Good Morning Chisinau 2008

I have traveled to Chisinau Moldova three times in the second part of year 2008. I have stayed every time in another rented apartment . The combination of going back to my birth city staying in a rented apartment which were decorated in the style of the communist era was puzzeling in space and time for me. Above are some photographs from those places.

Muziotopia (Chişinău / Iasi) 2008.

Muziotopia (Chişinău / Iasi) 2008.


The project, which I was working on during the summer 2008, resulted in an investigation and documentation, regarding the forms of archiving and representing recent history in the public sphere.

My research consisted of photographing the on display collections and juxtaposing them with found footage from archives of those museums. Furthermore I searched for written information, which could shed light on the changes that those institutes were going through after 1989.
In the scope of my research I photographed in the following museums: The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History, the National museum of history and Archeology, The National Museum of Fine Arts, The Pedagogical Museum, The Military Museum, The Union of the Writers museum, The Union of the public transport workers museum.
I photographed as well in the former buildings where some other museums connected directly to the former regime were located. Obviously those institutes ceased to exist after Moldavian independence in 1991.

As a result of my research, a clear and disturbing reflection evolved: I traced the process of omitting recent history that is present in those public institutes. Each institute tried to re-create its own concept and strategy of re-presenting the continuity and existence of the Moldavian state. Artifacts related to ancient history of the state where re-contextualized, while the artifacts and other archaeological exhibits dealing with recent history of XXI-XX century where removed and replaced with the other artifacts which support the new national discourse.
Reflecting on the idea of the museum as a cultural machine that produces the content for the group identity, a thought-provoking question emerged: how does national identity can be formed if the different presented narratives do not correspond one with each other?

To get a glimpse over the situation in Moldova at the Romanian side, I traveled to Iasi to photograph institutes alike. The three main museums for History, Art and Science - The Palace of Culture in Iasi were closed for renovations and I managed to photograph five houses of writers, the Museum of natural History and The Kogelnecanau House. Analyzing the situation in Iasi, led me to similar conclusions regarding the role of their museums in re-presenting and re-creating the national discourse.

Through this process, I wish to initiate question marks regarding the political truths that were shifting the Moldavia region in the last decades. A question is being raised to the extent of the national trauma that might be causing the Moldavian society to erase and reject any objective reference to the cultural and social atmosphere of the Soviet era. The role and responsibilities of cultural heritage institutions like the museums seems ambiguous in the light of the denial ideology they present to the public. Finally, a more general discussion is opened regarding the intersection of politics, history, culture and social participation in a period of rapid changes.

EXHIBITION
RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios

21 of October - 10 of November 2008 (10.00-17.00)
Locations: The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History (str. Kogalniceanu 82)
The Museum of Romanian Language M.Kogalniceanu (str. 31 August - 98).

Opening: 21 of October, 16.00, The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History
Press conference: 21 of October,14.00, The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History

The exhibition presents visual art projects as a result of interaction
between artist and experts (sociologists, historians, political
annalists) involved in this interdisciplinary project. The
participants investigated by juxtaposing the current cultural, social
and political situation in two Moldova regions (Moldova region from
Romania and the Republic of Moldova). The main project installation is
located in the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History,
while the other projects are exhibited in The Museum of Romanian
Language M.Kogalniceanu. Along with the visual art projects will be
presented the video documentation of the colloquium from Iasi and the
audio files with the experts contributions. The participants analysed
and commented upon the former and current conditions of two patterns:
post-socialist and post-soviet of two societies, decades after the
collapse of eastern block and dismantling of Soviet Union. In the same
time the artists and experts looked closely in to the future scenarios
of the society's in question.

