Bucharest, Saturday, September 23, at 12 PM, in front of Gloria cinema hall from Titan Neighborhood – 6 Bucovina street, sector 3, Bucharest
Tuesday, September 23, 2023, the last artwork of public art stage of Accelerator. Mentoring and production for emerging artists will be presented. Artist Maria Mandea invites people of Bucharest to take part in “The Library of Public Games” game, a public art intervention that will start at 12.00 PM in front of Gloria cinema hall from Titan Neighborhood (6 Bucovina street, sector 3, Bucharest).
This on-site activation proposed by Maria Mandea is aligned with her previous online intervention, that took place at the end of June 2023 and that started the public art stage of Accelerator, marking the launch of “The Library of Public Games”. Hosted by Institutului Jocului website, “The Library of Public Games” is a collection of games, covering rules and installation instructions which can later be used, drawn and played in the public space by anyone who is interested.
The artwork consists in a designated physical space available for the public where the artist invites audiences to experiment and even create new games. Through game, public space becomes play space, living space, poetic space, active space.
The intervention will be temporary, for just 6 months, but it can be repeated by the public in the same space or in other public spaces by following the instructions for activating the games. Instructions are available in the Library for Public Games on the Institutului Jocului website.
The library is open and accessible to anyone, so it will also be used as a pedagogical tool to engage people in creating and understanding games in public space.
“Maria Mandea is one of the artists who left a clear mark on the public art stage of Accelerator. She is interested in socially-related matters constantly expressing her voice out in the open though her practice. We could say that Maria is the glue – the connector who put Accelerator public art projects together. The artwork „Full of merit, yet poetical. Auto-distructive traces” – known to the public as the giant chalk ball – was her idea. Then 3 artists in the programme – Ana Maria Szöllösi, Roberta Curcă and Lucia Ghegu presented it Timișoara, București and Cluj-Napoca. We invite you to join us on September 12 in Titan area. The Library for public games is the last artwork of Accelerator, project that will cross the finish line by the end of September.” – Andrei Breahnă, project manager Accelerator and president of Asociația Culturala Eastwards Prospectus
Following the public art intervention in Titan area, Bucharest, next step is to develop a network of playgrounds (public spaces in the city), where library games can be played.
Maria Mandea is an artist working with the medium of play. She graduated, in 2017, from UAUIM Bucharest, she defended her PhD on the subject of games at UNArte Bucharest in 2022 and currently teaches game design at the Master of Art of Game Design at UNATC Bucharest.
With a background in product and stage design, her recent work explores participative situations in which she invites visitors to become performers and co-creators of the artwork.
In 2017 she co-founded the Super:Serios collective, where she develops games and proposals for public space with other architects, urban planners and artists. In 2021, she co-founded Știrbei47, an open studio and space for emergent and participatory art in Bucharest.
In the exhibition Back to Where It All Began, the artist proposed a manifesto-type artwork, Restitutio in integrum, a playful installation based on the real case of the IOR park in Bucharest, part of which became private property following the post-1989 retrocession process. In the exhibition, players claim the park by planting lollipop trees, which they received at the entrance to the exhibition.
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Financed with the support of EEA Grants 2014-2021 within the RO CULTURA Programme and implemented by Asociația Culturală Eastwards Prospectus, in partnership with Gaep Gallery in Bucharest and i8 Gallery in Reykjavik, Iceland, Accelerator is the first and the most complex program for emerging artists who proposes a strategic approach on their artistic careers.
Accelerator covers 3 dimensions: know-how and expertise by national and international contemporary art professionals, that was provided in last year’s mentorship stage, resources for producing new artworks and presentation opportunities. The Exhibition at Gaep, doubled by the online viewing room was the first said space. The other ones are the public art projects we are presenting now in Bucharest, Timișoara, Constanța, Cluj-Napoca and Oltenița. This artwork is part of the public art stage of Accelerator, the last one, as the project is to end by the end of September.
Founded over 7 ago, Asociația Culturală Eastwards Prospectus (ACEP) promotes contemporary art at national and international level by the means of implementing cultural and educational programmes. Through the Accelerator series of projects, ACEP supports emerging artists in the development of their career path by offering them learning opportunities inspired from international approaches and practices. In addition, ACEP aims to deepen its efforts of training and developing new audiences by the means of activities organised in Bucharest and country-wide, both online and offline. By taking part, the public starts to get familiarised and connect to contemporary art. ACEP received financing for the production of artworks; organised over 30 online and offline shows; supported an artistic intervention in public space of artist Tania Mouraud, held simultaneously in 9 cities; supported the participation of artists in national and international art fairs and developed projects for children and for the employees in corporations interested in contemporary art.
Thus, with the help of ACEP projects, art contributes to individual and collective progress – fulfilling its well-known role from older ages – to foster the evolution of society.
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The EEA Grants represent the contribution of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway towards the reduction of economic and social disparities in Europe and towards strengthening the bilateral relations between the donor countries and the 15 EU countries in Central and Southern Europe and the Baltics. The three donor countries cooperate closely with the EU through the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA). The donors have provided €3.3 billion through consecutive grant schemes between 1994 and 2014. For the period 2014-2021, the EEA Grants amount to €1.55 billion. More information is available on www.eeagrants.org and www.eeagrants.ro.
RO-CULTURE Programme is implemented in Romania by the Ministry of Culture through the Project Management Unit. The Programme aims at strengthening social and economic development through cultural cooperation, cultural entrepreneurship and cultural heritage management. The total budget amounts to almost 34 million EUR. For more details access: www.ro-cultura.ro.