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AND WHAT ART CAN DO ABOUT IT? // JON DEAN & ANCA RUJOIU // TALK

AND WHAT ART CAN DO ABOUT IT? // AN INVITATION TO ACTING IN CONCERT JON DEAN & ANCA RUJOIU // TALK

17th November, 2022

WASP – Working Art Space & Production, 67-93 Ion Minulescu Street, Bucharest, Romania

The two #DIALOGUES part of the project “AND WHAT ART CAN DO ABOUT IT?” will take place on 17 November at 7pm. The talks feature artist Jon Dean and curator Anca Rujoiu. They are an integral part of the collaborative project conceived by Irina Botea Bucan & Jon Dean, Anca Rujoiu and Andreea Căpitănescu at the initiative of WASP STUDIOS. This educational project takes a public form between 17 and 19 November and includes: dialogues, artist presentations and activations proposed by the eight participants in the project. The full programme can be accessed on the event page: https://fb.me/e/2F3j8MOJK

“And what art can do about it?” questions a recurrent theme in contemporary society, namely the relationship between art and eco-socio-political crises, and following an open call in September, the project mentors have conducted workshops with the selected artists: Cosmina Morosan & Anticorp Solar, Elvisey Pisica, Gene Tanta, Irina Motroc, Kiki Mihuta, Moncea Malina, Teodora Rotaru, Thomas Steyaert.
Jon Dean (b. Wolverhampton) has been working for over thirty years in the intersecting fields of visual/community arts and applied social sciences; the artist initiates and develops diverse cultural projects by integrating differentiated and negotiated participatory strategies built to place participants at the very heart of artistic expression, learning and cultural policy. Throughout his career, Jon has worked within a wide range of socio-cultural contexts, including: formal education institutions, museums, art galleries, as well as generic community venues. Recent exhibitions/projections include: Loop Barcelona; Elvira Popescu Cinema, Bucharest; Young Artists Studio, Budapest; University of Johannesburg; Goldsmiths University, London; Tranzit.ro, Bucharest; Anca Poterașu Gallery, Bucharest; Centrala Gallery, Birmingham; Art on Display, Bucharest; Arcub, Bucharest; Black and White Biennial, Satu Mare; Columbia University, New York; Ferenc Bar, Budapest.
Anca Rujoiu (b. Bucharest) is a curator and editor In 2019 she co-curated the third edition of the Art Encounters Biennial in Timișoara, approached as a year-long institutional program. As curator of exhibitions and later head of publications (2013-18), she was a member of the founding team of the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, contributing to the institution’s many exhibitions, public programmes and publishing projects. The initial three-year programme, Place.Labour. Capital, created connections between research, residencies and exhibitions with artists Simryn Gill, Allan Sekula, Trinh T. Minh-ha, to name a few. He has co-edited several publications, including the artist books Thao Nguyen Phan: Voyages de Rhodes (2018), Simryn Gill & Michael Taussig: Becoming Palm (2017). As part of the FormContent curatorial initiative in London, he worked on a nomadic project, It’s Moving from I to It (2012-2014), which took the form of a script composed of seventeen ‘scenes’: exhibitions, workshops, commissioned texts and the like. She is a PhD candidate at Monash University in Melbourne.
Cover image: Irina Botea Bucan and Jon Dean, “Studio of Radio Theatre, Radio Romania”, part of the exhibition Signal: transmitted invisibility, Anca Poterașu Gallery, 2016
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Producer: WASP Studios // Co-producer: 4 Culture Association
Project co-financed by the Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB within the Affective Bucharest Program 2022. For detailed information about the financing program of the Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB, you can access www.arcub.ro .
The cultural project is co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN). It does not necessarily represent the position of AFCN. The AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or the manner in which the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding recipient.
Project co-funded by the European Union – Creative Europe Programme, in the framework of Life Long Burning – Towards A Sustainable Eco-System for Contemporary Dance in Europe
Media partners: Radio România Cultural, Modernism, Revista Zeppelin, Revista ARTA, Feeder, IQads, România Pozitivă
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DIALOGUE: Post-surveillance art