Participants:

The artists:

Dan Acostioaei/ Iasi

Denis Bartenev/ Chisinau
Bik van der Pol (Liesbeth Bik and Jos van der Pol)/Amsterdam
Maxim Cuzmenco/ Chisinau
Veaceslav Druta/ Chisinau
Tatiana Fiodorova/ Chisinau
Lavinia German/ Iasi
Alex Grigoras/ Iasi

Violeta Ionita/ Iasi

Gulsun Karamustafa/Istambul
Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum/Amsterdam
Lucia Macari/Amsterdam-Chisinau
Tilmann Meyer-Faje/Amsterdam
Aurelia Mihai/ Bucharest-Hamburg
Dumitru Oboroc/ Iasi
Ghenadie Popescu/ Chisinau

Ilya Rabinovich/Amsterdam
Igor Scerbina/ Chisinau
Vadim Tiganas/ Chisinau
Vladimir Us/ Chisinau

The experts:

Igor Casu, Chisinau (historian)
Sorin Bocancea, Iasi (political analist)
Petru Negura, Chisinau (culturologists and sociologist)
Flavius Solomon, Iasi (historian)
Mihai Ursu, Chisinau (muzeum curator)

Curator: Stefan Rusu

Partners: The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History, The Museum of Romanian Language M.Kogalniceanu,

National Museum of History and Archeology, Art College A.Plamadeala.

Media partners: magazine "Stare de Urgenta", magazine Contrafort

RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios is a project organized by Contemporary
Art Center, Chisinau in partnership with VECTOR Association, Iasi that
consist in a series of interdisciplinary workshops, production of 3
documentary films ( 1 film produced by VECTOR Association and 2 others
by KSAK Center ), colloquium and seminars that took place in Iasi and
Chisinau, a project publication and final exhibition produced by KSAK
Center in Chisinau. The RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios project
components - the films by Veaceslav Druta and Aurelia Mihai, also a
video documentation of the colloquium from Iasi were presented in the
frame of 8 Periferic Biennale (Art as Gift, 3-18 of October).

The project is supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute through
the CANTEMIR Program, Bucharest; PATTERNS Program /ERSTE Foundation,
Vienna and MONDRIAAN Stichting, Amsterdam.

*Center for Contemporary Art-[KSA:K] is a non-profit, independent
institution registered in the year 2000. The new strategy of the
Center is the development of cultural forms and art practices, which
would reflect the dynamic of the social, political and economic
transformations of the society. Center supports the advocacy
activities in promoting of cultural policies suitable for the defining
and the consolidation of artist position and contemporary art
practices in the society. (www.art.md)

* Vector> Association is a non-profit cultural association that
provides the production of exhibition and educational programs,
research and editing activities, analyzes of the relations between the
art practices and visual culture in socio-political context. Vector>
supports those practices related to social re-articulation, political
consciousness and economical transformation that brings critical
analyses that could offer reinterpretations of the attitudes and
behavior from the perspective of cultural action. (www.periferic.org)


Stefan Rusu – visual artist/curator
RO-MD/Moldova in two scenarios project curator

Details about the project:
Centrul pentru Artă Contemporană, Chişinău [KSA:K]
str. Independenţei 1,
tel. + 373 22 772507
tel./fax + 373 22 573395
http://www.art.md

This project was made possible with the support of THE NETHERLANDS FOUNDATION FOR VISUAL ARTS,DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE

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Hotel Rossiya project, Moscow 2005.

A modernist complex of buildings, which was built in the middle of the sixties in Brezniev's time. It was the biggest in Europe with 2700 rooms, and was in use by party members coming outside of Moscow and also for important foreign guests. It's location next to the Kremlin on The Moscow River, visualized from one hand the ever-lasting apparatus ruling the Russian empire - The Kremlin and from the hand the bright new future that the rule of the Communist party was representing. In year 2005 I traveled to Moscow to photograph some of the interiors at 'Hotel Rossiya', and in January 2006 it was closed and demolished. While photographing I realized that this institute was actually representing the now days situation in Russia. Part of the buildings was not renovated and was for use of local tourists. Another part was rented out as offices for foreign companies. Another part was renovated and for foreign tourists. The cellar had tunnels going in the direction of the Kremlin. Hotel Rossiya represented for me possibility of investigating the connection between my backgrounds, growing up in communist republic and the way that power and authority were presented. It functioned as a forgotten time capsule, which I could briefly access.

This project was made possible with the support of THE NETHERLANDS FOUNDATION FOR VISUAL ARTS,DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE