Dan Mihălțianu’s solo exhibition, In the Skin of an Artist, can be visited until July 30 at Sector 1 Gallery (Bucharest, Romania)
Made in collaboration with Mihai Pop, the exhibition presents Dan Mihălțianu’s artistic achievements and experiences in the last 40 years, marking distinct stages of the creation of the artist that reflect an overview of his formation and development.
The project “In the Skin of an Artist” places the artist in the middle of an unpredictable world in which he faces difficulties, obligations, and successful moments, but also with social, climate change, political, military, economic, and health crises at the local and global level. The art of Dan Mihălțianu presents the personal vision of the life lived under communism, continuing with the years of transition until the present moment.
“The exhibition includes works from different artistic periods, from studies to training, affirmation, to actuality, as well as documents, materials, utensils, and apparatus that are part of the “artistic economy.” They are put in relation to the dynamic relationship established between the “human body” (representing direct contact with clothing, materials, and apparatus) and the “social body” (representing direct contact with social, political, economic, cultural, and institutional realities).
Among the projects presented are the installations Titanic Waltz, 1986 – present, Last Days of Michael Jackson in Bucharest, 1992 – 2018, Pocket Revolution, 1994 – present, Plaques tournantes, 2000 – present, Totem, 2000 – present, along with a wide selection of drawings, paintings, engraving, photography, object, sound, film and video.
Titanic Waltz 1996-present is part of the Grand Canal series, a project begun in 1984 as a sequential photographic experiment in the artist’s workshop, in which a series of installations and actions using objects, water, and moving lights were captured by the camera. Subsequently, the installation was exhibited in various local and international exhibitions. Canal Grande is a project about pleasure and suffering as part of human existence. The title refers simultaneously to the Grand Canal of Venice, as a symbol of pleasure and loisir, and to the Danube-Black Sea Canal (begun as a forced labor camp in 1948, dubbed the Canal of Death, and completed in 1984-1986, in the “Ceauşescu Era”, as the “Apotheosis of Socialism” in Romania), as a symbol of pain and suffering. It was a title meant to avoid censorship at the time, but it was immediately decoded. The exhibition Oglinda Space at the Institute of Architecture in Bucharest, 1996, was closed after 3 days, and the catalog was forbidden, the Grand Canal being one of the “problematic” works.
Canal Grande: The Capital Pool and the Associated Public, the participatory installation presented at the 2019 Venice Art Biennale, is a pool consisting of black vinyl foil and synthetic resins that delineate an irregularly shaped water mirror, functioning as a “fountain of desires.” The public was invited to throw money in and then propose the destination of the capital accumulated during the six months of operation of the biennial. The autonomous fund was eventually allocated to an alternative association, We Are Here Venice, which militates, among other things, against the effects of climate, mass tourism, and the destruction of Venice’s cultural heritage.
Titanic Waltz, in its first version, was installed at the Symposium of Installations and Performance, Sibiu 1996. The work refers on the one hand to the shipwreck of the Titanic, as a tragedy that marked the beginning of the 20th century, and on the other hand, to the socio-political-economic situation of the 90s and the decomposition of the “Multilaterally Developed Socialist Society” in Romania. The current version includes, in addition to the water mirror, used clothes and residues similar to those existing on the seas and oceans of the world. New meanings are added to the initial connotations, relating to mass migration, tragedies in the Mediterranean, the English Channel, or other seas of the world, humanitarian crises caused by social and military conflicts or poor economic conditions, as well as environmental disasters.
𝙇𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝘿𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙚𝙡 𝙅𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝘽𝙪𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩, 1992-2018, (laser print, plexiglass, LED light) is an analysis of Romanian society and the impact of Michael Jackson’s concerts in Bucharest, in 1992 and 1996, the appearance of the phenomenon “Jacksonmania” on the cultural and political scene and among the popular masses in Romania, combining the fascination for the pop culture and the mirage of consumer society, shortly after the collapse of communism.
The installation juxtaposes Michael Jackson masks that were distributed at the “Dangerous Tour” concerts, with figures taken from the newspapers of the time, representing portraits of a wide spectrum of the era, from the political elite – to the intellectual, from the working class people – to athletes, and from church faces – to street children, homeless people and other social categories, which for one reason or another were published at the time.
Dan MIHĂLŢIANU is a Romanian contemporary artist, born in 1954, in Bucharest. In 1982 he graduated from the “Nicolae Grigorescu” Institute of Fine Arts in Bucharest. In 1990 he founded, together with Călin Dan and Josif Kiraly, the artistic group “subREAL”, where he collaborated for 3 years. he was a professor at the National Academy of Arts in Bergen (2001-2007), at the Université du Québec à Montréal (2008-2009) and at the National Academy of Art in Oslo (2018-2019). Currently, the artist is living and working both in Bucharest, as well as in Berlin and Bergen.
EXHIBITIONS:
Dan Mihălţianu participated in a number of artistic residencies, including Glasgow Sculpture Centre, 1990; Künstlerhaus Bethanien, 1993-1994; Bahnwärterhaus, Esslingen, 1995; Schloss Plüschow, 1996; Arts Link, New York, 1996; KulturKontakt, Vienna, 1997; Barkenhoff, Worpswede, 1998–1999; Künstlerhaus Eckernförde, 2001; Glenfiddich, Dufftown, 2002; URRA, Buenos Aires, 2013. He exhibited in many contexts and international manifestations, such as the International Drawing Competition “Joan Miró” Barcelona, 1980, 1985; Impact Art Festival, Kyoto, 1986, 1997, 1988; European Print Triennial, Grado, 1987; Istanbul Biennale, 1992; Aperto, 48. Biennale Arte, Venice, 1993; Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, 1994; Art in General, New York, 1996; Video Cult/ures, ZKM / Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, 1999; CTRL [SPACE], ZKM / Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, 2001; Tracing Space, Bergen Kunsthall, 2005; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, 2005; New Video, New Europe, Renaissance Society, Chicago / Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis / Tate Modern, London / Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam / The Kitchen, New York, 2004 – 2006; Social Cooking Romania, NGBK, Berlin, 2007; 3. Prague Biennale, 2007; Kunsthall 3,14, Bergen, 2018; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, 2010; subREAL Retrospect, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest / SALT Istanbul, 2012-2013; Tallinn Print Triennial, 2014; 1 Vienna Biennale, 2015; A Matter of Contemplation and Discontent, Vargas Museum, Manila, 2016; Michael Jackson on the Wall, National Portrait Gallery, London / Grand Palais, Paris / Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn / Espoo Museum of Modern Art, 2018-2020; Unfinished conversations on the weight of absence, Pavilion of Romania, 58. Biennale Arte, Venice, 2019.” (extracts from curatorial text)
Covor photo: @ Nini Rădulescu)
