Romania

Cities

Bucharest, Cluj, Timisoara, Arad, Oradea.

Avant-garde

People

Ion Vinea, Marcel Janco [1], Victor Brauner [2], Max Herman Maxy [3], Saşa Pană, Ilarie Voronca

Exhibitions

• 'International Art Exhibition', organised by Contimporanul group in November 1924 at Bucharest's hall of the Artists' Union in which almost the entire Romanian avant-garde exhibit together for the first time (Maxy, Janco, Mattis-Teutsch, Brauner, Brancusi, Miliţa Petraşcu, Dida Solomon), along with Paul Klee, Hans Arp, Arthur Segal, Kurt Schwitters, Hans Richter, W. Eggeling, Lajos Kassak, Lempereur Haut. Contimporanul journal (double issue 50-51, Nov-Dec 1924, and no. 52, Jan 1925) largely covered that event of unprecedented magnitude in Romania. The journal organised exhibitions until 1930. [4]

Journals

• Contimporanul (The Contemporary), 1922/1924?-1932, Bucharest, Edited by Ion Vinea and Marcel Janco. Most widely regarded of the modernist periodicals, [5] [6] [7]
• 75HP (Horsepower), 1924, Bucharest, 1 issue, Edited by Ilarie Voronca, Stéphane Roll and Victor Brauner. Brauner and Voronca created their picto-poetry, non figurative oil paintings, with words culled from dada-futurist vocabulary manipulated into geometric forms. [8]
• Punct (Point), 1924-1925, Bucharest. "International magazine of constructivist art". Edited by Victor Brauner (nos. 2-9) and Stéphane Roll. 16 issues published between November 15, 1924 and March 1, 1925. An imaginative integration of constructivist art, architecture and literature. [9]
• Integral, 1925-1928, Bucharest. "A magazine of modern synthesis – organ of the Romanian and international modernist movement." Edited by Max Herman Maxy. Published by Maxy, Voronca and Brauner includes non-representational linocuts, reproductions of constructivist collages, stage designs, non-figurative sculpture. Integral later added another publishing office in Paris under Benjamin Fondane and Hans Mattis-Teutsch. 15 issues were published between March 1925 and April 1928. [10]
• Periszkóp, 1925-?, Arad, Hungarian avant-garde journal, edited by György Szántó

Writings

• Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto published in Romanian in Craiova in a local newspaper, on the same day (20 February 1909) as in the Parisian Le Figaro.
• Marcel Janco, "Notes on Painting", Contimporanul, 1922.
• Marcel Janco, "Art Notes", Contimporanul, 1924.
• Ilarie Voronca, "Victor Brauner", 75HP, 1924.
• Ion Vinea, "Activist Manifesto to the Youth" [Manifest activist către tinerime], Contimporanul 46, May 1924.
• llarie Voronca, "Aviograma", 75HP, Oct 1924. [11]
• llarie Voronca. Untitled statement, 75HP, 1924.
• Victor Brauner and llarie Voronca, "Pictopoetry", manifesto, 75HP, Oct 1924. [12]
• llarie Voronca, "Assessments", Punct, 1924.
• Scarlat Callimachi, "The Contimporanul Exhibition (Notes)", Punct, 1924.
• Tudor Vianu, "The First Contimporanul International Exhibition", Miscarea literara, 1924.
• llarie Voronca, "Marcel Janco", Punct, 1924.
• Max Herman Maxy, "Visual Chrono-metering", Contimporanul, 1924.
• FeLix Aderca, "Conversations with Lucian Blaga", Miscorea literara, 1925.
• llarie Voronca, "Gramatica" [Grammar], Punct, no. 6-7, Jan 1925.
• llarie Voronca, "Voices", Punct, 1925.
• Oscar Walter Cisek, "The International Exhibition Organized by the Magazine Contimporanul", Gandirea, 1925.
• editors of Integral, "Man", Integral, Vol. 1, No. 1, March 1925. [13]
• llarie Voronca. "Surrealism and Integralism", Integral, 1925.
• Mihail Cosma, "De la futurism la integralism" [From Futurism to Integralism], Integral, no. 6-7, Oct 1925.
• Corneliu Michailescu, "Black Art", Integral, 1925.
• Mililsa Petrascu, "Note about Sculpture", Contimporanul, 1925.
• G. C. Jacques, "Initiation in the Mysteries of an Exhibition: The Sensational Pronouncements of Militsa Petrascu and Marcel Janco", Contimporanul, 1926.
• Marcel Janco, "Cubism", Contimporanul, 1926.
• Marcel Janco. "Coloring", Contimporanul, 1927.
• Geo Bogza, "Urmuz", Urmuz, 1928.
• more: [14], Julian Semilian, translator

