentul epuizării, când a fost nevoit să se întoarcă la logica iniţială. Orice sistem vital, după ce ajunge la punctul de exces, se va epuiza şi va fi înlocuit de o formă diferită a aceluiaşi sistem.
Adrien Tirtiaux, entry in the Swiss power plant where the artist used to work, 2009
Şi-a observat în linişte casa, soţia, apoi, la un moment dat, a decis să se întoarcă. Din punctul de vedere al soţiei sale, el era mort. Din punctul său de vedere, el nu dispăruse niciodată. Wakefield a devenit o persoană fără identitate, fără casă, fără responsabilităţi, fără speranţe şi sentimente. Nu aparţinea nimănui; timpul era îngheţat. Wakefield şi-a creat o non-identitate şi un non-loc, o stare tranzitorie care i-a oferit şansa să îşi trăiască viaţa în anonimitate, incertitudine şi ‘contractualitate 2
Motivaţie artistică / WAKEFIELD MEADOWS Artiştii prezenţi în expoziţie, având în comun background-ul geografic, istoric şi ideologic al axei Central Europene, şi-au apropriat condiţia umană a lui Wakefield, după întoarcerea sa, în cel de-al 20-lea an şi s-au infiltrat în medii aparent închise, devenind persoanele de legătură din interior. Artiştii selectaţi, pe lângă referirea vizuală strictă la concept, au reacţionat prin oferirea de soluţii şi cadre noi la problematica expusă. Journal for Northeast Issues, iniţiat de grupul artistic german projektgruppe / Monika Wucher şi Christoph Rauch este o platformă teoretică care îşi propune ‘să discute şi să reafirme critic ‘poziţia naturală’ a unor regiuni şi naţiuni, împreună cu presupunerile şi expectanţele generate de acest cadru, cu accent pe zonele de periferie ale Europei, regiunea nordică şi statele post-comuniste. Editorii invită artişti şi teoreticieni să îşi asume imaginea şi şabloanele identitare care reprezintă mediul lor zilnic, iar rezultatele acestei cercetări sunt adunate în fiecare număr al jurnalului. Realităţile zilnice stimulează dezvoltarea unor puncte de vedere diferite asupra motivaţiilor, căilor de comunicare, conţinutului şi obiectivelor proiectelor sociale, urbane şi artistice într-un context global. Sunt oferite alte perspective de gândire, opunând influenţei conservatoare a linearităţii o citire progresivă a dezvoltării artei şi societăţii’. (Alexandra Köhring şi Monika Wucher) În contextul proiectului WAKEFIELD MEADOWS, projektgruppe va lansa ultimul număr al Journal for Northeast Issues, 5-6, 2009, care conţine următoarele secţiuni: cityscape, orientare, spaţiu de locuire, standarde culturale, vecinătăţi în schimbare, dezvoltare urbană, perspectivă istorică, floră şi faună, servicii, împreună cu texte de: Ryan Griffis / Parking Public – The Storage of Utopia, Jokinen / Colonial Monuments and Participative Art – Cultures of Remembrance, Myths, Anti-theses, Inversions, Esther Meier / Visual Change in the Soviet “City of the Future” – Naberezhnye Chelny sau Société Réaliste / Ministère de l’Architecture - Transitory Free Zones. În susţinerea acestei platforme teoretice, în interiorul Pavilion Resource Room se va prezenta o selecţie de materiale vizuale pregătite de Miklós Erhardt, Attila Menesi şi Christoph Rauch. 3
Adrian Alecu, the kitchen of the vegetarian restaurant where the artist served as a waiter from 2005 to 2006 SOSka Group, Outside view of the SOSka laboratory, Kharkiv, Ukraine, 2008
Adrian Alecu a părăsit România în 1990, când era încă elev de liceu. Până în 2002, când a decis să studieze artele vizuale la Hamburg, Adrian Alecu a cunoscut greutăţile unui imigrant într-un mediu european în transformare. A fost nevoit să ia totul de la început, să se schimbe pe el însuşi şi să se conecteze la un nou sistem de viaţă. De fiecare dată când Adrian Alecu vine în România, plănuieşte filme în care personajele sunt membri ai familiei sale sau prieteni. Aceasta este metoda prin care ţine persoanele apropiate la curent cu noua sa viaţă – un cetăţean româno-german întreprinzător şi creativ. Zimbru, lucrarea video pe care Adrian Alecu o va prezenta în cadrul expoziţiei, urmăreşte o zi din viaţa a două categorii de oameni: o familie de noi îmbogăţiţi şi un grup ‘de băieţi duri de cartier’; ‘capitaliştii’ duc o existenţă organizată şi confortabilă, fără a fi însă capabili să comunice sau să se înţeleagă între ei. Pe de altă parte, lumea de underground dezbate dileme filosofice în timp 4
ce găseşte soluţii pentru a-şi proteja teritoriul. Porţiuni din film tăiate într-o manieră hollywood-iană alternează cu material filmat brut, scene cu un puternic conţinut politic şi social sunt continuate de acţiuni şi conversaţii paradoxale. Povestea de fond este istoria zimbrului care a dispărut în urmă cu câteva secole, dar a fost introdus în mod artificial, pentru a rămâne pururea în exil, departe de influenţa directă a omului. Olivia Mihălţianu s-a implicat în proiectul WAKEFIELD MEADOWS combinând experienţa personală cu date teoretice. Între anii 2005 – 2006, Olivia Mihălţianu a trăit şi a lucrat în S.U.A., asumându-şi diverse identităţi. La PAVILION UNICREDIT, artista va prezenta una dintre ultimele ei lucrări video, filmată cu camera ascunsă în locaţiile unde a lucrat în timpul acelui an: Stein Mart, 7-11 sau hotelurile din Virginia Beach. Felul în care foloseşte camera este dinamic şi emancipatoriu, chiar dacă perspectiva artistică generală este intimă şi vulnerabilă. Imaginile video surprind o Olivia Mihălţianu enigmatică care îşi schimbă în mod constant rolul, de la menajera timidă dintr-un hotel la o ‘angajată a lunii’ plină de încredere. Olivia a intrat în partea nevăzută a structurilor capitaliste de referinţă, dezvăluind o realitate statică, supra-dimensionată şi impersonală, fără identitate sau limite spaţiale. Împreună cu lucrarea video, artista a înregistrat şi o instalaţie de sunet cu conţinutul: ‘Este o zi minunată la WAKEFIELD MEADOWS. Eu sunt Olivia. Cum vă pot ajuta?’. Filmul şi instalaţia de sunet fac parte dintr-o instalaţie site-specific intitulată Art Miles care sugerează interiorul unei săli de aşteptare din faţa unui terminal, un mediu simulat, comprimat şi aparent controlat, un adevărat non-loc, lăsat mereu deschis şi fără asistenţă. Grupul artistic ucrainian SOSka (Mykola Ridnyi, Ganna Kriventsova, Serhiy Popov) a pregătit pentru proiectul de la PAVILION UNICREDIT o nouă instalaţie video intitulată Memorial, rezultatul unor sesiuni de documentare foto şi video petrecute într-un sat ucrainian. ‘Eroii lucrării sunt femei în vârstă, păstrătoarele ritualului autentic al bocetului de înmormântare, un ritual având origini păgâne şi respins de religia modernă. Am pregătit un slide-show bazat pe istoria artei secolului 20, unde am selectat debutul condiţional al artei contemporane – ’Fântâna’ lui Marcel Duchamp. Începutul noului secol este întotdeauna o perioadă de evaluare. Aşadar, simbolul pentru ‘sfârşitul artei’ a devenit craniul cu diamante al lui Damien Hirst. Criza economică globală a fost catalizatorul căderii pieţei de 5
