Artists Delia A. Prodan and Andrei Arion intervene with art objects – as cleaning shoes graters, made from metal and terrazzo. The artworks are symbols of the failing infrastructures of the cities and their impact on citizens.
August 17, 18.00 PM: the artworks will be installed and presented in 2 locations – 12 Banu Manta Street and 21 Nicolae Titulescu 21 street in Bucharest. The audiences are invited to join the artists on 21 Nicolae Titulescu street (close to Piața Victoriei).
The public in Bucharest is invited on Thursday, August 17, 2023, 18.00 PM, to the presentation of Lose a step, the 5th public art project within Accelerator. Mentoring and Production for Emerging Artists Programme.
This a truly collaborative project, initiated by 2 of Accelerator artists, Delia A. Prodan and Andrei Arion and it deals with areas in Bucharest where road repairs are taking place, by the means of installing shoe scrapers designed and produced by the artists, as symbols of the high levels of discomfort in Bucharest, a city that struggles with constant road-repair works that hinder quick connectivity. The audiences are invited to join the artists on 21 Nicolae Titulescu street (close to Piața Victoriei).
A series of two metal and terrazzo graters, the project Lose a Step is an invitation to introspection. Within the boundaries of an accelerated rhythm of life and an acute need of movement, repairs are often viewed as obstacles and nurture high levels of discomfort. However, just as the urban space needs time to be rebuilt and function, so do we, as individuals, need moments to take care of ourselves and to break the rhythm of our searches. Our thought objects, seemingly mundane, wish to activate the places where craters and mud persist, being simultaneously a practical, palpable instrument for cleaning one’s shoes. They propose either an interaction with a familiar, but uncanny, object or can be simply overlooked.
To lose one’s step could be both a ritualic and meditative act, despite the initial frustration of the space. The artwork can be understood as a poetic, yet bitter note on failing infrastructures and their impact on citizens.
The practice of Delia Prodan revolves around photography and writing. From pieces of marble and concrete, to metal and brick, her work reveals a nostalgic and empathic gaze. She works primarily with objects and books.
Andrei Arion lives and works in Bucharest and his practice revolves around sculpture and installation. In 2021 he exhibited at the Jecza Gallery, Timișoara, in the summer show Light Clarity Avocado Salad in the Morning, and in 2022 he was part of the group show At the Edge of the World at The Art Encounters Foundation, Timișoara.
In the exhibition Back to Where It All Began, both artists presented In situ installations. The sculptures of Andrei Arion are the result of a basic and increasingly difficult need to accommodate, which adapted to the space, modulate functionally and contextually as many times as they need to. The practice of Delia A. Prodan is rooted in childhood memories, as the artist recreates the space of a playground that ceased to exist.
“Art is indispensable when it comes to shaping and understanding life and things that surround us, and that is why the project The Artist, The Work And Everyone Who Comes To It is probably the most sincere evidence of that. The transition from the safe environment of the gallery space into public space invites us to see the bigger picture and the interconnectedness of things that somehow feel hidden or maybe even lost in the context of contemporary art. That is why this project does not try to be a hermetic thematic structure but rather a living organism that connects individual artistic positions with various communities, which together reflect shifts within society and challenge the participant to contemplate the moment when change becomes possible again.” – states Tevž Logar, curator Back to Where It All Began exhibition on view at Gaep gallery early this year and the one who integrated the public artworks under the concept “The Artist, The Work And Everyone Who Comes To It”
Prior to Lose a Step, there have been 4 public art activations part of Accelerator: Bucharest (The Library for Public Games. An Institute of Play project – online, Maria Mandea), Timișoara (Full of Merit, yet Poetical / Self-destructive Traces – Ana Maria Szöllösi), Constanța (On the Same Line – Lucia Ghegu) and again Bucharest (Full of Merit, yet Poetic / Self-destructive Traces – Roberta Curcă).
Next stops: Cluj Napoca, Oltenița and then back to Bucharest, for the last public art performance that will take place in September.
The finalisation of the public art stage marks the end of Accelerator. Mentoring and Production for Emerging Artists programme, which started in October 2021. Asociația Culturală Eastwards Prospectus (ACEP) aims to replicate the best practices of Accelerator by implementing new Accelerator-like projects in Romanian local communities, thus meeting the core objectives of ACEP – to empower and support the development of the local artists’ careers. These projects will be funded by other type of financing.
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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 preseting in Bucharest, Timișoara, Constanța, Cluj-Napoca and Oltenița.
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Founded over 7 ago, Asociația Culturală Eastwards Prospectus (ACEP), aims, through Accelerator, to support emerging artists in the development of their career path by offering them learning opportunities inspired from international education 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. If the public takes part in them, it will get to understand and connect to contemporary art. Thus, art contributes to individual and collective progress – fulfilling its well-known role from older ages – to foster the evolution of the 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.