Literature

• "Moments in the Romanian Literary Avant-Garde", [15]
• Petre Răileanu, "1922-1928. The Beginnings. Magazines and Manifestos. The Intellectual International. The Theorizing Machines. 75 HP – the New Start of the Romanian Avant-garde. Integralism and Synthesis. Synchronism and Internationalism", Plural Magazine 3, 1999. [16]
• "The Romanian Avant-Garde", Plural Magazine 3, 1999. [17]
• Dan Gulea, Gentlemen, Tovarishes, Comrades. A History of Romanian avant-garde, Paralela 45 Publishing, “Deschideri” Series, Piteşti, 2007, 484 pp. [18] [19] [20]
• Andrei Oisteanu, "The Romanian Avant-Garde And Visual Poetry", in Exquisite Corpse. A Journal of Letters and Life. The original study was published for the exhibition 'Dada East? The Romanians of Cabaret Voltaire = Dada Est? Romanii de la Cabaret Voltaire', curated by Adrian Notz, Raimund Meyer, and Juri Steiner for the Cabaret Voltaire Dadahaus, Zurich (20.09.06 - 22.02.07) [21]
• Contimporanul. Istoria unei reviste de avangarda?, Institutul Cultural Roman, Bucuresti 2007
• Irina Carabas, "Can Aesthetics Overcome Politics? The Romanian Avant-garde and its Political Subtexts", lecture for 'New Histories of Politics' a conference at Central European University, Budapest (18-20 May 2007). [22]

'Experimentalism'

Op art, neo-constructivism, land art, hyperrealism, minimal art, conceptual art, happening, kinetic art, concrete art, in the 1960s and 1970s.

• Bucharest: Ion Bitzan, Andrei Cădere (conceptual and performance art, lived in Romania from late 1930 until 1967 he emigrated to Paris [23]), Ion Grigorescu, Mihai Olos (constructivist/conceptual art, [24]), Illie Pavel
• Paul Neagu (in 1970 emigrated to France, then to UK). In late 1960s quasi-geometrical paintings and drawings, tactile/palpable objects.

Neo-constructivism

• 111 group, 1966-1969, Timisoara. Kinetic constructivist group. Roman Cotoşman, Ştefan Bertalan, Constantin Flondor.
• Sigma group, 1969-1980, Timisoara. Flondor, Bertalan, Lucian Codreanu (matematician, since 1970), Ioan Gaita, Elisei Rusu (shortly), Doru Tulcan (1969-1978).
• Diet Sayler (emigrated to Germany in 1973), concrete-constructivist and kinetic works (1960s-70s). 1963 abstract geometric pictures; 1971 two enterable kinetic spaces in Pitesti, with music by John Cage and J. S. Bach [25]; 1976 Winkelkonstellationen artist book with Max Bense. [26]

Publications

• Ştefan Bertalan, "Fragments of a Possible Program", Arta, No 8, 1970.
• George Lecca, Flondor, de la '111' + 'Sigma' la 'Prolog' [Flondor, from 111+SIGMA to "Prolog"], IDEA Design & Print, Cluj, 2005, 197 pp. [27] review