artă şi a declanşat reconsiderarea valorilor istoriei artei. Câteva noţiuni vitale trebuie să fie reconsiderate. Poate să existe arta contemporană în afara pieţei? Putem să vorbim într-adevăr despre moartea artei? Din dorinţa de a conferi acestor întrebări o formă metaforică, am rugat bocitoarele să îşi exercite ritualul asupra câtorva dintre imaginile iconice ale ultimului secol’. (SOSkagroup) Lui Adrien Tirtiaux îi place să producă tensiune prin lucrările lui care dezvăluie un puternic conţinut social. Departe de ideologii învechite, artistul s-a îndepărtat de exclusivitatea formelor vizuale şi şi-a construit discursul
Christoph Rauch, Hotel Umbau - Hotel renewal/refurbishment, photo documentation at Hotel Baseler Hof, Hamburg, 1997
artistic bazându-se pe spaţiu deschis, umor şi curaj. Pentru WAKEFIELD MEADOWS, de la centrala nucleară unde lucrează, Adrien Tirtiaux plănuieşte o instalaţie site-specific, care să dezvăluie, într-un spirit artistic activist, mecanisme interne necontrolate şi uitate. Instalaţia în sine a fost concepută ca o surpriză. În urma discuţiilor curator – artist, s-a decis ca întregul demers să se petreacă spontan şi lipsit de orice limitare instituţională. ‘Demersul meu este contextual. Aproape toate proiectele mele sunt o reacţie la fondul social, cultural şi arhitectural al locului în care se petrec. Intervenţiile pe care le fac în spaţii publice sau semi-publice (de exemplu, clădiri abandonate) sunt rezultatul analizei circumstanţelor locale, precum şi a percepţiei mele asupra oraşului în care lucrez. Sunt interesat de conceptualismul care lasă spaţiu liber pentru estetica şi naraţiunea venite din exterior, pentru situaţii neprevăzute, pentru o anumită formă de poezie.. O căutare similară a autonomiei în artă apare în proiectele pe care le desfăşor în spaţiul public prin aproprierea unui teren nefolosit sau a unei străzi cu mijloacele reduse pe care le am la dispoziţie. Această abordare modestă generează adesea proiecte efemere pe care le percep ca pe o cale de a scăpa de legitimizarea venită din partea pieţei de artă sau a instituţiilor..’. (Adrien Tirtiaux) Anca Mihuleţ
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WAKEFIELD MEADOWS
Theoretical impulse / Living systems and non-places WAKEFIELD MEADOWS is an artificial living environment that was generated by the real life experiences of the curator and of the artists, created inside the space of PAVILION UNICREDIT. WAKEFIELD MEADOWS explores the inside of some of today’s oversaturated and artificial living systems and social conventions, caught in an obsessive historical turbine and unable to move forward - every-day life clichés, the middle class capitalist family and the social underground, the consumerist super-structures, the trajectory of classified information and the invasive art market. These aspects of the contemporary way of living are seen as extensions of the non-places, identified by Marc Augé in his book Non-places – Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity. He declares that ‘If place can be defined as relational, historical and concerned with identity, then a space which can not be defined as relational, or historical, or concerned with identity will be a non-place’. Non-places, like the hotel, the supermarket, the airport, the motorway, the gas station or the space created in front of a work of art, the scene or the TV, the computer and the cash machine, ‘are temporary spaces for passage, communication and consumption’. Curatorial debate / Wakefield One of the starting points of the curatorial debate was the case of Wakefield, the ‘universal character’ from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story with the same title. One day, Wakefield left his house and his wife and then returned after 20 years as if nothing had happened, carrying on with his normal existence. The moral of the story: ‘Amid the seeming confusion of our mysterious world, individuals are so nicely adjusted to a system, and systems to one another, and to a whole, that, by stepping aside for a moment, a man exposes himself to a fearful risk of losing his place forever.’ (excerpt from Wakefield by Nathaniel Hawthorne) From a contemporary perspective, we may try to find out why Wakefield left and why Wakefield returned. He might have left because he was not happy with his life, he wanted to make a radical change or he wanted to take time-off and have a clear overview of the direction in which he was going. But in all this time, Wakefield never 8
stepped outside of his neighborhood. He quietly observed his house, his wife and then, out of the sudden, he decided to come back. From his wife’s point of view, he was dead. From his point of view, he had never disappeared. Wakefield became a person without an identity, without a home, without responsibilities, without hopes or feelings. He didn’t belong to anything and to anyone; time was frozen. Wakefield had created himself a non-identity and a non-place, a transitory state that offered him the chance to partially live his life, in anonymity, uncertainty and ‘solitary contractuality’ (Marc Augé), until the point of exhaustion, when he was forced to come back to the initial logic. Any vital system, after reaching the point of excess, will exhaust itself and will be replaced by a different form of the same system.
