At the beginning of it’s third season, Salonul de proiecte invited artists Matei Bejenaru and Dumitru Oboroc to come up with the proposal that was later to take shape as the present exhibition. The subject they chose is hard-hitting and topical, and it resonates with the uncertainties, dilemmas and concerns that currently affect the contemporary art scene in Romania. How are visual artists perceived in contemporary society? How are they affected by their relationships with various institutions that act in a normative and constrictive way? How do they cope with social attempts to delegitimise artists when they try to display a critical attitude?
Matei Bejenaru puts forward an analysis of the context of the Romanian arts, discussing the situation of the arts system during the communist regime and in the current period. Basing his analysis on a complex methodology and long-term research, the artist conceives the strategy of a “march of thought” that sets out from a historic exhibition space in Bucharest and comes to an end in the space hosting the present exhibition. More than the start and finish of this route, what counts is the algorithm of thought that goes along with it and which brings into the equation intellectual reflection, concrete situations and subjective-emotional perceptions. The physical, intellectual and emotional experience is sublimated within a transformative process that generates, based on a conceptual methodology, a series of objects that condense the artist’s attitude towards the degradation in the status of the visual arts and artists in Romania.
Preserving the tradition of inter-generational collaborations, Matei Bejenaru’s project is presented in tandem with a new installation by young artist Dumitru Obroc. Drawing primarily upon photographic language, the artist is likewise interested in the modulation of ideas within a process of recording, transforming and re-arranging real data. Representation of the individual person is filtered, dismembered and subsequently re-assembled, and this re-composition is in large part shaped by arbitrary factors. Dumitru Oboroc reveals to us yet again that the subjectivity of the individual and the artist respectively is constantly shaped by its relationship with the institutions that regiment life in contemporary society.
Tuesday, 26 November, 6 p.m. is scheduled an artist-talk with Matei Bejenaru and a presentation of the new publication dedicated to his work produced by tranzit.ro/Iași in collaboration with Salonul de proiecte.
As a platform for encouraging the production of contemporary art in Romania, Salonul de proiecte has benefited from the support of Mr. Mihai Oroveanu, the director of the National Museum of Contemporary Art. Our work hitherto would not have been possible without his support and encouragement. We believe that our programme has played and will continue to play an important role in the dynamics of the local art scene and we are confident that it will be a constant presence henceforth.