Electroacoustic music

Composers

• Octavian Nemescu, mixed electro-acoustic music and live electronic works. The first Romanian to receive an award at Bourges. [28] [29] [30]
• Corneliu Cezar [31] [32] [33]
• Costin Miereanu. Between 1967 and 1969 he was a student of Stockhausen, Ligeti, and Karkoschka at the Internationale Ferienkurse für neue Musik in Darmstadt. In 1977 he became a French citizen. Since 1981 he has been Professor of Philosophy, Aesthetics, and the Science of Art at the Sorbonne. [34] [35]
• Aurel Stroe [36] [37]
• Liviu Dandara. Attended the Internationale Ferienkurse Darmstadt in 1967 and 1978 under Stockhausen, Ligeti and Caskel. [38]
• Nicolae Brânduş. Attended the Summer Courses of New Music, Darmstadt (1969, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1978, 1980) and Aix-en-Provence (1979). Worked with the Group of Musical Research at IRCAM-Paris (1985). [39] [40]
• Dinu Petrescu, attended the Darmstadt summer courses for 8 years (under Stockhausen, Xenakis, Ligeti). Post-graduate fellowships at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne (electronic music with Stockhausen) and at the Paris Conservatory (musical analysis and aesthetics with Messiaen). [41]
• Ştefan Niculescu. In 1966 studied electro-acoustic music with Mauricio Kagel at the Studio Siemens in Munich. During the summers of 1966, 1967 and 1968 het attended the Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt (studies under Ligeti, Stockhausen, Karkoschka, Becker, Caskel, Gawriloff, Siegfried Palm and Aloys Kontarsky). Credited with introducing his own brand of heterophony, a technique based on superimposing melodic material onto variations of itself in order to create textures that are propelled by thematic energy as well as by the more common textural factors of density and levels of activity; this approach bears similarities with György Ligeti's micropolyphony, but important aesthetic and stylistic differences set them apart. [42] [43] [44] [45]
• Myriam Marbe, attended Darmstadt summer classes between 1968 and 1972. [46]
• Iancu Dumitrescu has composed a large body of works for acoustic instruments and ensembles as well as works combining acoustic and electronic sounds and works composed entirely using tape or computer. In its emphasis on long tones that undergo transformations of timbre, Dumitrescu's music can be loosely grouped with that of Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi and with the spectral music of fellow Romanian Horatiu Radulescu and the French composers of the spectral school. Dumitrescu describes his music as "acousmatic" but disclaims a relationship with the Acousmatic music of French musique concrete pioneer Pierre Schaeffer. He accepts the "spectralist" label, though he distinguishes his work from some others in the spectral school in that it is not serial. "I think of myself as a spectralist, but in completely different way from the French." With Ana-Maria Avram, he set up the Edition Modern record label in 1990. [47] [48] [49] [50]
• Hyperion Ensemble, *1976, chamber music ensemble, Bucharest. Founded by Iancu Dumitrescu. Conductors: Iancu Dumitrescu and Ana-Maria Avram. Main promoter of spectral music in Romania. Hyper-spectralist, transformational and acousmatic performances. [51] [52] [53]
• Sorin Vulcu [54] [55]
• Lucian Meţianu [56]
• Ana-Maria Avram. DEA in aesthetics of music at the Sorbonne (1992). Spectral, acousmatic, heterophonic and transformational works. [57] [58] [59] [60]
• Călin Ioachimescu, studied at IRCAM. [61]
• active at SMEI studio: Maia Ciobanu [62] [63], Ulpiu Vlad [64], Mihaela Stănculescu-Vosganian [65] [66], Irinel Anghel-Kivu [67] [68].

