Nicu Ilfoveanu

Film Postale, 2013, 33min, color, 16mm
un film de Irina Botea si Nicu Ilfoveanu

proiectie la Modern > sambata, 15 iunie 2013, la ora 5.30 PM > apoi discutii

Cercetand modul in care imaginatia este initiata si sustinuta in interiorul institutiilor muzeale astazi, "Film Postale" alege sa medieze trei case memoriale, Castelul Iulia Hasdeu, Memorialul Balcescu si Casa Stork. Cele trei muzee, fictiuni ce propun suspendarea in timp si se opun procesului firesc de ruinizare, sunt in mod continuu la randul lor mediate de custozi. Acestia se adreseaza vizitatorilor intr-un context public special, care mentine naratiunea unui spatiu privat, intim, ce a fost locuit. Fiecare din cele trei capitole ale filmului portretizeaza contextul fiecarei case prin arhivarea fragmentelor din discursuri intrerupte, repetate, care evadeaza cateodata din conformismul sincronului. Portretizarea contextelor caselor se transforma progresiv in film in portrete ale custozilor, mediatorilor acestor muzee.

Film Postale a fost comisionat pentru expozitia: "Centru de Reflectie pentru Istorii Suspendate: O Incercare", prezentat la cea de-a 55-a editie a Bienalei de Arta de la Venetia; curator Anca Mihulet; artisti: Apparatus 22, Irina Botea & Nicu Ilfoveanu, Karolina Bregula, Adi Matei, Olivia Mihaltianu, Sebastian Moldovan.

cu:
Dragos - Castelul Iulia Hasdeu
Valentin - Memorialul Balcescu
Florentina - Casa Storck

post productie sunet:
Mathew Paul Jinks

subtitrare:
Sorina Tomuletiu
Maria Farcas

multumiri speciale:
Liviana Dan, Anca Mihulet, Razvan Botea, Gregg Bordowitz, Nadav Avruch, Lisa Wainwright, Mathew Paul Jinks, Matthias Reagan, Daniel Quiles, Faith Wilding, Geoffrey Alan Rhodes, Fred Mecklenburg
Mirela and Gene Tanta, familia Draghici, Maria Farcas, Sorina Tomuletiu, Jenica Tabacu, Nicolae Banica-Ologu, Calin, Kodak Cine Lab

Film Postale, 2013, 33min, color, 16mm

A film on memorial houses
On touristic remembrance,
On guiding. On the uncanny and the profane,
On swinging right&left.
A blend of Flusser and Bachelard
referencing directly the last Goddard.
Cinéma étirév.

Looking into how the imagination is ignited and sustained in museums today, "Film Postale" chooses to mediate three memorial houses: Castelul Iulia Hasdeu, Memorialul Balcescu and Casa Stork. The three museums, fictionalized "anti-ruins", are continuously being re-mediated by the custodians that address the visitors in a public context that keeps the narrative of a private, intimate space, once inhabited. Each of the three chapters of the film portrays the context of the houses as an archive of discontinued, interrupted, out-of-sync reenacted speeches, and the portraits of the contexts slide into becoming the portrait of the mediators, custodians of the houses.

Film Postale was commissioned for the exhibition "Reflection Center for Suspended Histories: an attempt" one of the projects representing Romania at the Venice Biennial 2013. Curator Anca Mihulet. Artists: Apparatus 22, Irina Botea & Nicu Ilfoveanu, Karolina Bregula, Adi Matei, Olivia Mihaltianu, Sebastian Moldovan.

