MATCA artspace has announced the second edition of the Twisted Lullabies exhibition. The opening will occur on Friday, November 10, starting at 19:00 (Calea Turzii 21, Cluj-Napoca).
The exhibition is the result of a platform which was launched in August this year and aims to be continued during the next year – coming to support projects that speak about the Eastern European culture and to encourage research practices that require in-situ exploration. This first version of the project included a short mobility where 5 artists – Alexandru Mihai Budeș / Jasmina Al-Qaisi / Alexandru Muraru / Cezar Cîmpeanu / Alexandra Mocan – travelled through an itinerary configured to present some glimpses and current situations of some areas from Romania and Moldova. Other 10 contributions were added to the exhibition – Eluned Zoe Aiano & Alesandra Tatić / Marko Stojanović / Kolxoz / Ramin Mazur / Carolina Dutca & Valentin Sidorenko / Nadja Kracunovic / Camilia Filiipov /Future Nostalgia FM / Tatiana Fiodorova-Lefter / Jelena Radenović – the result of an open call which invited artists from Serbia and Moldova to propose works that could reflect the conceptual framework of the project.
This exhibition investigates traditions, beliefs, customs, emotions, communities, places, and politics of Eastern European culture under a specific concept called Twisted Lullabies. Lullaby (etymology – lull + bye-bye) is a metaphor for the common atmosphere shared by the countries of origin of the presented artists, imagined as a ghostly soundtrack played for the things we are preparing to say goodbye to. Each of the three countries (RO, SRB, MD) share a communist past and retain reminders of this regime in one way or another – or they are marked similarly by the changes that occurred once capitalism started to unfold.
One of the stakes of this whole project was to investigate places (rural and urban spaces), intangible heritage (local legends, history), relics – which in the conceptual vision of the project are present materializations of the past. Once we say goodbye to something, it does not mean that it is gone. The curatorial objective of the project is to explore the nostalgia of the inconsistency, irrelevance and absurdity of the present-in-continuous-change in these three countries that are part of this project. Like a sickly (twisted) song heard in the distance, the current exhibition delves into the degrading landscape of shared memories/history and the similarities we have in common from this starting point.
The contributions presented in this exhibition span across diverse subjects and various historical periods. Whether rooted in fiction or reality, a shared skepticism characterizes the works that responded to the project’s call. A subset of the exhibited works leans towards speculation, rather than being grounded in specific historical events, playing a pivotal role in portraying a state caught between wakefulness and dreams—an in-between realm shaped by our limitations in transforming reality as we desire. Improvisation serves as a tool to magnify (our) common dreams, and some works form this category inevitably perform irony, forgetting, enhancing or believing, while adopting disguises to make the challenges of life more manageable.
On the flip side, you will find in the exhibition documentary approaches delving more closely into recent events and the consequential effects they have produced. Exploring the repercussions of shifting mindsets and the void left when the capacity to fantasize diminishes, are central themes within these works. Amid the ongoing debate surrounding the interplay of power and existence, certain pieces delve into co-dependence, emphasizing some relationships based on constraints essential for survival. The challenge arises in capturing the essence of the present when power perpetually masquerades as an improved product, cleverly branded to attract participation in its fictional narratives. How does one navigate this landscape of disguised power to authentically reflect the nuances of the current reality? Traversing the recent mutations that seamlessly blend the past into the present and the present into the future, and contemplating how we speculate our reality, stand as the central themes explored within the works presented here.
The context in which this project is initiated is the Cultural Management Academy Bucharest and Belgrade- 2021-2022, based on a microgrant offered by the Goethe Institute through the support of EUNIC.
Event realized with the support of the Cluj-Napoca City Hall
Cultural project co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.
Twisted Lullabies is a project initiated and curated by Alexandra Mocan in partnership with Gordana Vukov and Constanța Dohotaru
Partners: Asociația Maatka Phi, ASUAD Cluj, Artcrawl Cluj, Empower Artists, Klara i Rosa, Asociația Laolaltă, Asociația La Pătrat
Project powered by MATCA artspace.