Artistic motivation / WAKEFIELD MEADOWS The artists featured in the exhibition, all having in common the geographical, historical and ideological background of the Central European axis, appropriated the human condition of Wakefield, the misplaced individual, after his return, in the 20th year and infiltrated in apparent sealed environments, becoming insiders. The selected artists, apart from the strict visual reference to the concept, have reacted to the processed issues by offering new contexts and solutions. The Journal for Northeast Issues, initiated by the German artistic group projektgruppe / Monika Wucher and Christoph Rauch is a theoretical platform that aims ‘to discuss and to reassert critically the ‘natural position’ of regions and nations and the assumptions and expectations called up by this frame, with an emphasis on the so-called peripheral nations of Europe, the Nordic region and the post-1989 Eastern countries. The editors call upon artists and theorists to take up the image and identity patterns which stand for their daily surroundings; the results form each issue of the Journal. Everyday realities are the starting point here for the views on motives, ways of communication, content and goals of social, urban and art projects in a global context. They offer other ways of thinking, opposing the lingering influence of a linear, progressive reading of the development of art and society’. (Alexandra Köhring and Monika Wucher). In the frames of the project WAKEFIELD MEADOWS, projektgruppe will launch the latest number of the Journal for Northeast Issues, 5-6, 2009 with the following sections: cityscape, orientation, living space, cultural standards, 9
Olivia Mihălţianu, surveillance photography at The Copes Hotel, Virginia Beach, U.S.A., 2006 Andrei Codrescu, Morning-after, La Quinta Hotel on an anonymous road in the U.S.A., photograph taken for WAKEFIELD MEADOWS, 2009
changing neighborhoods, urban development, historical view, flora and fauna, services and with texts by: Ryan Griffis / Parking Public – The Storage of Utopia, Jokinen / Colonial Monuments and Participative Art – Cultures of Remembrance, Myths, Anti-theses, Inversions, Esther Meier / Visual Change in the Soviet “City of the Future” – Naberezhnye Chelny or Société Réaliste / Ministère de l’Architecture - Transitory Free Zones. As a visual support for this theoretical platform, a selection of videos and photography by Miklós Erhardt, Attila Menesi and Christoph Rauch will be presented inside Pavilion Resource Room. Adrian Alecu left Romania in 1990, while he was still a high-school pupil. Until 2002, when he decided to study art in Hamburg, Adrian Alecu faced the immigrant hardships in an under-transformation European environment. He was forced to take everything from the beginning, to rapidly change and connect to a new living system. Each time Adrian Alecu comes to Romania, he stages videos in which the characters are members of his family and friends. This is his way of keeping them connected to his new life – a hard-working Romanian-German citizen and a creative self. Zimbru, the video work that Adrian Alecu will present during the exhibition, follows one day in the life of two different categories of people: a family of 10
new rich and a group of neighborhood tough guys; the capitalists lead a comfortable organized existence, but without being able to communicate or to understand each other and the underworld faced philosophical dilemmas while protecting their territory. Hollywood-like film cuts alternate with raw shot material, scenes with a strong political and social content are continued by paradoxical actions and conversations, having as background concept the story of the bison that became extinct many centuries ago, but was artificially reintroduced to remain forever in exile, protected from human interference. Olivia Mihălţianu approached the project WAKEFIELD MEADOWS combining personal experience with theoretical data. Between the years 2005 – 2006, Olivia Mihălţianu lived and worked in the U.S.A., constantly changing the location and the working-place, assuming other identities. At PAVILION UNICREDIT, the artist will present one of her latest videos, filmed with the hidden-camera in the different locations where she worked during that year: Stein Mart, 7-11 or the hotels on Virginia Beach. Her use of the camera is dynamic and emancipatory, although the over-all artistic perspective is intimate and vulnerable. The images in the video show an enigmatic Olivia Mihălţianu that changes her role, from a shy hotel maid to a self-confident employee of the month. She had entered the unseen part of the successful capitalist milestones, displaying a static, over-sized and impersonal reality, without identity or space limits. The video, together with a sound installation with the content: ‘It’s a great day at WAKEFIELD MEADOWS. This is Olivia. How can I help you?’ will be part of a larger space installation, entitled Art Miles, suggesting the traces of a service desk and of a waiting-room in front of a terminal, a simulated, compressed and apparently controlled environment, the genuine non-place, always left opened and unattended. The Ukrainian artistic group SOSka (Mykola Ridnyi, Ganna Kriventsova, Serhiy Popov) prepared for the project at PAVILION UNICREDIT a new video installation called Memorial, the result of the photo and video shootings lead in an Ukrainian village. ‘The heroes of the work are old women, keepers of the authentic ritual of funeral crying, a ritual having pagan roots and rejected by modern religion. A slideshow on the history of art of the 20th century was prepared, having selected the conditional beginning of contemporary art – Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’. The beginning of a new century is always a period of summarizing. So, the symbol 11
of ‘the end of art’ has been designated to ‘The Diamond Skull’ by Damien Hirst. The global economic crisis catalyzed the falling of the art market and pushed to the reconsideration of values in the history of arts. Some vital issues have to be reconsidered. Can contemporary art exist outside the market? Can we really speak about the death of art? Wishing to give these questions a metaphorical form, we have asked the village crying women to practice their ritual above the iconic art images of the past century’. (SOSkagroup) Adrien Tirtiaux enjoys bringing tension with his works that reveal a high social content. Apart from obsolete ideologies, the artist sets himself free from the exclusiveness of visual forms, constructing his artistic discourse based on open space, humor and audacity. For WAKEFIELD MEADOWS, from the Swiss power plant where he has been working, Adrien Tirtiaux has planed a site-specific installation that reveals uncontrolled and forgotten inner mechanisms in an artistic activist spirit. The installation itself was conceived as a surprise. Following the curator - artist discussions, it was decided that the entire approach should happen spontaneously and without any institutional limitation. ‘My approach is contextual. Nearly all my projects react on the specific social, cultural and architectural background in which they take place. The interventions that I make in public or semi-public spaces (abandoned buildings for example) result from an analysis of local circumstances, as well as from my perception of the city I am working in. I am interested in conceptualism that leaves open space for external aesthetics and narratives, for unpredictable circumstances, for a certain form of poetry.. A similar quest for autonomy appears in my public space projects through appropriation of wasteland or of the street with the small means that I have at my disposal. This humble approach often results in ephemeral projects that I see as another way to help art escape legitimizing the market, and the institution..’. (Adrien Tirtiaux) Anca Mihuleţ
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During a discussion with the SOSka group in 2008, they told me that they are in search for utopias and they enjoy mixing realities. And that is the reason why they travel to remote places, discovering isolated people and villages situated thousand of kilometers away. The artists become part of these places through contemporary methods, by desacrilizing iconic imagery and by simply mixing different layers of culture, society or every-day life.
