In 2023, the international Hip Hop movement celebrated 50 years of existence. In 2024, Rezidența9 proposes a 30th anniversary of this cultural phenomenon in Romania, with a collective exhibition dedicated to local Hip Hop.
Between April 15 and May 19, the exhibition A.F.R.O.N.T. offers the general public a live exploration of Hip-Hop, as conceived and realized by a collective of artists and theorists with roots in Hip-Hop: Omu Gnom, DJ Undoo, G.P. Volceanov, Cristian Eduard Dragan, Robert OBERT, Cătălin Soto, Pisica Patrată, Alin Boeru, J.R., and John Dot S.
The aim of the A.F.R.O.N.T. exhibition is to render Hip-Hop culture in its aesthetic complexity, one that combines visuals, sounds, movement, and words under a unifying spirit of freestyle improvisation. The exhibition opens on Monday, April 15, at 19:00, in the presence of the curatorial team, with a PussyCutz DJ set.
For the first time in Romania, A.F.R.O.N.T. brings together all four defining elements of hip-hop culture: the word (rapping or MC-ing), music (DJ-ing or Turntablism), dance (breaking or B-Boy-ing), and urban art ( graffiti), both inside and outside the exhibition, through a series of events that will enliven the Residence9 for a month.
The live program will allow visitors to have an interactive experience with both what street culture meant for the 90s and 2000s in Romania and its current representations. Discussions occasioned by the Sound Archive, the team of the film “Why do They Write on the Walls?” and by the author of the book “Rap is Poetry”, G.P. Volceanov, also propose critical perspectives on the present and future of the culture, which is now in a very different context than the one in which it was born.
Every Saturday of the exhibition, the public can participate in a guided tour with one of the curators, part of the cultural mediation program of the Residence9, “What’s wrong with contemporary art?”. The weekend of April 27-28 opens the doors of Residence9 for a live display of forces and elements of Hip Hop culture.
Guest artists: PussyCutz, ERPS, Mser, KRIPS, Michelle Cypher aka Gani, DJ DOX, Fubuki, DJ Al*BU, Ionuț Popescu, Dragoș Hanciu, Sătănel.
The exhibition is part of a curatorial effort by Residence9 to x-ray local cultural movements and their influence on contemporary culture, starting with the exhibitions Post-Punk and New Times: Xenogenesis of SF in 2021.
“What’s up with Hip Hop?” is part of the cultural mediation program “What’s up with contemporary art?” developed by Rezidența9 to bring the non-art-specialist public closer to the content of its exhibitions or projects. Addressed specifically to young people, “What’s up with contemporary art?” seeks to create an interactive cultural experience and contribute to the formation of a new public that is brave, reflective, and alert, critical.
To workshops and guided tours: https://fb.me/e/3Krb69WMc
Scena9 and Rezidența9 are cultural programs carried out by Fundația9, established and supported by BRD Groupe Société Générale.
