PASSATO PROSSIMO

photographs by Michele Bressan and Bogdan Girbovan

21 – 31/01/2008

Opening: Monday 21/01/08 19h00

UNAgaleria

Str. G-ral Budisteanu 10, sector 1, Bucuresti

In my attempt to write a text for the exhibition Passato Prossimo, I cannot escape a definition of photographers that I recently heard, a definition that for me is equal in profoundness to a saying of Hagi, the football player: „Football is football and the ball is round”. It is said that there are two kinds of photographers: the hunter and the farmer... Fortunately, Michele Bressan and Bogdan Girbovan do not fit into any of these categories...

At the time when Michele has started taking photographs, quite recently, Tom Waits launched three albums at once: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards... and, similarly, one could define his style of photography: a mixture of rush with sentimentalism and possession, a combo of hunter and farmer and something more. Something tender which cannot be explained but pleases the eye.

At the time when Bogdan began photographing, nothing important was going on. Hence, his images „have a voice of their own” ... quite literally! As in: the farmer meets the hunter and tells him something. Something brief that cannot be put into words yet it is pleasurable...

The exhibition in UNAgaleria is also a demonstration of craftsmanship in developing gelatin silver prints. Ten photographs of 100x150 cm., fiber based matte paper mounted on aluminium, limited edition of five plus a few small pictures perfect for framing, unlimited edition. On one hand leica format photographs taken with about 15 different cameras (indeed, Bressan carries a small camera in every pocket for fear of missing out on something) with grainy negatives and on the other hand medium format images, pure 6x7, taken with a heavy camera that releases the shutter in a loud yet firm manner. (no connection to Bresson)

These two students are worth looking after in their future artistic activity and, moreover, together with their peers, they shape a generation of students from the photography and video department that shows a lot of promise for the future.

Nicu Ilfoveanu, curator

The Key Spot

11 – 17/01/2008

Opening: Friday 11/01/2008 18h00

Oana Barleanu, Adrian Branea, Lucia Dumitrescu, Mihai Ilie, Maria Marin, Mihai Mihail, Emilia Panicu, and Bogdan Vornicu

The works presented are deformed images that, due to the laws of perspective, can be recomposed from a certain spot in order to form the correct image. The images realised through anamorphosis can be recomposed: either directly, in front of an observer placed at the key spot, or indirectly, in certain reflective surfaces (regular, conical or cylindrical mirrors). Anamorphosis can be a useful technique in fine arts because it forms images that are abstract at the same time as mimetic and also because it can be recomposed from a certain key spot that can be aesthetically exploited by the artist. Moreover, the anamorphoses harbour a degree of surprise and interactivity with the observer - participant in the re-shaping of the correct image.

Curator, arch. Bogdan Vornicu

CONTEMPORARY UTOPIA FESTIVAL

third edition - The Ethics of Dwelling

18 – 22 December 2007

Opening: 18/12/07 18:00 hrs.

UNAgaleria
10 G-ral Budisteanu
Bucharest 1

organised by the Centre for Research in Visual Arts/Faculty of Fine Arts – The West University of Timisoara and The National University of Arts in Bucharest

UNAgaleria
10 G-ral Budisteanu
Bucharest

28.11 – 13.12.07

Opening: Wednesday 28.11.07 17h00

“La ruinurile” unui muzeu / On the ruins of a museum

works from the Kalinderu collection of the Museum of the National University of Arts Bucharest in a dialogue with contemporary works by: Reka Csapo-Dup, Darie Dup, Adrian Ilfoveanu, Elena Nuca, Marius Purice, Gabriela Tofan

Of all the copies in marble and bronze from famous works of art, copies chosen and contracted by Kalinderu in the workshops of fin-de-siècle Florence, a few fragments are still with us.
The current exhibition pays hommage to them trying to restore their identity and link them to contemporary creation.

Opening: Monday 19.11.07 19h00

UNAgaleria
10 G-ral Budisteanu
Bucharest

The Favourites

25 Dutch Designers present their favourite design
the work of 24 Dutch and Romanian design students
an overview of 010 Publishers (Rotterdam)

Opening by Ruxandra Demetrescu, Rector of Bucharest National University of Arts and
Jaap Werner, Ambassador of the Netherlands in Romania

The exhibition is divided into 3 parts: The Favourites, The books of 010 Publishers and Student’s work, and is designed by Piet Gerards, Hanna Donker and Maud van Rossum.