Works

• Corneliu Cezar, Galileo Galilei (1962).
• Aurel Stroe, Arcade (1964 or 62?)
• Octavian Nemescu, Combinations in Circles, mixed electronics (1965). Cello, ensemble (flute, clarinet, bassoon, trombone, viola), tape. The second piece produced at UNMB studio.
• Costin Miereanu, Monostructure II for strings, brass, and tape (1967).
• Costin Miereanu, Dans la Nuit des Temps, aleatoric music for instruments and tape (1968-69).
• Costin Miereanu, Couleurs du temps II for string quartet and tape (1968)
• Corneliu Cezar, Taaroa (1968), tape music.
• Octavian Nemescu's conceptual/performances/multimedia events: Suggestions, variable ensemble, multimedia events, 1968; Memorial, variable ensemble, multimedia events, 1968; The King Will Die, player, clock, tape, multimedia events, 1968; Grafological music, variable ensemble, multimedia events, 1969; Ulysses, variable ensemble, tape, multimedia events of moving music, 1972, revised 1982.
• Costin Miereanu, Espace dernier, aleatoric music for choir, six instrumental groups, and tape (1966–69).
• Costin Miereanu, Espaces II for twenty stringed instruments, piano, and tape (1967-1969).
• Costin Miereanu, Polymorphies 5x7 (A) (1968-69).
• Anatol Vieru, Nautilos, piano, tape (1969).
• Octavian Nemescu, Concentric (1969), mixed electro-acoustics. Variable ensemble, tape.
• Corneliu Cezar, AUM (1970 or 67?), a tape music piece, made after the model of many westerners, without a score. Introduced spectralism in the Romanian music. First piece produced at UNMB studio.
• Aurel Stroe, Sunet si ecou
• Aurel Stroe, Midi le Juste (1970)
• Lucian Meţianu, 1970. The first Romanian composer to write an EAM piece in a studio abroad.
• Liviu Dandara, Quadriforium III for piano and tape (1970), realized at the Electrecord Studio, Bucharest.
• Octavian Nemescu, Semantics for n melomen (1971-74), metamusic.
• Liviu Dandara, Timpul Suspendat for electronics (1971), realized at the Experimental Radio Studio, Plzeň.
• Corneliu Cezar, Ziua Fără Sfârşit (1972).
• Corneliu Cezar, Rota for synthesizer and ensemble (1972 or 76?).
• Liviu Dandara, Affectus Memoria for electronics (1973), realized at the Experimental Radio Studio, Bratislava.
• Liviu Dandara, Fresca (1973). Interferente (1973). Tacerea se scufunda (1976) for voice, piano and tape. Timpul care arata nordul (1980) for two soloists and multimedia. Sonata pentru un pian singur (1980) for piano and multimedia. Multiversum (1983).
• Aurel Stroe, Orestia I-II-III (1973, 83, 88).
• Octavian Nemescu, Naturel – Culturel (1973/1983), tape. Received the Award of the International Confederation of Electro-acoustic Music in 1985.
• Nicolae Brânduş, Match II – Monodie I & Polyphony IV for chamber orchestra & tapes (1973)
• Nicolae Brânduş, Kitsch-N, instrumental theatre for clarinetto (flute or saxophone) & tapes (1974).
• Costin Miereanu, Segundafeira (1974).
• Octavian Nemescu's chamber music (mixed electroacoustics): Spectacle pour un instant, piano, variable ensemble, tape, 1974; Metabizantinirikon (spectacular, intimate practicing pieces in a period of nine months), clarinet/saxophone (soprano/alto/tenor)/violin/viola, tape, 1985; Centrifuga, piano, tape, 1986; Alpha – Omega, alto saxophone (+ tenor saxophone, bass saxophone), violin, percussion, tape, 1988; IN-PAR, trombone, tape, 1988; Finalpha, trombone, 2 percussion, tape, 1990; DanielPentAbsorbOR, alto saxophone (+ tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, double bass saxophone), tape, 1995; Negantidiadua for 2 o’clock AM, voice, alto saxophone, trombone, piano, percussion, tape, 