Wozownia Gallery   – Toruń

19.04.2013 – 2.05.2013

The emergence of Central Europe in the eyes of the West is – according to Andrzej Turowski – identifying the Alien. For the western viewer, the photographs taken by a Romanian author may still seem a bit exotic, since they depict the spatio-temporal peripheries of the world defined via the dichotomy center/margin, metropolis/province. While for the viewers coming from Central and Eastern Europe as well as for Ilfoveanu himself, it is not an encounter with “the real Alien” or “the real Other”, rather, referring to the terminology proposed by Boris Groys, with “the not-completely-Other” or “the close Other”, which in turn initiates the gaze filled with nostalgia, yet one void of exoticization.
Therefore, the paradox of Ilfoveanu's photography rests within the tension between being close and keeping distance, being at home and observing the Other, which becomes apparent, among others, in the framing of particular photographs, belonging to a single cycle, but presenting the chosen motifs once in intense close-up, while elsewhere from above and from distance. Thus, one might risk a thesis that, for the artist, Romania with its inhabitants and architecture seems to be a kind of “a close Other” who is in part familiar, but also to some extent alien. The Romanian vagabond Ilfoveanu – despite all the differences separating him from the Benjaminian, dandy-like flâneur – like the flâneur frequently remains at the threshold, observing and capturing the individual shots, simultaneously maintaining distance and restraint. On the other hand, the emotional engagement signalizes an almost-programmatic attachment to – what may seem at first as – non-photogenic motifs, which constantly reappear, intensifying the feeling of melancholy, also on the side of the recipient. In these photographs, one can sense a kind of an intriguing crack, resulting from a fusion of something “natural”, direct, photographed as if spontaneously and spotted by chance on one's way, with something conventional, distant and mediated, or even as if stylized – in a positive way.

(Marta Smolinska, "Remarks on the anachronism of Nicu Ilfoveanu's work", excerpt - catalogue text)

Curator: Marta Smolińska

curatori: Cosmina Chituc & Alexandru Branişte [RO]
artişti: Nicu Ilfoveanu / Jan Eugen / Michele Bressan

Deschidere: Miercuri, 16.01.2013, 6 P.M. (work in progress)
Atelier 030202 (Sf. Vineri nr. 11, Bucureşti)

La invitatia organizatorilor editiei a 5-a a Bienalei Internationale de Gravura Experimentala, Square Media propune un atelier experimental invitand artistii Nicu Ilfoveanu si Michele Bressan, alaturi de Jan Eugen, sa construiasca impreuna o lucrare.
Asa cum discutia asupra imaginii se afla dincolo de tehnologia producerii ei, tot asa Limitele tehnicii dupa Era Fasteco trece dincolo de practica expozitionala si incepe un atelier al fortarii standardelor si proceselor mecanice, intr-o galerie – poate nu intamplator ea insasi Atelier 030202.
Sensul acestei lucrari se diferentiaza insa de conceptia unitara a unui semnal vizual unic. Ea se refera, atat vizual cat si practic, la munca lucratorilor pe un teren determinat. Perspectivele, posibilitatile ca si limitele sunt nedeterminate si tocmai aceste diferente lucreaza impreuna.

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Nicu Ilfoveanu este un artist interesat de abordarea slow-tech a fotografiei si filmului, pe langa editiile tiparite. Demersul sau se caracterizeaza prin jocul dintre personal si documentar, dintre trivial si sublim, dintre evidenta si indoiala. A expus recent la FotoFestival, Mannheim-Ludwigshafen-Heidelberg, Germania si PotoEspagna, Cuenca, Spania. Traieste si lucreaza in Bucuresti, Romania.
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Michele Bressan artist vizual interesat de fotografie si film, stabilit in Bucuresti din 1993. Lucrarile sale surprind aspecte ale realitatii post comuniste din Romania, folosind mediul fotografiei ca cercetare artistica. Prin practica reprezentarii mediului inconjurator in serii care au specificul unui jurnal subiectiv sau printr-o abordare mult mai distanta, el ofera un comentariu si in acelasi timp posibilitatea de relationare la o scena in care suntem martori ai particularitatilor si mecanismelor unei societati aflate intr-un proces lent de tranzitie.
Lucrarile sale au fost prezentate la: Mois de la Photo, Les Rencontres d'Arles, Musée dÁrt Moderne Saint Etienne, ESSL Museum Wien, Muzeul National de Arta Contemporana Bucuresti, Fondazione Fotografia Modena.
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Jan Eugen este un artist sensibil la suprafete, la calitatea imaginii, la texturi, la expresivitatea materialelor in care lucreaza. Miza interesului sau vizual este strans legata de lucrul de atelier ce dubleaza permanenta cautare a formei si a manufacturarii obiectului, folosind adesea cuplajul intre diverse tehnici si tehnologii. A expus fotografie si instalatie in diverse galerii din Romania, Italia, Grecia si Ungaria. A participat la realizarea de monumente de for public in Romania. Alaturi de Alexandru Braniste, este initiatorul Square Media si coordonator de productie in cadrul atelierului. Traieste si lucreaza in Romania, la Bucuresti.
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Square Media este atelier de ultragiclee print, experiment tehnic, grafica si productie. Contactul permanent cu artisti fotografi si experientele personale au condus catre realizarea de editii limitate, catre certificarea internationala si catre propunerea propriilor proiecte – editoriale sau experimental vizuale.
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participanti in cadrul proiectului: Alexandru Braniste, Cosmina Chituc, Irina Marculescu, Viorel Lascu, Ciprian Ciuclea
multumiri: Sorin Nainer, Mihai Barabancea, Epson Romania, Mons Medius

