Cetate Arts Danube / Art in context
Every summer, since 2008, Cetate (a village in Dolj County, Romania) becomes a place of artistic confluence and creation. The Cetate Arts Danube – Artist in Residence program gathers artists from different generations and different artistic practices with the idea of creating freely in proper environment for art-making and art promoting. Situated by the Danube, Druga family estate owned by the Joana Grevers Foundation (the villa, cereal storage/studio, the old factory) represents a creation venue where artists live and work for approximately three weeks each year. This year from 26th of June till 18th of July Artist in Residence program involved the following artists: Stefan Radu Cretu (Romania), Albert Kaan (Romania), Constantin Luser (Austria), Ignazio Mortellaro (Italy), Stefan Papco (Slovakia) and Petrica Stefan (Romania).
Art in context (trends and curatorial practices in contemporary art) curatorial workshop is this year’s addition to the program. The workshop was divided in two platforms – Bucharest and Cetate platform, where twelve young participants (students, graduates, MA students, Phd students, young emerging curators from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia) worked together with guest curators from July 4th till July 13th. Guest curators were: Ruxandra Demetrescu, art historian, professor of art history and theory at the Department of Doctoral Studies of the National University of Arts in Bucharest, Romania; Călin Dan, visual artist, writer, curator and director of The National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest, Romania; Zoran Erić, chief curator at Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, Serbia; Karolina Ziębińska-Lewandowska, curator at the Photography Department of the Musée National d’Art Moderne Centre Pompidou in Paris, France.
In Bucharest the curators presented and discussed their recent projects, methodologies and challenges they faced working on these projects, which was followed by the institutional visits, exhibition-viewings and studio visits. In Cetate participants also had the chance to present their researches and projects, together with curators they interacted with artists and discussed about the potential result of the workshop manifested through a journal publication. The Romanian art scene was not the main focus of the workshop, but rather the idea of providing a suitable framework for understanding the concepts, methodologies of exhibition making, the role of the curator, etc. What we all agreed on was the fact that curatorial courses as separated seminars at the universities or in this form of workshops are needed, not only to train young curators, but also to understand the artistic approach from a wider perspective, making connections and placing the artistic projects in a local and international context. Special thanks to Aurora Király, visual artist, curator and cultural manager, that coordinated the whole workshop, also to the organizers Joana Grevers and Ecaterina Dinulescu.
Discussing about the project, ideas and plans for the future with Joana Grevers and artists >>>
KK: I would like you to reflect on these years of artists in residence program and what was the process of developing the Cetate Arts Danube project like?
JG: It started very spontaneously, exactly ten years ago. The first edition was with the Romanian artists who were represented by the 418 Gallery. At the beginning we had a lot of painters, and over time the profile changed in the sense that, apart from the artists of the gallery, there were also the invited artists too, from Romania and from abroad. Then gradually the interest moved into sculpture, installation, and eventually fresco. We realized that this place needs works on site. Every year we have artists from other countries which is important in order to work and to get to know Romanian artists, establish connections etc.
KK: What is the criteria when choosing the artists?
JG: To be honest, I don’t like to make open calls and to revise 300 applications of people I don’t know. So it happens that I always meet people from the art world as I’m very much involved in several museums boards and I also travel a lot. Meaning that I meet a lot of artists, directly or through people I know. And then, when I see that someone could fit into the program or could be an interesting addition I approach them and ask. Criteria is knowing about their art and some aesthetical rules etc, so it is a complicated process which has also its own dynamics.
KK: How many artists are usually in residence?
JG: The least that we’ve had were four artists, and one year we even had nine of them. This year we have five artists, as the sixth came to finish his work from last year.
KK: Is this your first time here at the residence and what’s the process of developing the work?
Stefan Radu Cretu: I see myself as the lucky one, this is my sixth time here. I had the chance to have an evolution of myself and my art in this place that also has changed very much during these six years. Here I had a chance to build something site specific, in any corner of this big land. So I tried different stuff and that’s why I feel like I’m losing my mind a bit, with so much space where I can do/make something. Sometimes you have to go a bit out of your field to keep up with the spirit of this place. In a way it is hard, and in a way beautiful. But I can say that it is a challenge all the time. There are many different people with different experience and practice. I find it’s always helpful to have an insight in works of interesting individuals. There is a transfer of energy and knowledge that’s good for everyone.
Stefan Radu Cretu, Inside the stone, 2017.
Petrica Stefan: This is my third time here. First year I did what I usually did at my studio: paintings. But after that I wanted to do something for this place so I started painting on the walls, which was a novelty for me. Doing the frescoes was good for me, considering the routine of the studio.
Petrica Stefan, Acquatic Topography, 2017.
Albert Kaan: This is my first time doing the artist in residence program and for the first time I’m working together like this with the group of artists. It’s a great opportunity to develop the work I’ve started in Bucharest. The moment I arrived I started looking around in search of new materials. I graduated last year so it’s good being surrounded by these experienced artists.
Albert Kaan, Dance 033, 2017.
JG: You adapted very well from the beginning, I don’t have the feeling that this is your first time here.
Albert Kaan: Yes, you’re right! The experience is very useful not only for my work, but also for my spirit and my energy. I now know why you need this each year.
Stefan Radu Cretu: Yeah, it’s like ammunition.
Albert Kaan: As Stefan said, this place gives you the opportunity to go big scale, do something where you’re not restricted by the space. Here I have everything to work with.
Stefan Radu Cretu: That’s the interesting part: That you have to adapt and use materials you can find here on the property, or in a city nearby, like Calafat or Craiova. Or you can just go to the local shop and buy materials on credit ‘cause they know you, then by the end of the week, you have to pay your dues.
Ignazio Mortellaro: I think a lot about being here for the first time, in Romania, in a residence like this. The feeling is a mixture of something familiar in a physical way, and something with a kind of distance. But more distant in time than in space or feeling. I immediately got in contact with the ambar, with the space. I started drawing immediately. House is so familiar, you can feel the history and the people that have been here before. It’s beautiful because you are growing by knowing the place.
Ignazio Mortellaro, Infinity of infinities, 2017.
Ignazio Mortellaro, Oceanos, 2017.
JG: I think that the freedom for the artists is the absolute condition for me. And, somehow instinctively, the artists who come here choose their right positions, the environment, and the place where they can create and work.
KK: What are, let’s say, the main goals of the program?
JG: It is always interaction, so the core of the residence are the artists of the gallery and the collaboration that can evolve from working with the artists from abroad. More or less the goal is to, over time, have a real land art, sculpture park or sculpture garden. Now I can say that we really are going towards it. The capacity of the park and the landscape is being used. Who knows, maybe we’ll open it for the public. But that is for now a distant goal.
KK: How was the project of curatorial workshop initiated? This is the first time you are doing a curatorial workshop?
JG: Yes, it is the first time, and I really want to go on doing it the next year too. I realized that it is important to bring the curators to meet the artists and to see the process of developing the work. It started with a private invitation last year and then I realized that curatorial studies in Romania are needed because they don’t have them at the university. I liked the idea of bringing people here, together; helping them learn and bringing people from abroad. That’s very efficient and has a purpose for both sides. It’s useful to meet the artists and get into their way of working as a potential chance for further collaboration.
Albert Kaan: It was very useful for me too, like an exercise, to talk about my works, methodologically and creatively.
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