How to Build a Universe That Does Not Fall Apart Two Days Later
Regensburg, Donumenta 2007

Artists: Ștefan Constantinescu, Ciprian Mureșan, Ioana Marinescu & Robert Fearns, Radu Comșa, Șerban Savu, Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan, Vali Chincișan & Mihai Gongu, Olivia Mihălțianu

Almost 20 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Romania has redefined its identity according to an increasingly Western values system. As all countries from the former Eastern Bloc, it has experienced radical shifts of mentalities and lifestyles, from monistic political authority to liberalism, from prohibited abortions to sexual emancipation, from empty canteens and gloomy clothes to fast foods and global brands. The grammar of new life has changed perceptions of space and time, human relationships and ways of representation, revealing a feverish search for meaning within a previously ‘non-representable’ space, veiled by dictatorship and almost neglected by the dominant political and cultural order. This exhibition explored how the new generation of Romanian artists commented on, made visible, confronted or interacted with these developments and tensions within the context of global culture and politics a few months after Romania joined the EU.