Guests: Anda Zahiu, Constantin Vică, Cristian Iftode, Cristina Voinea, Iosif Király
Moderator: Andreea Căpitănescu

14 November, 19:00
WASP – Working Art Space & Production, 67 -93 Ion Minulescu Str. Bucharest
WASP STUDIOS invites the public on the 14th of November, 19:00 to take part in a dialog about the influences and presence of the surveillance cameras in our life and routine. In a dialogue moderated by Andreea Căpitănescu, philosophers Anda Zahiu, Constantin Vică, Cristian Iftode, Cristina Voinea and artist Iosif Király propose a public analysis of the ethics of surveillance in contemporary society.
The topic of surveillance is increasingly of interest, and after a global “tsunami” such as the one experienced in spring 2020, when both in the press and among ordinary people the Israeli secret services were given as positive examples, using all their technological arsenal to see who is and who is not complying with the restrictions imposed by the government, or when in China and in Europe drones were watching who was leaving the house, the discussion about “Security OR Privacy” is all the more interesting and topical.
The pandemic context and the wave of conspiracy theories, fake news and the growing debate about rights and limitations imposed by governments, as well as the laxity with which we allow ourselves to provide personal information and images on social media, are some of the issues proposed to be addressed in a dialogue that brings into discussion an artistic as well as an anthropological and philosophical perspective.
An important direction of the dialogue between the guests of WASP Studios, is the perspective of overlapping the present reality of the theme of surveillance with the historical trauma of the generation that lived during the totalitarian communist regime – the surveillance of the police (security).
How do artists, young people and the general population relate to this theme?
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Anda Zahiu is a PhD student at the Faculty of Philosophy (UB) and a member of the Research Centre for Applied Ethics, specialising in political philosophy and applied ethics. Her research interests focus on the impact of new technologies on the sphere of morality and the different ways in which we can conceptualize the right to privacy.
Constantin Vică is a lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest. He teaches courses on Ethics of Technologies, Ethics and Politics of New Technologies, Technology and Development, Morality, Business and Information Technology, Ethics of Cognitive Technologies, Philosophy of History, Philosophy of the Future and Digital Culture. His areas of interest are in applied ethics, computer and information ethics, philosophy of computer science and artificial intelligence, bioethics, social and political philosophy. He has published various articles on Internet and cognitive enhancement, Artificial Intelligence and the ethics of the future, accountability of AI systems, epistemology and open data policy, hacker politics, robots as assistants and companions, conflict between intellectual property institutions and informal online norms.
Cristian Iftode is the Director of the Department of Practical Philosophy and History of Philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Bucharest, where he teaches courses in ethics, therapy philosophy, aesthetics and contemporary philosophy. He has published numerous studies in collective works or specialized journals in the country and abroad (The New Bioethics, Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, AJOB Neuroscience, Ingenium, Public Reason, etc.), as well as authored volumes, among which we mention Aristotle. The Problem of Analogy and the Philosophy of Donation (Editura Univ. of Bucharest, 2015), The Good Life. An Introduction to Ethics (Ed. Trei, 2021) and Philosophy as a Way of Life: The Sources of Authenticity (Ed. Trei, 2022, second edition). He is constantly giving public lectures, workshops on practical philosophy and is a regular contributor to the press (Dilema veche, Scena9, etc.), which aims to demonstrate the relevance of philosophy to everyday life.
Cristina Voinea is an assistant professor at the Department of Philosophy and Sociohuman Sciences, Academy of Economic Studies. He received his PhD in 2019 from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, with a thesis studying how private and state power intertwine in internet governance. In her research, Cristina traces how new technologies influence our moral lives, working at the confluence of several fields, such as the ethics and politics of new technologies or moral psychology. Her studies have been published in journals such as Technology in Society, Science and Engineering Ethics, Ethics and Information Technology and Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, among others.
Iosif Király is a visual artist, professor at the National University of Arts Bucharest, where he has been teaching since 1992. He is co-founder of the Department of Photography and Dynamic Image (1995). His work investigates the relationship between perception, time, synchronicity and memory through photography, installation-art, drawing and more recently, video. He has initiated, coordinated, and, together with architects, visual artists, and anthropologists, participated in research projects related to the changes having occurred in post-communist Romania: D-Platform, RO-Archive, Triaj, Tinseltown. During the 1980s, Iosif Király became active in the mail art network, an international underground movement established by Fluxus. After 1989, he exhibited both individually and within the subREAL* group.
Andreea Căpitănescu is curator of WASP Working Art Space and Production, cultural manager and artist. With a background in contemporary dance (UNATC), project management in English (SNSPA) and doctoral research in the arts (UNARTE), she is interested in experimenting with new multidisciplinary frameworks with the potential to catalyse artistic and theoretical exchanges that modify and influence creative processes and propose new personal, authentic versions. Since 2005 she is director of eXplore festival and since 2008 co-organizer of the European project Jardin d’Europe and Life Long Burning. She was curator of the performing arts programme for the EUROPALIA Romania festival (Brussels), and since 2021 he is a lecturer at the Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu.
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Producer: WASP Studios // Co-producer: 4Culture
Project co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund AFCN. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the grantee.
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Performance by Anton Ovchinnikov // Immersive multi-channel video installation

”Intimate Choreographies. Mapping a new reality” presents:

19:00 – 20:00 Beauty of the Beast – Performance with & by Anton Ovchinnikov (Ukraine)

20:00 – 21:00 Immersive multi-channel video installation, concept and artistic direction: Andreea Căpitănescu

 

03 November 2022, 19:00 – 21:00

WASP – Working Art Space & Production, 67 -93 Ion Minulescu Str. Bucharest

Since the first days of the war, Ukrainian dancer and choreographer Anton Ovchinnikov has been writing and posting short poems on his personal social media account, in an attempt to remain artistically connected to the traumatic experience of forced isolation, violence, hopelessness and hope, of a trapped and captive body that continues to create a choreography of thoughts in a time that expands with the awareness of the fragility of each hour of life.

The artist’s lyrics were a catalyst and a guide for the project “Intimate Choreographies. Mapping a New Reality”, and on Thursday, November 3rd, we invite you to WASP – Working Art Space & Production for the final two events of the project.

The evening will start with Ukrainian dancer and choreographer Anton Ovchinnikov’s performance “Beauty of the Beast”, and afterwards the audience is invited to interact with the installation “Intimate Choreographies”, which transposes the collective experience made during the public interventions from September to October.

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Beauty of the Beast performance, Anton Ovchinnikov: 

Russian classical ballet is today one of the main products of Russian cultural export and one of the symbols of Russian art and culture outside of Russia. The performance “Beauty of the Beast” suggests looking at classical Russian ballet as an aestheticized form of violence against a person and over the body.

Today, when the Russian army destroys cities and the population of Ukraine, inhumanity and destruction become new symbols of Russia. How can this metamorphosis change the view of Russian classical ballet? Can it still be a cover for the lawlessness, anti-humanism and imperial habits of the Russian elite?

The performance is based on the poem „New Russian Ballet”, which was written at the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on March 31, 2022.

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Intimate Choreographies – Immersive multi-channel video installation

From early September, select from an open call, co-authors & performers: Alisia Nină, Ciprian Chiujdea, Ciprian Mihăilă-Leotescu, Cosmin Dorian Ilie, Pedro Gafei Aurelian, Vlad Benescu, Lena Sabosia have performed 12 performative interventions in public spaces in Bucharest, Brasov and Sibiu.

Erika Hera, Silvana Neda, Ioana Băiașu and Ana- Maria Luca, join them in Brasov and in Sibiu by students of the University “Lucian Blaga” of Sibiu, Faculty of Letters and Arts, Department of Theatre Arts: Agapi Andreea, Luchian Alexandra, Müller Lili, Dobre Andreea, Băiașu Ioana, Croitoru Radu, Hera Erika, Neda Silvana, Isabela Haiduc, Ioana Dima, Francesca Garbalau, Gajim Constantin, Jurj Andra.

