Serii. Multiplii. Realisme - - - Series. Multiples. Realisms

Muzeul Taranului Roman, Bucuresti

19 - 28 Octombrie 2012 // sala Scoala Satului

un proiect de: Nicu Ilfoveanu

curator: Alina Serban

vernisaj: vineri, 19 Octombrie, ora 17.30

joi 25 Octombrie, intre orele 17.00 si 18.00 tur al expozitiei in prezenta artistului si curatorului

Obiect de istorie, de amintire, de simbol, dar cel mai adesea, astazi, de marcaj geografic, monumentul de for public este de fapt un recipient al trasaturilor, complexelor si fascinatiilor colective. Corespondentele intime pe care le stabileste cu diversele configuratii ale sferei publice si ale locului in care se afla creeaza practic o noua istorie – una pe care monumentul o spune de fiecare data altfel si altor oameni. Sensul invizibil al acestui artefact il transforma fie intr-un spatiu de comunicare si interactiune al valorilor comune, fie intr-unul de rezistenta impotriva unor forme de colonizare si postulare a unei identitati monolite. Ca agenti circumstantiali, monumentele publice devin teritorii de coexistenta a diferite marturii, traume si realitati cotidiene.

Serii.Multiplii.Realisme. isi indreapta atentia asupra construirii unei serii fotografice avand ca subiect monumentele publice ridicate in amintirea Primului Razboi Mondial in mediul rural. In peisajul taciturn al acestor sate este surprins profilul fragil al soldatilor, eroi cunoscuti, dezvaluind nu doar o experienta istorica comuna, ci si un univers supus in ultimii ani unor transformari radicale. Aparent detasate de fundalul lor, viata acestor personaje stinghere ofera trecatorului o incursiune intr-o practica sociala colectiva. Straturile acestei practici activeaza, dincolo de uitare si resemnare cotidiana, forme aparte de reprezentare a sferei nationalului si de interpretare a discursului public.

Demersul lui Nicu Ilfoveanu este de a destabiliza retorica traditionala ce insoteşte naratiunea acestor monumente, propunand o alternativa de lucru si citire. Exista un numitor comun al acestor imagini, si anume o relatie intima cu spatiul, cu teritoriul viu al satului, devenit instrumentul unor proiectii colective. Afinitatea cu acest peisaj reintareste pentru fiecare comunitate prezenta unor ritualuri si istorii care construiesc intr-un mod subiectiv identitati nationale. Nu in ultimul rand, proiectul lui Nicu Ilfoveanu permite o observare a mirajului comemorarii, a mortii si a orizonturilor de reprezentare publica, urmarind perceptia acestor monumente la nivel local atunci, cand au fost construite, si acum, in prezent.

Expozitia se constituie in formula unei instalatii de fotografie, dia-proiectie si obiect (Vlad Gherghiceanu) si este insotita de o publicatie bilingva cu contributii de Claude Karnoouh (sociolog si antropolog francez), Gheorghe Negustor (doctorand Facultatea de Istorie, Universitatea Babes-Bolyai, Cluj) si Nikolai Vukov (profesor asociat la Institutul de Studii de Etnologie si Folclor, Sofia).

Proiect cultural finantat de Administratia Fondului Cultural National
Parteneri: Muzeul National al Taranului Roman, Muzeul National Militar, Square Media, Asociatia pepluspatru
Cu sprijinul: Liliana & Peter Ilica Foundation for the Endowment of the Arts

An object of history, memory, symbol, but most often today, of geographical marking, the public forum monument is, in fact, a recipient of collective features, complexes and fascinations. The intimate correspondences established by it with the various configurations of the public sphere and of the place in which it is located are virtually creating a new history- one told by the monument in a different manner and to different people each and every time. The invisible meaning of such an artifact is turning it either into a space for mutual values to communicate and interact with each other, or into a space of resistance against the forms of colonizing and postulating a monolithic identity. As circumstantial agents, public monuments become territories tagged by the coexistence of various testimonies, traumas and daily realities.

The work Serii.Multiplii.Realisme. Series. Multiples. Realisms. is focusing on the construction of a photographic series dealing with the public monuments created in memory of World War I in the rural environment. In the quiet landscape of these villages, a fragile profile of the soldiers as known heroes is captured, disclosing not only a mutual historical experience, but also a universe that formed the object of radical transformations in the last years. Apparently disconnected from their background, the lives of these lonely characters provide the passer-by with an incursion into a collective social practice. The layers of such practice are activating, beyond the daily resignation and oblivion, sui generisshapes in which the sphere of the national is represented, and the public discourse is interpreted.

Nicu Ilfoveanu’s approach is to destabilize the traditional rhetoric accompanying the narration of these monuments, while he proposes a working and reading alternative. There is a common denominator for these images, namely an intimate relationship with space, with the living territory of the village, which has become the instrument of collective projections. The affinity with this landscape is, for each community, strengthening the presence of certain rituals and histories which are subjectively constructing national identities. Last, but not least, Nicu Ilfoveanu’s project allows an observation of the mirage represented by commemoration, death and public representation horizons, following the perception of these monuments at the local level then, when they were built and now, in the present.

The exhibition is designed as three channel dia-installation, Super 8 loop projection, object by Vlad Gherghiceanu and is accompanied by a bilingual publication with contributions by Claude Karnoouh (French sociologist and anthropologist), Gheorghe Negustor (PhD Faculty of History, University Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj) and Nikolai Vukov (Associate Proffesor at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies, Sofia)

project financed by AFCN

partners: National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, National Military Museum, Square Media, pepluspatru Association
with the kind support of Liliana & Peter Ilica Foundation for the Endowment of the Arts