1995; PhosisTripercMetaMor for 3 o’clock AM, French horn, 6 percussion, tape, 1996; Septuor for 4 o’clock AM, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, violin, cello, piano, percussion, tape, 1997; Quintabeit for 5 o’clock AM, voice, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, 2 trumpets, violin, cello, piano, 6 percussion, tape, 1998; Beitsonorum for 6 o’clock AM, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, violin, cello, piano, 4 percussion, tape, 1999; Beitintervallum for 7 o’clock AM, clarinet, violin, piano, 4 percussion, tape, 2000; Beitrissonum for 8 o’clock AM, 2 flutes, violin, viola, accordion, tape, 2001; RouaUruauor for 9 o’clock AM, flute, tuba, piano, percussion, tape, 2002; OUA for 10 o’clock AM, flute, clarinet, trombone, violin, piano, 2 percussion, tape, 2002-03
• Costin Miereanu, Moon Dinners (1975); Piano-Miroir (1978); Musique climatique 1-2 (1979, 1980); Do-mi-si-la-do-re (1980-81); Jardins Retrouves (1983); Stratus (1983-84); Bolero des Balkans A-C (1984); La Colline Bleue (1984); Quatrieme Voyage d'Hiver (1985-86); Tension en cycles (1986-87), Immersion (1990); Jardins Oublies; Jardins Desertes; Finis-Terre; Terre de Feu.
• Corneliu Cezar, Ideograme (1978); Oedipus (1978).
• Dinu Petrescu, Spaţiu Doinit I-VI. V for symphony orchestra, mixed choir, children's choir, synthesizer, magnetic tape and electronic modulation (1978); Continuum I-II. II for mixed chamber choir, percussion, synthesizer, magnetic tape and electronic modulation (1980); Studiu Space I-II; Din Inim.
• Anatol Vieru, Iosif si fratii sai [Joseph and his Brothers], 11 instruments, tape (1979).
• Ştefan Niculescu, Echoes II for violin and synthesizer (1980). Ricercare in uno, clarinet, violin and synthesizer (1984). Duplum I, violin and piano or synthesizer (1984).
• Iancu Dumitrescu, Grande Ourcse for two bassoons, prepared piano, percussion, strings and tape (18', 1981-82); Nimbus I-III for 1/3 trombones, percussion and tape (19', 1984); Zoom, acousmatic and spectral music for computer assisted sounds, strings (piano) plates and metallic objets (11', 1991); l'Anneau Magique II spectral and acousmatic music for prepared piano, amplified cymbal, saxophone, bass clarinet, 3 violas, 2 cellos, 2 double bass, percussion and tape (computer) (1993); Nuits Magnetiques, acousmatic and spectral music for computer sounds and amplified piano strings, plates and metallic objets (17', 1993); Galaxy, acousmatic and spectral music for 3 "harryphonos", 3 percussions and micro-processor (9', 1993); Mnemosyne for flute octobasse, saxophone basse, 2 groups of percus-sions, prepared piano, amplified tam-tams and tape (15', 1994); Pulsar Perdu, computer-assisted music (15', 1995); Fluxus II (II) for tape and small orchestra (12', 1997); Ouranos I-II for 12 cellos, virtual percussion and tape (7', 1997); The Second Moira for traditional instruments, wind instruments, strings, percussion and magnetic tape; Meteors & Pulsars I, new computer assisted music (14'25", 1998); Meteors & Pulsars II, music for percussion instruments and computer assisted music (14'35", 1998); Etoiles Brisees I, computer assisted music (15'20", 1998); Etoiles Brisees II for instruments and computer assisted music (16'10", 1998)
• Octavian Nemescu, Gradeatia (1982), tape; Trisson (1986), tape; Sonatu(h)r (1987), tape; Saecula – Saeculorum (2000), tape.
• Nicolae Brânduş, Sin eu phonia I, symphony for tapes, 2 organs & orchestra (1986-1987); K-N-Comment – for fl., chamber group, clar, sax, oboe & tape (1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002).

