upcoming
Sharing Watermelon and Stories
Images of the Good Life in the East
Exhibition and Forum
Chișinău, 14-28 September 2024
Exhibition participants: Darya Tsymbalyuk, Ghenadie Popescu,
Maria Doni, Marina Sulima, Nikita Kadan, Pavel Brăila, Tatiana
Fiodorova, Alexandra Tatar, Ana Barbu, Ana Kun, Andrei Nacu, Catherine
Morland, Daria Nedelcu in collaboration with Cyrill Lim, Jo Brăilescu,
Irina Botea & Jon Dean, Lilia Nenescu, Maria Mora in collaboration
with Tudor Vlădescu, Paula Dunker, Raluca Popa, Silvia Dogaru
Exhibition venues: Bunker, Lutnița, Zpațiu
Opening: 14 September 2024
Forum participants: Charles Esche (online), Corina Oprea (online), Elena
Crippa, Irina Cios, Magda Radu, Miki Braniște (online), Sara Buraya,
Theo Prodromidis, Zdenka Badovinac (online), Diana Munteanu, Lilia
Dragneva, Nora Dorogan, Octavian Eșanu (online), Pavel Brăila, Rusanda
Curcă, Ştefan Rusu, Tatiana Fiodorova, Valeria Barbas, Vitalie
Sprînceană, Vladimir Us and others
National Art Museum of Moldova
15 September 2024
Curators: The Resurrection Committee (Adelina Luft, Nora Dorogan, Ovidiu Țichindeleanu, Raluca Voinea)
From 14 to 28 September 2024 the project “Images of the Good Life in the
East” will take place in Chișinău, organized by tranzit.ro/Bucharest in
partnership with teatru-spălătorie, Ksak Association (Center for
Contemporary Art Chișinău) and Bunker space, Lutnița gallery, Zpațiu,
and The National Art Museum of Moldova. Curated by Adelina Luft, Nora
Dorogan, Ovidiu Țichindeleanu, and Raluca Voinea, the project consists
of an exhibition in the partner spaces with an opening on 14 September,
and a public forum at the National Art Museum of Moldova taking place on
15 September.
The exhibition brings together artists from Moldova and Ukraine:
Ghenadie Popescu, Marina Sulima, Tatiana Fiodorova, Pavel Brăila, Darya
Tsymbalyuk, Maria Doni, Nikita Kadan, together with 14 participants from
the independent course “Non-Western Technologies for the Good Life”
(October 2023 - May 2024): Alexandra Tatar, Ana Barbu, Ana Kun, Andrei
Nacu, Catherine Morland, Daria Nedelcu in collaboration with Cyrill Lim,
Jo Brăilescu, Irina Botea & Jon Dean, Lilia Nenescu, Maria Mora in
collaboration with Tudor Vlădescu, Paula Dunker, Raluca Popa, and Silvia
Dogaru.
The project “Images of the Good Life in the East” is an attempt to look
for preliminary answers and bridge ends for the next general challenge,
relevant beyond borders and for societies across the region in a
turbulent historical time: regaining the power of symbolization after a
long period in which the East of Europe has suffered an extensive
material, social and cultural devaluation, compensated by an import of
models, symbols and influences. This project proposes profiling the idea
of a good life amid a critical backdrop which does not negate, but
acknowledges the abusive imports and destructions in the recent past,
the current proximity to war and the possibility of future catastrophes,
including ecological ones. If buen vivir and sumak kawsay have been
proposed by indigenous movements from Central and South America as
unifying symbols of local philosophies and practices which shape
wellbeing and ecological restoration through communal ways of living
where violence, extractivism and consumerism are reduced or eliminated,
what images of the good life in the East can provide an initial answer
to this call? If from India we have learned about sangam practices, of
collective meetings to discuss systemic alternatives in day-to-day life,
both at a practical and conceptual level, sharing experiences and
collective visions, what conversations, forums or gatherings can be
agreed upon so that the answers to local needs could be opened towards
addressing global and international problems?
The words image, good life, and East from the title
of the project are also provocations to think outside preconceived
frameworks. The challenge to think of the image verbally, as an action
in time, rather than a surface within a space. To crack into the depth
of reality beyond practices that produce images as style, reflections of
a given reality, or reducing depth to a surface. The challenge to
situate one’s own life in the midst of a dynamic reality, ongoing
transformations, and to shape the symbols of such complex shifts. To
work critically in order to cultivate a good life based on ethical
relations with the world around and on the acknowledgement of small and
large issues. The challenge to rethink the East and its zones of
correlation, creation and reinvention, despide dislocation, uprooting
and devaluation.
The independent course “Non-Western Technologies for the Good Life” took
place from October 2023 to May 2024 and was organized by tranzit.ro
Association together with Ovidiu Țichindeleanu as mentor, part of the
L’Internationale Confederation’s project Museum of the Commons. By
proposing a reorientation of sensibilities and cartography of reason
that frame cultural movements in Eastern Europe, the course connected
the group formed at The Experimental Station for Research on Art and
Life with reflections, practices and innovative initiatives from
different places around the world that tackle important issues and
global challenges via local solutions. A conversation has been shaped
with messengers from indigenous nations such as Abya Yala (America),
Kurdistan and India, to elaborate tools indispensable to an ecological
and communal imaginary, to cultivate vegetative or ignored resources,
and to ultimately create new spaces and institutions in which research
and work can take place in convivial situations and on strong ethical
footing.
The project “Images of the Good Life in the East” is curated by
the fluid collective “The Resurrection Committee” and is organized
within the framework of the Museum of the Commons.
This project is cofinanced by the Romanian Cultural Institute through
the Cantemir Programme - a funding framework for cultural projects
intended for the international environment.
The Romanian Cultural Institute cannot be held responsible for the content of this material.
Museum of the Commons is cofinanced by The European Union. Views
and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do
not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European
Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European
Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
ERSTE Fundation is the main partner of tranzit.ro.
Pictures:
A Land Unknown (Basel)
Build Yourself a Small Situation Without a Future: Atelier 35 Bucharest
Media Partners: Revista ARTA, Zeppelin, Radio România Cultural, Modernism.ro, Propagarea
Pictures:
(In)discrets
In just three generations, the professions of farmer, rancher and forester have continued to change.
In just three generations, we have collectively lost our relationship with the earth, farming and horticulture, whereas our ancestors devoted much of their time to them.
February-April 2024 - Eco-educational workshops
9 May 2024 - Premiere, Basel KHaus
24 May 2024 - Concert as part of the colloquium Arts, écologies, radicalités, Mains d'oeuvres, Paris (version for solo cello and electronics).
29 April 2025 - Eve, scène universitaire, Le Mans - Concert with subsequent scientific mediation
Supported by the canton of Zug