Lecture by Boris Mikhailov in ‘gallery-laboratory SOSka’, Kharkiv, 2009 Opening of the ‘gallery-laboratory SOSka’, Kharkiv, 2005 14
Serhiy Popov, Washer, fragment of installation in ‘gallery-laboratory SOSka’, Kharkiv, 2008 15
Mykola Ridnyi, Lay and wait, video documentation of action near the German Embassy in Kyiv, 3’50’’, 2006
Barter, video, DV, PAL, 7’08’’, 2007 16
from the Dreamers series, color photography, 100x150 cm, 2008 Mykola Ridnyi, Provisions, bags, grocery, wood, variable size, installation in Regina gallery, Moskow, 2009 17
Memorial, color photography / variable size and video installation, DV, PAL, 5’40”, 2009 (produced within the frames of WAKEFIELD MEADOWS) 18
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What is interesting about Adrian Alecu’s films is that almost all talk about Romania, sometimes critically, sometimes in funny terms, but offering the viewer such a real and fresh perspective about the un-seen layer of a post-communist country. The artist’s visual interest is positive, almost didactic, but not at all comfortable; reality is used and shown as it is, vulnerable, aggressive, constraining... Adrian Alecu uses the various components of film making / film, shot, sound, installation, the debates behind the screen or the sets / as being part of the work itself. In this context, the artistic approach becomes transparent, lacking aesthetic limitations.
Zimbru, video, mini DV, Hi8, color, stereo, 25’, 2005
COMON SAVA, film, 35 mm, color, stereo, 14’, 2003 20
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behind the scene from Antonio greets the stars, 2007 22
Fahrt, film, 16 mm, color, stereo, 3’16’’, 2003 23
Art Miles is the title of the installation that Olivia Mihălţianu has created for WAKEFIELD MEADOWS. Olivia, that usually constructs her works as daily journals, starts to act and react to the situations around her: she documents places that are hidden from the viewer’s eye, she enters people’s intimacy, she observes details that should not be observed, she plays with her identity… and this is the sort of game that we all want to enjoy at some point. ‘Art miles expresses the artistic path, as interaction between creation and consumption. The artistic product, with its material and spiritual aspects turns into reality when perceived. The entire process is relying on the desalienating function of creation.’, as the artist declares.
Activate your art miles card
from the series Lost City / Freising, Germany, video, loop, variable-length, DV, PAL, 2008
Card no: Name: City:
e-mail: Please cut and fill in the application form. You can activate it by sending it to PAVILION UNICREDIT, PO Box 26-0390, Bucharest 014800, Romania or by accessing www.artmiles.net. 24
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from the series Lost City / Victoria, Romania, video, loop, variable-length, DV, PAL, 2009 from the series Lost City / Rozhen, Bulgaria, video, loop, variable-length, DV, PAL, 2009 from the series Lost City / Freising, Germany, video, loop, variable-length, DV, PAL, 2008
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Anyone but Me, Anywhere but Here, installation view, The Contemporary Art Gallery of the National Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, 2008 Anyone but Me, Anywhere but Here, exhibition detail with various personal items and objects selected from the Brukenthal Collection 28
Customer Service, fragment from the two-channel video installation Art Miles, work-in-progress, DV, PAL, 2006-2009, produced for WAKEFIELD MEADOWS 29
Island, video, 7’15’’, DV, PAL, 2008 (video produced within the frames of the project Anyone but Me, Anywhere but Here) 30
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Adrien Tirtiaux is fascinated by white walls and risky artistic actions. He goes beyond the exhibition space, the concept and the theories generated by the concept. His every-day life experiences are always reflected in his art, while the influence of the Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader who was lost at sea in the 70’s is visible in Adrien’s idealistic spirit and his desire to seek new and daring artistic approaches. While doing my research for WAKEFIELD MEADOWS, I was interested in Adrien’s ability to play with visual codes and to produce spontaneous and ephemeral site-specific installations.
First try of the prototype shoes for Venice, public performance, Venice, 2005. Courtesy Galerie Martin Janda 32
It‘s a long way to the sea, itinerant performance, Sign, Groningen, 2006. Courtesy Galerie Martin Janda 33
It’s a long way to the sea, excerpts from documentation slide show, 2006. Courtesy Galerie Martin Janda 34
Ma place au soleil, video, DV, PAL, 1‘41“, 2007. Courtesy Galerie Martin Janda 35
On entend la mer, two-channel video serial, DV, PAL, 8’35’’,2006-2007. Courtesy Galerie Martin Janda 36
Ein Sonntag im Museum: Einblicke in die Sammlung Weiser, intervention in the former Weiser meat production factory, in collaboration with Hannes Zebedin, Vienna, 2007-2008. Courtesy Galerie Martin Janda and the artists 37
After the snow, installation (framework, pedestal, flyers), Das Weisse Haus, Vienna, 2007. Courtesy Galerie Martin Janda 38
The moon palace, excerpt from comic, typewriter and marker on paper, A4, 2006. Courtesy Galerie Martin Janda 39
The moon palace, installation (cardboard, wood, diverse personal objects, comic), the artist‘s bedroom in Vienna, 2006. Courtesy Galerie Martin Janda and the artist 40
My Land Art Attempts, comic series, Djupavik, Island, 2009. Courtesy Galerie Martin Janda (first published for WAKEFIELD MEADOWS)
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projektgruppe was formed by Monika Wucher and Christoph Rauch 15 years ago as an independent and interdisciplinary artistic and theoretic initiative. Their aim has been to generate projects that have a deep social impact and are not related to a particular space, but to various locations, situations and people from Northeastern and Southeastern Europe. Together with the Journal for Northeast Issues, projektgruppe initiated the Reading Room, a miniatural space for debates, an alternative to institutional practice. The Reading Room changes its identity according to the person who has a lecture in it or to the place where it is taken to. It is always expanding its conceptual limits through the archive of publications and of video works and it is related to the living structure of the journal. Within the frames of WAKEFIELD MEADOWS, projektgruppe will organize the Bucharest Meeting, in an attempt to find solutions to the issues of non-space and non-identity.