Centres

• Electronic music laboratory at the Bucharest Conservatory (UNMB studio). Founded 1966 by Dumitrescu, Petrescu, and Dan Mercureanu. Sound engineer: Traian Ionescu. Composers included also Vulcu and Stroe. Designed after the Cologne studio as of 1955. The equipment was not sufficient for making electro-acoustic pieces, composers had to work also at the Radiotelevison and the Buftea center. The studio was becoming increasingly uninteresting for composers starting with 1974, since it did not upgrade equipment for two decades since then.
• Electro-acoustic Music and Recording studio (SMEI) of the Union of Composers and Musicologists of Romania (UCMR), *1992. Possess the equipment for production of sound, and recording and processing of audio and MIDI signal.

Technology

• Erica Nemescu constructed the first synthesizer in Romania in 1975.
• Radiotelevision acquired an AKS synthesizer in 1975.
• After 1980, Radiotelevision is equipped with a new synthesizer, a Korg, much better than the old Synthi AKS.

Aesthetics

"If in the 1950s the aesthetical dominant is focused on total serialism, bruitism, and abstractionism, the following decades are marked, among others, by texturism, aleatorism, spectralism, minimalism, meta and poly-stilism. The Romanian electro-acoustic music inevitably bears the imprint of the Western influences, but it can be proud to also bear the vanguard of national aesthetical currents. Of the currents with national origins, the spectralism and archetype current are presented. Among the trends found in the Romanian electro-acoustic music, there are non-evolutionary music (as a reaction to serialism, structuralism and aleatorism), world music, cosmic music, fusion influences, environmental music, and the oniric trend." [69]

Events

• New Music Festival / International New Music Week, *1990, organised by Union of Composers and Musicologists of Romania (UCMR). [70]

Releases

• Hyperion Ensemble - Ansamblul Hyperion. Electrecord, ST-ECE 01754, 1980. [71]
• Dinu Petrescu – Ciclul "Cosmofonie". Electrecord – ST-ECE 02719; Romanian Contemporary Music – ST-ECE 02719, 1980?. [72]
• Liviu Dandara – Suspended Time / Affectus Memoria / Quadriforium III / Three Stages About Silence / Rezonances. Electrecord, ST-ECE 02037; Romanian Contemporary Music, ST-ECE 02037, 1981. [73]
• Fernando Grillo - Iancu Dumitrescu / Octavian Nemescu / Costin Cazaban / Horia Surianu – Untitled. Electrecord – ST-ECE 01981-01982, 1981. [74]
• Octavian Nemescu – Gradeatia / Natural. Electrecord, ST-ECE 02330, 1983. [75]
• Octavian Nemescu – Metabizantiniricon / Trisson. Electrecord, ST-ECE 03923, 1991. [76]
• Iancu Dumitrescu – Ursa Mare / Aulodie Mioritică. Electrecord, ST-ECE 02720, 1984. [77]
• Iancu Dumitrescu – Nimbus / Zenith. Generations Unlimited, GU-LP 1005, 1988. [78]
• Iancu Dumitrescu / David Prescott. Generations Unlimited, GU-LP 1006, 1989. [79]
• Ana-Maria Avram / Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1002, 1991. [80]
• Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1001, 1991. [81]
• Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1003, 1991. [82]
• Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1005, 1993. [83]
• Ana-Maria Avram / Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1006, 1994. [84]
• Madrigal Choir - Marin Constantin – Contemporary Music II. Electrecord, EDC 236, 1995. [85]
• Iancu Dumitrescu / Ana-Maria Avram – Untitled. Artgallery, AG 006 CD; Edition Modern, ED.MN.1007, 1995. [86]
• Ana-Maria Avram / Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1009, 1997. [87]
• Ana-Maria Avram / Iancu Dumitrescu – 5 Pieces. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1008, 1997. [88]
• Iancu Dumitrescu / Ana-Maria Avram – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1012, 1998. [89]
• Ana-Maria Avram / Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1010, 1998. [90]
• Ana-Maria Avram / Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1014, 1999. [91]
• Iancu Dumitrescu / Ana-Maria Avram / Chris Cutler / Tim Hodgkinson / Hyperion Ensemble – Musique Action '98. ReR Megacorp, ReR DACH1, 1999. [92]
• Corneliu Cezar – Ziua Fără Sfârşit. Anastasia, UCMR-ADA 05616153, 2000. [93]

Literature

• Aurel Stroe, Grădina sunetelor - eseuri despre muzică [Sound Garden - Essays on Music], Bucureşti, Edit. Muzicală, 1991
• Breve Histoire de la Musique Electroacoustique en Roumanie. 2007. [94] (French)
• Ciprian Lorin Jalbă, Electro-acoustic Music - Technology and Composition Implications in the Romanian Music, doctoral thesis, 2010. [95]
• Octavian Nemescu, "Avangarda în componistica românească", Muzica 1, 2010. [96]

Resources

• cIMeC: Muzică românească cultă contemporană, [97]
• cIMeC: Contemporary Romanian musicians, [98]
• UCMR: Composers, [99]
• UCMR: Musicologists, [100]

Performance art

Literature

• Ileana Pintilie, "Performance Art In Romania. Between gesture and ritual", [101]

