Zona Festival

The Zona Festival, held between 1993-2002 în Timișoara, marks a peak moment in Romania's performance festival scene, alongside the AnnArt Festival near Lake Sfânta Ana and Periferic Festival in Iași (later transformed into the Periferic Biennial). The Zona Festival, conceived and organized by curator and art historian Ileana Pintilie, gained momentum during the years of freedom following the political regime change in 1989. It also revealed the disillusionments brought by the new democracy forming in a social and political space marked by numerous conflicts and a rapid reconfiguration of the categories of winners and losers in the early days of "transition." Despite often relying on a deficient infrastructure, the festival energetically mobilized artists from diverse generations, activating various unconventional spaces (including public spaces). [1]

Publications

• Ileana Pintilie, "The Zone Performance Festival - the Expression of a Regional Context", Trans 9, Aug 2001.

• Zona Festival, ed. Ileana Pintilie, Bucharest: PUNCH, 2023, 416 pp. Essays by Ileana Pintilie, László Beke, Vladimir Bulat, Robert Fleck, Alexandra Titu, Berislav Valušek. Artists' texts by Alexandru Antik, Matei Bejenaru, Ștefan Bertalan, Geta Brătescu, Oskar Dawicki, Ion Grigorescu, H.arta Group, Karen Kipphoff, Liliana Mericioiu, Dan Perjovschi, Lia Perjovschi, Sorin Vreme. Publisher. Book launch, [2]. (Romanian)/(English)

Links

• ZONA &, performance programme, curated by Corina Oprea and Magda Radu, Timișoara, Dec 2023.