Journal for Northeast Issues, Reading Room, Hamburg. Photo Tranquilium Window of the Reading Room. Photo Tranquilium
Reading Room, mobile setting, Hamburg, 2002 46
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Northeast Issues Meeting in Copenhagen, 2003 Northeast Issues Meeting in Berlin, 2003 48
Northeast Issues Meeting in Sankt Petersburg, 2004 Procession by The Journal of Aesthetics & Protest, in collaboration with the Journal for Northeast Issues and Gartenkunstnetz, Hamburg, 2008 49
Urban Contact Zone, contribution Offene Kartierung, Hamburg, 2006. Photo Nikolai Oleinikov 50
Journal for Northeast Issues. A Living Magazine, Kunstverein in Hamburg, exhibition view, 2007. Photo Fred Dott 51
Reading Room, presentation by The California Herb & Spice Company, 2008 52
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WHAT COULD HE BE THINKING TO MAKE HIMSELF BEHAVE LIKE THIS? A PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF HAWTHORNE’S WAKEFIELD / a case study by Aurora Szentagotai and Daniel David Let us imagine that you are sitting in front of the TV listening to the news, when you hear the story of a man who left his family, moved over to the street next to his own house, watched his wife’s life unfold, only to return after twenty years, as if nothing had happened. What would you think of such a man? How would you explain his behavior? What sort of man would behave in such a strange way? The author himself, at the beginning of the story, after giving a summary of the plot, raises the issue of the type of man Wakefield was: ‘…his matrimonial affections, never violent, were sobered into a calm, habitual sentiment; of all husbands, he was likely to be the most constant, because a certain sluggishness would keep his heart at rest, wherever it might be placed. He was intellectual, but not actively so; his mind occupied itself in long and lazy musings, that ended to no purpose, or had not vigor to attain it; his thoughts were seldom so energetic as to seize hold of words. Imagination, in the proper meaning of the term, made no part of Wakefield’s gifts... Had his acquaintances been asked, who was the man in London the surest to perform nothing today which should be remembered on the morrow, they would have thought of Wakefield. Only the wife of his bosom might have hesitated. She … was partly aware of a quiet selfishness that had rusted into his inactive mind; of a peculiar sort of vanity…; and, lastly, of what she called a little strangeness…’ Let us now further imagine that, unknown to the story teller, Mr. Wakefield would sometime, somehow, end up seeing a psychologist. What would a psychologist make out of his behavior? What would be the answer, beyond what we already know, to the question of “what sort of man Wakefield was?” We will approach these questions from the point of view of a cognitive behavioral therapist, developing a case conceptualization, that is, a coherent understanding of the client and his problems. Before we proceed with our analysis, a few words are needed regarding the most important ideas that a cognitive-behavioral therapist would engage in understanding Mr. Wakefield. Our understanding of people and events is shaped by our assumptions. The main assumptions guiding the interpretation of a cognitive behavioral therapist are that: 54
- People’s beliefs systems, both conscious and unconscious, determine their responses, be they affective, behavioral, cognitive or physiological; - Psychological problems are maladaptive responses produced by dysfunctional beliefs, which can be defined as being illogical, non-supported by evidences, and rigid and non-pragmatic, and as reflecting various erroneous thinking processed (e.g., the tendency of exaggerating the negative and discarding the positive); - Dysfunctional beliefs are the result of the person’s learning history and they contribute to the person’s vulnerability to specific problems. The cognitive behavioral theory posits the existence of a hierarchical model of human beliefs, which are organized much like the elements that form a tree. Some of them (i.e., the roots) are buried deep into the ground and impossible too see unless the tree is uprooted, but they filter most of the nutrients that reach the other parts of the tree. In terms of cognitive structures, roots correspond to what are called core beliefs, the deepest and most central category of cognition, which influence our entire outlook on the world. The idea that one is an unlovable person or that one is helpless is an example of such a core belief that would influence most of the individual’s responses and guide his behaviors. Corresponding to the trunk, branches and leaves of the tree, which are easier to see and be influenced by the elements, people also hold more surface beliefs, that are derived of core ones, and are known as (1) intermediate beliefs, such as evaluations/attitudes, conditional assumptions, and life rules and goals, and (2) surface beliefs, such as automatic thoughts. They are less general and are manifested in more specific situations than core beliefs. For example, someone holding the core belief that he/she is an unlovable person, might evaluated it negatively (e.g, “It is awful”) and, to deal with this, might develop an assumption saying that in order to be loved by the others he/she must never upset or contradict them. Someone holding the core belief that the world is a dangerous place, after a negative evaluation of this thought, might set as central goal to avoid anxiety evoking situations at all costs. While generally aware of their surface cognition, people are often not conscious of core beliefs, which function automatically, but have observable affective and behavioral effects. In this respect, Hawthorne is not far from being right in saying that “…Would that I had a 55
folio to write, instead of an article of a dozen pages then might I exemplify how an influence beyond our control lays its strong hand on every deed which we do, and weaves its consequences into an iron tissue of necessity...” Thus, let us now return to Mr. Wakefield and try to analyze his actions through the lenses of the cognitive-behavioral. We believe this will help us answer the question of what he was thinking that led him to such an unusual behavior. Wakefield is an interesting character that seems to struggle not only with dysfunctional thoughts, but also with a mental profile characterized by contradictions between various beliefs that make up his deep and surface cognitive/personality structure, and between the deep and surface cognitive profiles themselves. In terms of his deep cognitive profile (i.e., core beliefs), Wakefield would probably strike the psychologist working with him as characterized by an unstable self-image, reflected in oscillations between self-depreciation tendencies and excessive grandiosity. This means that he is caught in the carrousel of sometimes disliking and sometimes liking himself, which is one of the worst things in terms of self-image. His wife seems to realize that behind the quiet façade, lies selfishness and a peculiar sort of vanity These elements that make up the deep cognitive profile lead to insecurity and dissatisfaction, which can generate behavioral manifestations such as the inactivity and sluggishness that seem to be the constant of Wakefield’s life until the day he decides to leave home. The emotional discomfort that goes with such an instable self image is probably evaluated by Wakefield in negative terms, as being “bad”, “awful” or “intolerable” (attitudes/evaluations), leading to attempts to reduce discomfort. The surface cognitive profile reflects these attempts and is most likely expressed in social conformity, rigid social rules and assumptions formulated in positive terms, such as: “If I behave in a socially accepted manner, people will probably like me”, or in negative terms, such as “If I don’t behave in a socially accepted manner, the others won’t appreciate me”. Therefore, the rule that normally guides Wakefield’s behavior is that he must be socially adequate. However, this rule is actually only a compensation, a façade that hides his core negative beliefs and their associated negative feelings, prone to manifest at any time. Thus, the conflict between the deep and surface cognitive/personality structure and the instability of the relation between the deep and surface cognitive 56
structure make Wakefield very sensitive to environmental provocations. He is practically like a field mine, ready to explode at anytime, but which might not explode at all, or might explode once or several times. Emotions and behaviors guided by this particular cognitive makeup may be, as in the case of Wakefield, bizarre and difficult to explain. In more scientific terms, a psychologist treating him would probably describe his patient as having also schizoid and schizotypal features. These would account for many of Wakefield’s “symptoms”, such as his lack of desire to be part of a family, his choice of solitary activities, his ability to give up intimacy without being too affected, his limited range of day-to-day activities, his seemingly inappropriate affect, and his eccentric behavior. These manifestations often estrange people from the social structure, turning them, as Wakefield, into “outcasts in the Universe”. Selective references: American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders (fourth edition). Washington: American Psychiatric Association, 1994. David, Daniel. Psihologie clinică şi psihoterapie. Iaşi: Polirom, 2006. David, Daniel, Lynn, Steve, Ellis, Albert (Eds). Rational and Irrational Beliefs. Research, Theory,
and clinical Practice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The complete short stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1959. pp. 75-80. Needelman, Lawrence. Cognitive case conceptualization. A guidebook for practitioners. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1999.
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WAKEFIELD by Andrei Codrescu The following fragment was chosen by the author from the first edition of the novel Wakefield (Algoquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2004, pp. 164-169), for the catalogue of the exhibition WAKEFIELD MEADOWS.
The late-20th century Wakefield leads a genuine American capitalist life, until one day the Devil shows up and tells him: “I’ve come to take you…You don’t have any reason to live.” Wakefield makes a deal with Satan and he has one year “to find this so-called true life.” “THE DAY IS GRAY, the leaden sky tilled with impending snow, but it’s not all that cold, and Wakefield carries his coat over his arm as he strolls through the International Architecture Park with Marianna. Only, they are not really strolling. Marianna is clutching a briefcase that looks incongruous with her long peasant skirt and sheepskin coat with hand-embroidered edges. Whatever happened to couture and $500-an-ounce perfume? She even smells like sheep. They are on their way to meet with the Swedish Culture Minister, who is greeting visitors today at the Swedish pavilion. The pavilion is a mall-like mini-city, complete with split-level homes, an amusement park, and a sculpture garden. It looks terribly familiar. Marianna beats him to the punch: “It’s like that suburb we lived in when Margot was born.” Indeed, to be complete, all the illusion needs is for a younger Marianna and Wakefield to walk out of one of the houses, holding baby Margot. They enter a reception area lit by a huge skylight. Seated behind a glasstopped desk in a Deco chair is a cheerfully blond young man with a diamond stud in his left ear. He is the Swedish Culture Minister. Several respectful students are listening to him speak in accented English. He looks a little bored, so when Marianna and Wakefield approach, he waves them over familiarly, raising his eyebrows as if to say “Finally, some grown-ups!” “Well, what do you think?” he asks his visitors. The students turn a bit resentfully toward the newcomers. “It looks very familiar,” says Wakefield. “We used to live here.” “That’s it, that’s it,” the Minister nods enthusiastically. “Precisely. It looks familiar because it is. This architecture could be anywhere, and that’s the point. But the difference . . .,” he raises a significant finger, “the difference 58
is in the materials. Everything is constructed from lightweight plastics more durable than brick or steel, which makes this entire city portable. Two men could push a house made of these materials fifty feet in sixty seconds! Let’s see, shall we?” The little group follows the energetic Culture Minister outside, where he hurls himself against one of the houses and shoves it a few meters. “So you see, these structures are an answer to the most vexing problem of contemporary life: boredom. Here you can move your house, exchange views with your neighbors, or take the whole thing with you for a weekend of fishing in the country. Sweden has beautiful lakes.” Marianna catches the Minister’s eye and reaches for her orphan propaganda. “There are one hundred thousand orphans in Romania, locked up in terrible institutions, living on the streets or underground in sewers. How can Swedish architecture help improve their lives?” The Minister looks with distaste at the crumpled pamphlet and his eyes rest for a second on the grainy babies. He is about to make a gesture of curt dismissal, but the students have gathered around Marianna and are passing her pamphlet around. They are interested, and the Minister changes his mind. “Well, these materials are still expensive, but such light houses could be to . . . orphans.” He pronounces the word with reluctance, as if it were completely alien to him. “I don’t see how they could be useful,” Wakefield says, playing devil’s advocate, “if they move so much. Orphans suffer from being moved around like leaves by the wind. What they need is stability but not institutional buildings, of course. Solid brick homes with parents in them, not prisons.” “Naturally, naturally.” The Minister turns to the students. “Any ideas? You are all smart MIT architecture students.” A young woman with serious eyes says, “I’m an orphan.” Her fellow students look at her, startled. They are not orphans. “Yes,” she says firmly, “I grew up in foster care. I would have loved to live in such a light house in Sweden by a 1ake. Perhaps we could make a whole city for orphans.” A few eyes tear up, and the Swedish Minister is suddenly alert to the potential. “Hmm, a light Swedish city for orphans. . . .” “Romanian orphans,” Marianna corrects him. “Well, yes. A Swedish city-” 59