Computer and computer-aided art

Summary

"On the international stage, the ’60s and ’70s have constituted a period of intense research into what was called the impact of digital technology upon art. Prestigious names and consecrated works of art, but especially worth mentioning international exhibitions, such as the first world exhibition of computer graphic, in 1965, at Howard Wise Gallery in New York, then the 1968 Cybernetic Serendipity in London, and the Stuttgart Impulse Computerart, in 1969. The latter was an itinerant one, so that I was able to see it in 1974 at the Goethe Institute in Bucharest, presented by Herbert W. Franke, who edited too a substantial catalog.
The same year, 1974, visual artist Florian Maxa presented a computer graphics work at the collective exhibition Art and Energy in Bucharest, and researcher Mihai Jalobeanu has an exhibition at the students’ House of culture in Cluj, exhibition I was able to see in may ’74 at the Alfa Gallery in Arad. Next, the same Mihai Jalobeanu is present with a personal exhibition, Computer Graphics, at the Galeria Noua in Bucharest, in January 1976, and, a month later, Florian Maxa has a new exhibition at the Eforie hall, entitled Metamorphoses. Other Romanian artists, interested rather in kinetic art, optical art and constructivism, but not lacking interest in the new digital technology were Adina Caloenescu, Serban Epure, Savel Cheptea, Cristian Bruteanu, Ileana Bratu, Francis Goebész and others, from university centers in Cluj and Bucharest.
Finally, at the Electronic Computing Center in Arad, whose director was no one else than mathematician Lucian Codreanu, one of the founders of the Timisoara Sigma group, a collective of young computer specialists having artistic interests, started producing at the beginning of the ’80s, in the workshop lead by mathematician Emil Giurgiu, computer-assisted graphical works. So that, in July 1985, an exhibition was organized with all these works, in the Forum gallery, under the title Art and Computer, starting controversies in the city’s artistic world, as well as inside the ki group, which had, at the time, among its members, at least two or three computer specialists, used as sound engineers or DJs, because the thing called computer couldn’t even be mentioned. The exhibition was accompanied by a pamphlet, where art critic Horia Medeleanu made a synthetic presentation, while the opening was made by artist Valentin Stache. The young artists were Mihai Sabaila, Stelian Porumb, Gheorghe Cheveresan, Sorin Gules and Traian Rosculet, the latter, becoming, after ’89, an active member of the Kinema Ikon group in its Mixed Media stage, and of the Conversatia [The Conversation] magazine, whose computerized layout he made, until its transformation in 1993.
All this frail practice of computer graphics in Romania before ’89 was preceded and accompanied by a few attempts of informing the potentially interested audience. Thus, in 1972 was published anthology edited by V. E.Masek, Estetica. Informatie. Programare [Aesthetics. Information. Programming], comprising important texts by A. Moles, M. Bense, H. Frank, S. Maser, K. Alsleben, but also Mihai Dinu, Cezar Radu, Stefan Niculescu, and others. In 1974 was translated Abraham Moles’ book, Arta si ordinator [Art and Computer], then, in 1982, Radu Bagdasar publishes a book, Informatica Mirabilis, with the subtitle Arta si Literatura de calculator [Computer Art and Literature]. The same year, edited by professor Solomon Marcus, is published the collective work Semiotica matematica a artelor vizuale [Mathematical Semiotics of Visual Arts], containing two substantial texts in the field of the computer – art relationship, namely, Mihai Jalobeanu, Imaginile, producerea si prelucrarea lor cu sistemele actuale de calcul [Images, their Production and Processing with today’s Computing Systems] and Mihai Brediceanu, Timpul polimodular în artele vizuale [Polimodular Time in Visual Arts]." George Sabau in "Contextual history of Kinema Ikon" (2005) [102]

Artists

• 1970s: Mihai Jalobeanu (computer works in 1973-76), Florian Maxa, Adina Caloenescu, Sherban Epuré (moved to New York in 1980), Savel Cheptea, Cristian Bruteanu, Ileana Bratu, Francis Goebész
• 1990s: Alexandru Patatics, Sandor Bartha, Josef Bartha, Alexandru Antik

Works

• Sherban Epuré, S-Band (Sherban's Band, since 1968) may be seen as an interactive machine able to reconfigures twelve visual variables, three of geometry and eight of color; the background is the last of these. The scope of the band is not to imitate nature, as origami does, but to produce non-subjective, enjoyable art forms. [103]
• Sherban Epuré, Meta-Phorm (Meta+Metaphor+Form, since 1968) is intended to be the the visual appearance/materialisation of an abstract creative proposition by introducing geometrical forms into a game relationship. [104]
• Emil Giurgiu's workshop at Electronic Computing Center, Arad produced computer-assisted graphical works in the early 1980s.
• In cooperation with a designer artist (Adriana Dobra) from the research institute on porcelain and ceramic (CERO-Cluj) Jalobeanu elaborated a method for computer graphics decoration of porcelain and ceramic items. Some results were exhibited at the Bucharest International Fair 1979-1980, and in Cluj and Oradea.

