THE ROMANIAN-BULGARIAN UNION. A RETROSPECTIVE
04 december 2014 –
15 february 2015



Artists:
Marius Bercea, Dan Beudean, Răzvan Botiș, Rada Boukova, Radu Comșa, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Vikenti Komitski, Ivan Moudov,
Vlad Nancă, Krassimir Terziev


With contributions by:
Zoran Georgiev, Lubri, Dimitar Solakov,
Voin de Voin


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Salonul de proiecte invited Vlad Nancă to curate an exhibition by Romanian and Bulgarian artists, based on the Romanian-Bulgarian Union initiated by Ivan Moudov, Krassimir Terziev and Vlad Nancă on 14 October 2006 in Krakow. The Union has operated up to now in the spirit of absurd/ironic/faux projects, such as The Sofia Contemporary Museum of Art (Ivan Moudov’s Musiz project) and Polish Year in Madagascar (a project in which Janek Simon invited invented Polish artists from Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia to take part in an exhibition in Antananarivo). The Union’s main artistic achievement was being declared one of the sponsors of the thirteenth annual Contemporary Art Week in Plovdiv in 2007. The Union’s very limited activity highlighted the lack of cultural co-operation between the two countries, but its survival for eight years provides clear proof of the strong ties between the founding members.

The course of the exhibition opens with a work by Vikenti Komitski, which discusses the stereotypes present in Romanians’ and Bulgarians’ perceptions of one another, as well as the West’s perceptions of the two cultural spaces, which are more often than not associated with precariousness and a low level of development. Such stereotypes are nuanced and even contradicted in the contributions formulated by Rada Boukova and Ivan Moudov, which emphasise the lack of connections, of dialogue, between the two neighbouring territories. The square metre that Ivan Moudov has turned into a circle is a defining work for his artistic practice, in which economy of means combines with irony and ludic effects, while Rada Boukova’s proposal blanks out the gaze turned towards the past, instead opening up a space of the imagination.


Pravdoliub Ivanov, Krassmir Terziev and Vlad Nancă continue the conversation, bringing under discussion the idea of a shared space and imaginary proximity via works such as tracing the border between Romania and Bulgaria from memory (Ivanov), a collective dance reminiscent of a folk circle dance (Terziev), and an extended geographical meditation on vicinity (Nancă). These works can be read against the backdrop of reflections on shared history, on the fact that after the founding of the two nation states, the border between them fluctuated, resulting in transfers of population in both directions.

Răzvan Botiș’s work shifts attention towards aspects relating to artistic education, characterised in both contexts by a conservative vision, which Botiș criticises, while Dan Beudean undermines the theme of working-class heroism found in the iconography of socialist realism. The utopia of late modernism appears in Marius Bercea’s project, which discusses it in the context of leisure architectural projects on the Black Sea coast. The course of the exhibition imagines a progression from the neutral space of white to an excess of colour, and at the end these differing intensities are synthesised through superimposition in the installation of Radu Comșa.

The exhibition is extended via the presence of the 0GMS drawer gallery, which provides an opportunity to encounter the work of three young Bulgarian artists — another contribution by Ivan Moudov, who, at the opening of the exhibition, will invite the public to try a special edition of his work Wine for openings.