“For Romanian orphans!” interjects an enthusiastic student, looking awestruck at the young woman with serious eyes, with whom he has fallen instantly and irremediably in love. The rest of them catch on quickly. “TLSCFRO,” a wit spells out “The Light Swedish City For Romanian Orphans.” And so The Light Swedish City for Romanian Orphans (TLSCFRO) is born on the spot. The young blond Minister has no choice but to listen to the plans being made by the bright would-be architects, who have not only formed an ad-hoc committee, “The MIT Team for TLSCFRO,” but have begun drawing in their notepads. E-mail addresses are exchanged and a letter of intention is drafted and signed by everyone. The activity attracts a crowd and word spreads rapidly. A photographer and reporter from Architecture Magazine appear and the Culture Minister finds himself explaining TLSCFRO as if it had been a carefully thought-out idea now being unveiled for the first time on the occasion of the Swedish exhibition. Wakefield is amused. The Minister must be cursing the day he decided to make a public appearance at the site. He’s doubtless imagining the dismay of his budget people when, in addition to the cost of the exhibit and the expense of his own travel, he presents them with TIS CFRO. Still, the publicity benefits are undeniable. Everyone is smiling, Marianna most of all, while the students high-five one another, excitedly discussing their upcoming internships in Sweden to help build TLSCFRO. After handshakes all around and an orphan brochure in every hand, Marianna snaps the “letter of intent” into her briefcase, the only nonethnic accessory on her. Wakefield’s hangover is gone thanks to Susan’s pill and a mild euphoria sets in. He regards his ex-wife with genuine admiration, as she takes leave of her allies. Buoyed by triumph, Marianna walks briskly a few steps in front of Wakefield, who wonders where this woman, who was once his wife, came from. Of this Marianna he’d never had a hint. A few yards from the Swedish site is the Belgian pavilion. Not much luck here, since there isn’t one human being anywhere in sight. Belgium has contributed a fully automated futuristic prison, where each transparent cell is equipped with a computer built into an extension of a narrow bed. The visitors wander about on their own, listening to electronic voices explaining that the walls of the prison become opaque after dark and transform into projection screens on which educational programs are beamed until lights out. Wakefield 60
depresses a lever below the word Evening in one of the cells. The screenwall darkens and a language menu appears: Press One for French, Two for Flemish, Three for English. He presses Three and gets more choices. Press One for Literature, Two for Basic Science, Three for Economics, Four for Psychology, Five for Environmental Studies, Six for Food Preparation, Seven for Media. He presses Four for Psychology. A silver-haired teacher appears on the screen. “Turn on your computer to begin taking notes,” he instructs. “Early Childhood.” A brain with highlighted areas revolves slowly beside the teacher. “Belgian convicts must be walking encyclopedias,” says Wakefield. “Let’s go,” Marianna says glumly. “These people have no compassion.” Neither, it appears, does the world’s greatest superpower. American design is represented by an immense store called ShapeShifters, as vast as three Home Depots. On the miles-long shelves objects made of “intelligent plastics” form and reform themselves. Wakefield reaches out to touch what looks like a bolt of fabric; it cascades off the shelf and unrolls itself, a watery puddle on the floor. When he steps into the puddle, it covers his shoes like galoshes. A quiet voice track provides visitors the architects’ statement: “Form and function are an extension of content. The content is intelligence. Our minds contain all forms. We can teach the material world to listen.” Morphing, changing, my country ’tis of thee. “This is scary.” Marianna is holding a round ball that’s changing into a square box, its surface changing design from polka dots to stripes, then changing texture from smooth to pumice rough. “This reminds me of this one time on acid when I tried to walk through a door because I was sure I could rearrange the molecules to let me through. I knew that it was possible, I just didn’t know how.” Wakefield thinks he had this experience before he met Marianna, but when she rotates the box and it becomes a diamond-shape prism reflecting the light, he’s not so sure. “I was there,” she says, but doesn’t sound happy about it. “There is nothing for my orphans in it” “In what? Our shared past or in that box?” “Both.” A familiar note now creeps into their conversation. It’s not a big leap from here to an all-too-familiar recrimination fest. They barely notice as ShapeShifters changes from a megastore into a multiplex 61
cinema. Movies start playing, there is the aroma of popcorn in the air, but their brief neutrality has dissolved. They are combatants again. Wakefield tries to steer the conversation in another direction. “The Company must have something to do with this! It’s aversion of the Home of the Future!” The theme of the U.S. pavilion is “Virtuality Takes Command,” and The Company is in fact listed as the main sponsor. He feels a twinge of nostalgia for Typical, as if his visit there had happened ages ago. He thinks about Maggie and feels an urgent need to get away from Marianna. This is some kind of trap, he seethes, and I will not go back to any past.”
Anca Mihuleţ was born in Sibiu in 1981. Lives and works in Sibiu, Romania. She has a master degree in art theory from the University of Fine Arts in Bucharest and since 2006 works as an art critic and curator at the Contemporary Art Gallery of the National Brukenthal Museum in Sibiu. Together with Liviana Dan, she organized the contemporary art projects during the program ‘Sibiu 2007, European Capital of Culture’. She is preoccupied in creating a theoretical platform for emerging artists and young curators; also deals with public space and institutional research, museum strategies, visual inquiry and analytic artistic approach. She has written various articles and collaborated with different cultural publications: Praesens, Journal for Northeast Issues, ‘21st Century’ magazine, Photography in Romanian contemporary art after 1989. She organized several artistic residencies in Sibiu: Catching Passages, Transfer Romania – Germany, Samuel von Brukenthal’s Guests. Some of her recent curatorial projects include: Anyone but me, anywhere but here with Olivia Mihălţianu and Rozalb de Mura, I wish I was like you with Ulrike Ettinger and ...only cowards die without having fun with Dragoş Bădiţă, Katja Lee Eliad and Delia Popa. SOSka group (Mykola Ridnyi, born in Kharkov, Ukraine in 1985. Graduated from the sculpture department of the Kharkov State Academy of Design and Arts; Ganna Kriventsova, born in Evpatoria, Ukraine in 1985. Graduated from the history and theory of art department of the Kharkov State Academy of Design and Arts; Serhiy Popov, born in Komsomolsk, Ukraine in 1978. Graduated from the National Aero-Cosmic University in Kharkov). Live and work in Kharkov. In 2005, Mykola Ridnyi and Ganna Kriventsova created in Kharkov the artist-run-space ‘gallery-laboratory SOSka’ and started working together with Serhiy Popov as SOSka group. In 2007, they were the winners of the Henkel Art Award. The SOSka group is actively involved in projects that bring contemporary awareness and cultural policies in Ukraine, questioning the state’s involvement in a democratic cultural process. In this context, their projects always have a critical component: New communities, Caucasus Biennale of Contemporary Art, Tbilisi; Team colors, Gallery F.A.I.T., Krakow; Generations U&A, PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv; 68:08. Politics on streets, Project Fabrica. Moskow; New Print Politick: PostSoviet Politics and Contemporary Art, Ukrainian