The Favourites

will show the most favourite designs of 25 Dutch Designers. Each designer will choose and elucidate on one work of their oeuvre. The participants are: Hans Bockting/Sabine Bockting, Baer Cornet, Frits Deys, Edo van Dijk, Bram de Does, Piet Gerards, Mieke Gerritzen, Lucas de Groot, Melle Hammer, Reynoud Homan, Ton Homburg/Marty Schoutsen, Erik Kessels, Rene Knip, Jacques Koeweiden, Richard van der Laken/Pepijn Zurburg, Richard Niessen/Esther de Vries, Martin Pyper, Geert Setola, Lex reitsma, Lies Ros, Fred Smeijers, Ewald Spieker, Gerard Unger, Chris Vermaas, Thomas Widdershoven.

The books of 010 Publishers

Monday 19 Nov, Hans Oldewarris, director of 010 Publishers Rotterdam, will have a lecture on book publishing. He will illustrate this lecture with a selection of his published books over the last 25 years. This selection will be shown in the exhibition.

Student’s work

Each student will choose a piece of their own work and present it together with their rationale for choosing it.

For more information on Atelier Tipografic / Typography Studio project, please visit www.ateliertipografic.eu

Atelier Tipografic / Typography Studio is an initiative of Piet Gerards (Graphic Designer, Amsterdam) as part of Golden Age, Highlights of Dutch Graphic Design (1890–1990) exhibition at MNAC Bucharest in cooperation with David Quay (Type Designer, Amsterdam), Dinu Dumbravician (Teacher at una, Bucharest), Warren Lee (Nijhof&Lee, Amster­dam), Maud van Rossum (Graphic Designer at Piet Gerards Ontwer­pers) and Hanna Donker (Trainee Piet Gerards Ontwerpers)

Made possible by the National Committee for International Cooper­ation and Sustainable Development, Premsela, Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion (Amsterdam), De Beyerd, Graphic Design Museum (Breda), Dutch Embassy (Bucha­rest), Drukkerij Rosbeek (Nuth), riwi Color (Amsterdam), Manage­rial office Groucho’s (Maastricht), Van den Brandhof Interior Design (De Meern), 010 Publishers (Rotter­dam), Nijhof&Lee (Amsterdam), Galerie Godá (Amsterdam), La Strada (Bucuresti), Brand Tailors (Bucuresti), mgt Educational (Bucuresti) and Design Studio (Bucuresti)

Participants Universitatea Nationala de Arte (Bucuresti), Koninklijke Academie (Den Haag), Willem de Kooning Academie (Rotterdam), Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (Utrecht), Acade­mie Beeldende Kunsten (Maastricht), Gerrit Rietveld Academie (Amster­dam), artez (Arnhem)

CRAFTMANSHIP FOREVER - opening 1/11/07 18:00 hrs

CRAFTMANSHIP FOREVER
contemporary glass design and photography
1-14/11/2007
Opening: Thursday 1/11/07 18:00

UNAgaleria
10 G-ral Budisteanu
Bucharest

brought to you by
The Czech Centre in Bucharest & the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design Prague

Professors Michal Fronek and Jan Nemecek have encouraged five of their students to spend almost a month at the glass workshop Kvetna, where superior handmade glassware that is traditionally known for its exclusive quality is produced.
The objects produced by the students are the results of inspiration from the glass shapes designed by the great masters from the past and the creation of their own experimental designs of applied art. During this project, students were asked to underline a specific feature that the glass artists of Kvetna have – the ability to design objects similar to those from the past, modelling the glass in the same way. This experiment proved very interesting for both parties involved – manufacturers and students -who succeeded in creating valuable objects of innovative design.

The Embassy of Finland in Bucharest &
FRAME Finnish Fund for Art Exchange

Wilma Hurskainen - Growth
18 - 30.10.2007
Opening: Thursday, Oct. 18th, 18:00 hrs.

UNAgaleria
10 G-ral Budisteanu
Bucharest 1

Growth 2003-2005

“Growth is a project in which I am reconstructing and re-photographing pictures that my dad took of me and my three little sisters when we were children. I am trying to make the new photograph look as similar as possible to the old one: the place and the composition are the same.
I have always been very attracted by the photograph’s ability to cross time and create this kind of comparisons. There is something sad, almost tragic, about looking at old photographs compared to new ones and seeing how people and things have changed or grown up. After all, it is said that time has been accepted as a common means of measuring life because people are not able nor willing to see the change in themselves. In the pictures it seems as if we were trying to go back to our childhood but unavoidably failed – there is no return in time.
I am also interested in family photographs and the way they are taken, stored and (not so often) looked at. Anyone with any family history can tell that, although the family pictures are supposed to tell a story about a happy, unanimous family, growing up with other people is never simple.
The project is still going on and I would even like to reconstruct the pictures again after 20 years. Unfortunately a part of the growth and life is that it is impossible to predict how things will turn out.” (Wilma Hurskainen)