Excerpts from the poems of the artist Anton Ovchinnikov and texts written by the participating artists simultaneously guided groups of 20 persons through an individual audio system (headphones and receiver). This way, joint choreographies were constructed, which focused on interactions and actions, with and towards those around.

The performative interventions were documented through surveillance cameras, as the project concept started from the idea that the surveillance/monitoring space can actually generate a deep emotional intimacy, which once translated into the installation, undermines the detached and uneven power structure of technology.

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Producer: 4 Culture Association // Co-producer: WASP Studios

Partner: Hans Mattis-Teutsch High School of Fine Arts, Brasov; Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu

Project financed by the Municipality of Brașov

Project co-financed by the Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB within the Affective Bucharest Program 2022. For detailed information about the financing program of the Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB, you can access www.arcub.ro .

The cultural project is co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN). It does not necessarily represent the position of AFCN. The AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or the manner in which the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding recipient.

Project co-funded by the European Union – Creative Europe Programme, in the framework of Life Long Burning – Towards A Sustainable Eco-System for Contemporary Dance in Europe

Media partners: Radio România Cultural, Modernism, Revista Zeppelin, Revista ARTA, Feeder, IQads, România Pozitivă

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Ember – a show by Judith State premiering at WASP Working Art Space and Production

event part of the Life Long Burning (LLB) – Towards a sustainable Eco-System for Contemporary Dance in Europe

4Culture Association announces the premiere of EMBER, by Judith State, on 21 and 22 October, 7pm, at WASP – Working Art Space and Production, 67-93 Ion Minulescu Street, Bucharest.

  • Duration: 1h.
  • After the performance, the audience is invited to a discussion with the artistic team.
  • Tickets are available on eventbook.ro

Together with actor István Téglás and musician Radu Dumitriu, well-known dancer and choreographer Judith State developed the show EMBER with the support of the European network Life Long Burning and was nominated by the 4Culture Association (co-organizer within the network) as a Creative Crossroads artist for 2020-2022.

“Something from childhood and something from playing, something from the seriousness and anxiety of adulthood, a little bit of how we love at different ages and how we sometimes wish we could stop time. Memories. Images that our minds randomly decide to keep and project over and over again.

A small capsule for future intelligence.

Ember means human.” 

The Life Long Burning (LLB) project is coordinated and implemented by a network of 11 European partners, associations, companies and production companies, and through its actions it supports the development of the contemporary dance and performance scene in Europe. In Romania, the 4Culture Association, co-organizer of LLB since 2008, organises annual events and activities to promote and support Romanian artists and choreographers. Also, out of the desire for artistic cultural exchange as a partner, the association hosts and promotes performances developed within the framework of international activities organised by the other members of the project.

This year through the Dance Hub 2022 residencies organized by the 4Culture Association and co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund, the artist duos: Cosmina Moroșan, Anticorp Solar and Cristina Bodnărescu, Anamaria Guguian, selected following an open call, will present to the public two performances made during the residency in Romania, and will also host the performance of the artist group from Croatia Marijana Cvetković, Bojan Djordjev, Mirjana Dragosavljević, Siniša Ilić and Igor Koruga, a performance developed within the “Creative Crossroads Remote Residency”, organised by the project partner Kik Melone.

On 20 October, at 19:00, the show  “Felt trowel. Hominescence and individuation.” by duo Cosmina Moroșan and Anticorp Solar:We put forward a kind of practice which springs from the life that creates events: intensities when thought / affect / materiality branch in manyfold ways. The performative mapping  assumes a talk about individuation and placement.”

And, on 28 October from 19:00, there will be a double event promoting the performances of the Life Long Burning (LLB) project: the interactive show by Cristina Bodnărescu and Anamaria Guguian: “Digital Heaven” and the performance by Croatian artists Marijana Cvetković, Bojan Djordjev, Mirjana Dragosavljević, Siniša Ilić and Igor Koruga: “Dance Till the New Dawn”.