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Institute of Modern Art, Chicago; The New History, Kharkiv Art Museum; Il Castello di Rivara apre le cantine, Centro d’Arte Contemporanea Castello di Rivara,Turin; Barter, The Cardboard gallery, Dumbo Art Centre, Brooklyn, New York. Adrian Alecu was born in Bucharest in 1972. Lives and works in Hamburg. He left Bucharest in 1990 and lived in Berlin, Decin, Copenhaga, until he settled down in Hamburg. In 2002, he started to study visual arts at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg, in professor Franz E. Walther / Andreas Slominski class. In 2003, he received the HfbK Scholarship for foreign students and in 2007 the scholarship for artistic creation of the Dietze Foundation. His video work COMON SAVA was presented at the KunstFilm Biennale in Köln. Recently, he has been involved in various curatorial projects in Germany and in Romania. His filmography includes: Inauguration, 2002; Bucharest 1992 – 2002, 2002; COMON SAVA, 2003; Fahrt, 2004; Zimbru, 2005; The Ambassador is speaking, 2006; Antonio greets the stars, 2007; Ball, 2008. Olivia Mihălţianu was born in Bucharest in 1981. Lives and works in Bucharest. She graduated the photo-video department of the University of Fine Arts in Bucharest. Her interests head towards ‘the interaction between social design, urban planning and utopian architectural ideas developed in the 20th century, the relationship between art, fashion, photography and cinema combining feminine fashion garments from the 60’s and 70’s, cosmetics, cult objects and curiosities’. She is one of the most active Romanian video artists, her video installations being presented in various art spaces in Europe: formate/moving patterns, Kunsthalle, Vienna; Found Footage, KSAK, Kishinev, Moldavia; Social Cooking Romania, NGBK, Berlin; Transfer II, Schafhof - Europaisches Künstlerhaus Oberbayern, Freising, Germany; Anyone But Me, Anywhere But Here, The Contemporary Art Gallery, National Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, Romania. Adrien Tirtiaux was born in Brussels in 1980. Lives and works in Vienna and in Antwerp. After studying civil engineering, he graduated from the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna with a diploma in sculpture and performance. His main artistic interests are in installation, performance, video, comics, institutional critique, interventions in the white cube, the public space, abandoned
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buildings, wasteland or living places. He received several art prizes: the Pfann-Ohmann Prize, Würdingungspreis der Akademie or Würdigungspreis des Bundesministeriums für Wissenschaft und Forschung. His list of solo shows includes: Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna; Stadtgalerie, Bern or Demonstrationsraum, Vienna. He took part in different group exhibitions at: Museumsquartier, Vienna; Sign, Groningen; Das weisse Haus, Vienna; Manifesta 7; MAK, Vienna or Neuer Sächsischer Kunstverein, Dresden. projektgruppe (Monika Wucher and Christoph Rauch). The activities of projektgruppe are dedicated to the critical research of social space through art. At their headquarters in Hamburg, Germany, the group is editing the Journal for Northeast Issues focusing on urban and locational discourse. Related to this, they also run the Reading Room, a project space for topical art publications and videos, and they organise transcultural exhibitions and artists Meetings. Amongst their recent projects are: Living Magazine, Urban Contact Zone, and the Northeast Issues Meetings in cities such as Copenhagen, Berlin, Budapest, Helsinki, Sankt Petersburg. Dr. Daniel David is “Aaron T. Beck” Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, and Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at Babes-Bolyai University, ClujNapoca, Romania. He is also Associate Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York. He is founder of the International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health, member of the National Council for Research and president of the Research Council at the Babes-Bolyai University. Dr. David has extensive training in evidence-based assessment and therapies. He is supervisor in cognitive therapy (Academy of Cognitive Therapy, USA) and in rational-emotive and cognitive-behavioral therapy (Albert Ellis Institute, USA), with specific competences in various cognitive-behavioral strategies (e.g., schema-focused therapy, metacognitive therapy, reality and choice therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy). As part of evidence-based assessment and therapy, he uses robotics/robotherapy and virtual reality therapy techniques. He is also trained in genetic counseling and behavioral medicine. His clinical focus is mainly on anxiety and mood disorders.
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He is also working in using cognitive-behavioral therapies for health promotion (i.e., positive psychology), in non-psychiatric settings (e.g., psychological preparation for surgery, pain, cancer, irritable bowel syndrom etc.), and non-clinical contexts. Aurora Szentagotai is associate professor at the Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, senior psychologist and supervisor in clinical psychology, psychological counseling and psychotherapy. She has been trained in cognitive behavioral psychotherapies at the Albert Ellis Institute, New York, and she is a fellow of the International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health. Her professional expertise is related to evidence based interventions addressed to adolescents and adults, offered individually and in a group format, and her research interests, to the emotion-cognition relationship, with a particular interest in mood regulation strategies. Her research results have appeared in prestigious publications, and she is involved in numerous national and international research projects. She is editor of the Journal of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies, and has been awarded several national and international distinctions recognizing her activity. Andrei Codrescu was born in Sibiu, Romania, in 1946. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1966 and became a U.S. citizen in 1981. He is a poet, novelist, essayist, teacher, and lecturer. Codrescu is MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he edits Exquisite Corpse: a Journal of Letters & Life. He is also a regular commentator on National Public Radio and winner of the Peabody Award for the film Road Scholar. He received National Endowment for the Arts fellowships for poetry, and editing, the Romanian Literature Prize, the ACLU Freedom of Speech Award, and the Ovidius Prize. He is the author of many novels and stories – The Bloody Countess (2002), Messi@h (1999), A Bar in Brooklyn: Novellas & Stories, 1970-1978 (1999), Casanova in Bohemia (1995) and poetry volumes - Jealous Witness: New Poems (2008), It Was Today - New Poems by Andrei Codrescu (2003), Alien Candor: Selected Poems, 1970-1995 (1996), Comrade Past and Mister Present (1991).
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