Artist Maria Mandea was Andrei Breahnă’s guest, invited to take part in a new episode of the Accelerator Today podcast. All episodes of the podcast are available here.
We had strong debates within Accelerator programme, because we were trying to understand the nature of your practice and how exactly we can integrate it into the visual arts area. How do you think a practice like yours can be successfully included in this kind of ecosystem?
I think, nowadays, we are not talking about very clear boundaries between visual arts, performing arts, audio arts. I believe mediums are starting to flow into each other. In fact, the artistic space is becoming much more fluid also between artistic mediums, between different artists using each other’s mediums and, on the other hand, also in terms of the relationship with the audience and the relationship between professional artists and non-professional artists. It seems to me that this is an area that is developing a lot more now and the two no longer have a very clear borderline. This happens because artists choose to use different mediums from those which they were taught to express themselves by, so they gain an innocence towards their own artistic expression, and, on the other hand, because there is a lot of information from different areas, there is somehow the opportunity to practice art, even if you are not a professional artist and it seems to me that this is very important.
But then, what does it mean to be an artist? Let’s see what art means and if we look at art as an activity, in fact, art comes from play. We all play, I mean play is an activity, art is an activity, and this is where I think the two are very well connected. This has been my path; this is a journey from play to art, which influences a lot of people, whether they become professional artists or not. Maybe one could be a much better accountant for having played and having practiced art as a child. And that doesn’t undermine either the work of an accountant or the work of an artist, it’s just that the two complement each other.
In my journey, and perhaps in the journey of many, I have discovered an area of complexity in the artistic area, through exposure to art, through visiting exhibitions, performances. It seems to me that, each time, you gain levels of understanding from seeing another artistic perspective, especially related to contemporary art. I believe that it can give a new form of understanding of both the artistic environment, and it brings complexity to the understanding of our society.
Have we had more opportunities to interact with art, would we have more collectors or would we have a more active public?
I don’t think the solution comes from waiting for artists from abroad to come and show us how to make art. I think that, if a certain artistic area is not enough developed, we have to develop it. The most important step towards having a developed artistic area is to practice art. It seems to me that art as an activity, art as an action, as a way of understanding is important.
How do you see what is happening in Romania in this context?
I am always optimistic. I hope that in the future there will be more initiatives and I think that in the area where I am there are. There are this kind of initiatives, perhaps timid, but on the other hand, I think that each new generation strives to bring its own vision of things. And in fact, this builds over time.
How do you see the Accelerator programme? We already have plans to expand it to different areas and we are thinking about improving it.
The project was a very good way of professional insertion for young artists, because you have contact with artists from another aesthetic area than your own and with people from the arts area, but who are in other fields and have other perspectives. I find it very valuable to see how it works from all angles, finding a concept, aesthetics, developing an artistic discourse and not only that, but also how these things reach the public.
I’d like to come back to the exhibition and take a visual tour of your artwork. Your artwork is participatory and an olfactory one, and visitors who enter the basement of the gallery immediately feel the change in smell. I tend to think it will be a permanent work in the context of the basement, or at least for a good few months its presence will be felt.
The work starts from the current situation of the IOR park, part of which has been given back and is now private property. It seems it is not going to be a park anymore, and that which outraged me. I wanted to produce an artwork that is sweet and self-destructing – on the other hand – where the public is put in the position of discussing what private property means.
The work deals with what is currently happening in Bucharest in terms of public space. The artwork is a model of that specific area in the park. At the entrance to the exhibition, each visitor receives a lollipop that they can choose to eat or stick in the work. The artwork is a model of the said space in with the proprietary text written on it and glazed, so that when you stick a candy, you can break the inscription.
The people, the participants are part of the artwork, part of the destruction of the work, but also part of the construction of a common attitude. So, in the end, those who choose to plant the trees have a common attitude, even if someone come now, or someone else came two months ago and someone will join in a month.
The full dialogue between Maria Mandea and Andrei Breahnă is available here.