https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_1_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_2_ Vikenti Komitski - The Necessary Precondition, 2014 - mixed media (plastic tub, rubber boot, water pump), 180 x 120 x 100 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_3_ Vikenti Komitski - The Necessary Precondition, 2014 - mixed media (plastic tub, rubber boot, water pump), 180 x 120 x 100 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_4_ Vikenti Komitski - The Necessary Precondition, 2014 - mixed media (plastic tub, rubber boot, water pump), 180 x 120 x 100 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_5_ Vikenti Komitski - The Necessary Precondition, 2014 - mixed media (plastic tub, rubber boot, water pump), 180 x 120 x 100 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_6_ Ivan Moudov - 0gms CABINET, 2014 - Contributions from Zoran Georgiev, Lubri, Dimitar Solakov, Voin de Voin.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_7_ Ivan Moudov - 0gms CABINET, 2014 - Contributions from Zoran Georgiev, Lubri, Dimitar Solakov, Voin de Voin.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_8_ Ivan Moudov - 0gms CABINET, 2014 - Contributions from Zoran Georgiev, Lubri, Dimitar Solakov, Voin de Voin.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_9_ Ivan Moudov - 0gms CABINET, 2014 - Contributions from Zoran Georgiev, Lubri, Dimitar Solakov, Voin de Voin.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_10_ Ivan Moudov - 0gms CABINET, 2014 - Contributions from Zoran Georgiev, Lubri, Dimitar Solakov, Voin de Voin.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_12_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_11_ Ivan Moudov - 0gms CABINET, 2014 - Contributions from Zoran Georgiev, Lubri, Dimitar Solakov, Voin de Voin.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_13_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_14_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_15_ Pravdoliub Ivanov - Border By Memory, 2006 - neon, 25 x 115 cm_v2.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_16_ Pravdoliub Ivanov - Border By Memory, 2006 - neon, 25 x 115 cm_v2.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_17_ Rada Boukova - Vitrines, 2013 - mixed media (glass, cardboard, wood frames), variable dimensions.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_18_ Rada Boukova - Vitrines, 2013 - mixed media (glass, cardboard, wood frames), variable dimensions.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_19_ Rada Boukova - Vitrines, 2013 - mixed media (glass, cardboard, wood frames), variable dimensions.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_20_ Rada Boukova - Vitrines, 2013 - mixed media (glass, cardboard, wood frames), variable dimensions.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_21_ Rada Boukova - Vitrines, 2013 - mixed media (glass, cardboard, wood frames), variable dimensions.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_22_ Rada Boukova - Vitrines, 2013 - mixed media (glass, cardboard, wood frames), variable dimensions.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_23_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_24_ Ivan Moudov - One Square Meter, 2009 - mixed media (white primer on canvas, wood frame), Ø 128,66529594 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_25_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_26_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_27_ Krassimir Terziev - Let’s Dance  Clothes for Collective Life, 1996 - mixed media (white shirts, circular structure), 300 x 300 x 210 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_28_ Krassimir Terziev - Let’s Dance  Clothes for Collective Life, 1996 - mixed media (white shirts, circular structure), 300 x 300 x 210 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_29_ Krassimir Terziev - Let’s Dance  Clothes for Collective Life, 1996 - mixed media (white shirts, circular structure), 300 x 300 x 210 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_30_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_31_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_32_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_33_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_34_ Răzvan Botiș - Pelikan ink, inkwell, 2014 - mixed media (plaster objects, inkwells), dimensions variable.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_35_ Răzvan Botiș - Pelikan ink, inkwell, 2014 - mixed media (plaster objects, inkwells), dimensions variable.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_36_ Răzvan Botiș - Pelikan ink, inkwell, 2014 - mixed media (plaster objects, inkwells), dimensions variable.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_37_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_38_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_39_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_40_ Radu Comșa - Transcription [RGB_Grey], 2014 - mixed media (irregular wooden stretchers, textile), 180 x 120 x 50 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_41_ Radu Comșa - Transcription [RGB_Grey], 2014 - mixed media (irregular wooden stretchers, textile), 180 x 120 x 50 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_42_ Dan Beudean - Untitled, 2013 - graphite, charcoal, ink on canvas, 117 × 103 cm - From Ovidiu Șandor Collection.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_43_ Dan Beudean - Untitled, 2013 - graphite, charcoal, ink on canvas, 117 × 103 cm - From Ovidiu Șandor Collection.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_44_ Ivan Moudov - Special edition of Wine for openings, 2014.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_45_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_46_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_47_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_48_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_49_ Vlad Nancă - Commune sense (reflexion on vicinity), 2013 - mixed media (window  frame, Sansevieria trifasciata plants), 90 x 63 x 47 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_50_ Vlad Nancă - Commune sense (reflexion on vicinity), 2013 - mixed media (window  frame, Sansevieria trifasciata plants), 90 x 63 x 47 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_51_ Vlad Nancă - Commune sense (reflexion on vicinity), 2013 - mixed media (window  frame, Sansevieria trifasciata plants), 90 x 63 x 47 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_52_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_53_ Marius Bercea - Model, 2014 - mixed media, 75 x 84 x 74 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_54_ Marius Bercea - Model, 2014 - mixed media, 75 x 84 x 74 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_55_ Marius Bercea - Model, 2014 - mixed media, 75 x 84 x 74 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_56_ Marius Bercea - Model, 2014 - mixed media, 75 x 84 x 74 cm.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_57_ Marius Bercea - Drawing 1 – 8, 2014 - mixed media on paper, 47 x 37 cm each.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_58_ Marius Bercea - Drawing 1 – 8, 2014 - mixed media on paper, 47 x 37 cm each.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_59_ Marius Bercea - Drawing 1 – 8, 2014 - mixed media on paper, 47 x 37 cm each.jpg
https://salonuldeproiecte.ro/files/gimgs/th-40_60_ The Romanian-Bulgarian Union_ A Retrospective.jpg