EXPERIMENTAL PRINT STUDIO
The limits of technique after the Fasteco Age

curators: Cosmina Chituc & Alexandru Branişte [RO]
artists: Nicu Ilfoveanu / Jan Eugen / Michele Bressan

Starting: Wednesday, 16.01.2013, 6 P.M. (work in progress)
Atelier 030202 (Bucharest, 11 Sf. Vineri)

Following the invitation of the organizers of the 5th edition of IEEB, Square Media proposes an experimental studio inviting the artists Nicu Ilfoveanu and Michele Bressan, together with Jan Eugen, to make a collaborative work.
As the discussion about the image is beyond the technology of its production, as well The limits of technique after the Fasteco Age is going beyond exhibition practice and a studio of pushing standards and mechanical processes begins. The meaning of this work is different from the unitary concept of an unique visual sign. It refers visualy and practically to the work on a determined field. The perspectives, posibilities and limits are indeterminated and precisely these differences work together.

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Nicu Ilfoveanu is an artist showing an interest in a slow-tech approach to mediums such as photography and film, besides self-publishing. His work is characterized by the interplay between personal and documentary, between sublime and trivial, between evidence and hidden-subjects. He recently exhibited at FotoFestival, Mannheim-Ludwigshafen-Heidelberg, Germany and PotoEspagna, Cuenca, Spain. He lives and works in Bucharest, Romania.
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Michele Bressan is a visual artist working with photography and film, based in Bucharest since 1993.
His work focuses on documenting aspects of the romanian post-communist reality, using the photographic medium as a means of artistic research. By the practice of portraying his surroundings through series having the typology of a subjective journal, or by a more distant approach, he offers a comment, and in the same time the possibility to relate to a scene, witnessing the particularities and mechanisms of a society in a slow transition process.
His works has been exhibited at Mois de la Photo, Les Rencontres d'Arles, Musée dÁrt Moderne Saint Etienne, ESSL Museum Wien, National Museum of Contemporary Arts Bucharest, Fondazione Fotografia Modena.
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Jan Eugen is an visual artist sensitive to surfaces, to the quality of image, textures, to the expression of the materials he works with. His visual interest is strong related to his studio work which doubles his permanent search for shape and object manufacture, often using the connection between techniques and technology. He has exhibited photography and installation in various galleries in Romania, Italy, Greece and Hungary. he has participated to the development of public monuments in Romania. With Alexandru Braniste he is the intiator of Square Media and production coordinator. Lives and works in Bucharest, Romania.
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Square Media is an ultragiclee print studio, technical experiment, graphic design and production. The permanet contact with the photo artists and personal experiences led to the developement of limited editions, to the international recognition and to the own projects – editorials or visual experiments.
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with participating of: Alexandru Braniste, Cosmina Chituc, Irina Marculescu, Viorel Lascu, Ciprian Ciuclea
thanks to: Sorin Nainer, Mihai Barabancea, Epson Romania, Mons Medius