The interactive show by Cristina Bodnărescu and Anamaria Guguian, with music by Ethics of Joy (Cristina Bodnărescu, George Urse) “explores the dialogue between the dancer and her digital double at the intersection and colliding of the two worlds. Adopting an aesthetic of bodily disappearance, in “Digital Heaven” the internal contradictions of identity are not resolved, but are made manifest.”

The performance by Marijana Cvetković, Bojan Djordjev, Mirjana Dragosavljević, Siniša Ilić and Igor Koruga: “Dance Till the New Dawn” questions the access to art in today’s social and political context and seeks to answer the questions ”who does have the right to art? to whom does it belong? Who needs it?”.

The participation at the three Dance Hub Resident events is free of charge. 

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Producer: 4 Culture Association, WASP Studios

Project co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund AFCN. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the grantee.

Project co-financed within Life Long Burning – Towards A Sustainable Eco-System for Contemporary Dance in Europe by the European Union – Creative Europe Programme.

Supported by: UFERSTUDIOS (Berlin), VEEM HOUSE FOR PERFORMANCE (Amsterdam) – in the framework of Creative Crossroads, Life Long Burning activity.

Media partners: Radio România Cultural, Modernism, Zeppelin Magazine, ARTA Magazine, Feeder, IQads, România Pozitivă

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(Ro) OPEN CALL – And what art can do about it?

OPEN CALL – And what art can do about it?

dedicated to interdisciplinary visual artists (new media, multimedia, cross-media artists)

EXTENDED DEADLINE: 05.10.2022

Deadline for application: 30.09.2022

Period: 4.10 – 4.11.2022

The project ‘And what art can do about it?’ questions a recurring theme in contemporary society, namely the relationship between art and eco-socio-political crises. At the invitation of the WASP space, which in 2022 celebrates 10 years of activity, curator Anca Rujoiu and artist Irina Botea Bucan, join an investigation and analysis of the proposed theme, together with curator Andreea Capitanescu.

The solidarity of the international community in the crisis of the war in Ukraine and the eco-climatic crisis that was born in the wake of this disaster is perhaps unprecedented, therefore making us think about this project. The proximity of the aggression and the impact of the media – which broadcasts non-stop information and images from the scene – completely captured our attention and everyone tried to help unconditionally. The effects of the war will be long-lasting and will leave a legacy that will be hard to overcome.

But social crises, military conflicts and political repression have always occurred in different corners of the world. In order to better understand and discover how these crises have been and are being managed by artists, curators and theorists, we set out to develop a project that would offer through dialogue and creative space, exhibition opportunities and new collaborations between artists from Romania and other European and global territories.

Timeline of the project:

The project outlines the creative process through the laboratory and discursive platform, coordinated by artist Irina Botea Bucan and curator Anca Rujoiu. These activities aim to support the 8 selected artists in the realization of new productions based on the artistic concept presented in the documents provided at registration.

During the development period there will be: 5 lectures, 2 workshops and 1 artist presentation.

The project will be finalised with a group exhibition at WASP Working Art Space and Production.

How to apply:

In order to apply the candidates should provide the following documents in English:

  • resume / CV
  • short description of the proposed artistic concept to be developed within the project frame, including technical details.
  • comprehensive portfolio (A4, PDF format, not more than 10 Mb; video works or documentation in AVI, WMV or QuickTime format should be up to 500mb in total). Please provide a link to download using free transfer services like Dropbox.com or Wetransfer.com

All materials should be sent to: contact@waspmagazine.com, until 30.09.2022, 00:00

Support:

  • Based on the contract the artists will receive fees and the production costs will be provided for new work developed in the laboratory.
  • The organisers reserve the right to make changes to event dates

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Producer: WASP Studios

Co-producer: 4 Culture Association

Project co-financed by the Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB within the Affective Bucharest Program 2022. For detailed information about the financing program of the Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB, you can access www.arcub.ro .

The cultural project is co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN). It does not necessarily represent the position of AFCN. The AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or the manner in which the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding recipient.

Media partners: Radio România Cultural, Modernism, Revista Zeppelin, Revista ARTA, Feeder, IQads, România Pozitivă

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