An Immaterial Retrospective of the Venice Biennale

Damian

Performers: Diana Spiridon, Cristi Nanculescu, Laura Andrei, Paul Dunca, Mircea Ghinea, Paula Gherghe, Rolando Matsangos, Beniamin Boar, Jean Lorin Sterian, Maria Mora, Bogdan Drăgănescu, Arcadie Rusu, Ioana Marchidan, Gilda Stan, Serghei Chiviriga, Cristina Toma, Cristina Găvruş, Carmen Coțofană, Maria Baroncea

Romanian Pavilion at the 55th International Art Exhibition –
la Biennale di Venezia
1 June – 24 November 2013, Giardini della Biennale

The project takes the entire history of the Venice Art Biennale as a departure point and reflects it in a national pavilion. The retrospective is an ephemeral but bold monument to the biennale, a critique of its display of power or conservatism but also a celebration of its openness for experiments. The public’s memory is invoked to be revealed in its constructed nature, to question who is reminding us what and by which means. The performers are present in the Romanian pavilion for the duration of the biennale, they are there alive, in tension to one another, exposed to or in dialogue with the public. A retrospective is a grandiose enterprise, but in this case, by reproducing hundreds of art works with the means of only a few human bodies, the project changes the scale of what a retrospective can be and of the biennial itself. Organizers: Ministry of Culture
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Romanian Cultural Institute
Producer: tranzit.ro/ Bucureşti
Partners: Căminul Cultural, National Dance Centre Bucharest
With the support of: ERSTE Foundation
In-kind support: Moritz Eis