Events

• Mihai Jalobeanu's exhibitions: students' House of Culture in Cluj 1971, 1972; Arad 1973; Timisoara 1974; Satu-Mare 1975; Computer Graphics at Galeria Noua in Bucharest Jan-Feb 1976.
• Art and the Computer, Sherban Epuré's exhibition, Bordeaux, France, November 16-24, 1973.
• computer graphics work by Florian Maxa and computer-aided painting by Sherban Epuré (Painting and Cybernetics exhibition at The New Gallery in April [105]) at Art and Energy exhibition, Bucharest, 1974.
• The 9th Sigma Festival at the Gallery of Fine Arts, Bordeaux, France. Director Roger Lafosse. Featuring digital artworks by Sherban Epuré (11 drawings and gouaches, Bands-S film 16mm., and a paper at the colloquium Creation Artificielle chaired by Georges Charbonnier and Abraham Mohles), Sture Johannesson, Peter Kreiss, Kenneth Knowlton, Herbert Franke, Herve Huitric, Vera Molnar, Manfred Mohr, Georg Nees, Jacques Palumbo. Performances by Maurice Bejart, Pierre Henri, Miles Davis Sextet, Young Giants of Jazz, Jean Luc Godard, and others. Music by Xenakis, Constant, Sophia Gubaidulina, and Nicolas de Pelken under Pierre Courtiuox’s direction.) November 18--December 8. [106]
• Metamorphoses, Florian Maxa's exhibition, Eforie hall, Feb 1976.
• Jalobeanu was invited to participate to the Ars ex Machina exhibition at Kuenstlerhaus in Vienna, 1977.
• Art and Computer, works from Emil Giurgiu's workshop, Forum Gallery, July 1985. Works by Mihai Sabaila, Stelian Porumb, Gheorghe Cheveresan, Sorin Gules and Traian Rosculet.

Centres

• Electronic Computing Center, Arad. Director: Lucian Codreanu

Theorists

Viktor Ernest Maşek (philosophy, aesthetics) [107], Mihai Nadin (philosophy, aesthetics, computer graphics), both studied Max Bense's theories of information aesthetics.

Publications

• Sherban Epuré, "Cybernetic Attitude, Mathematical Thinking", România Literarã No. 25, Bucharest, June 13 1970. [108]
• Adrian Rogoz, "Arta Programativã", Stiinta si Technica, Bucharest, June 1970.
• Sherban Epuré, "Cybernetics and Art", Arta Review # 7, Bucharest, Sep 1970. [109]
• "Glossary", Arta Review, Bucharest, Romania, February-August 1971. The "Glossary" was published throughout most of 1971, as a series of monthly articles. It deals with such terms as: cybernetics, structure, input, output, feedback behavior, information, the significance of information, feedback, black-box, redundancy, noise, sensibility, original, entropy, etc. [110] [111] [112] [113] [114]
• Viktor Ernest Maşek, Arta şi matematica. Introducere în estetica informaţională, Editura Politică, Bucureşti 1972. The first Romanian text applying Max Bense's aesthetic theories to semiotics of visual art. The book is based on his PhD thesis, "Introducere în estetica informaţională", 1971.
• Viktor Ernest Maşek (ed.), Estetică, informaţie, programare [Aesthetics. Information. Programming], Editura Ştiinţifică, Bucharest 1972, 216 pp. Anthology comprising important texts by A. Moles, M. Bense, H. Frank, S. Maser, K. Alsleben, but also Mihai Dinu, Cezar Radu, Stefan Niculescu, and others.
• Mihai Nadin, Elements of Meta-Aesthetics, Eminescu, Bucharest, l972.
• Sherban Epuré, "Mathematics and anatomical constructions", the Secolul XX Review #11-12, Bucharest, Romania, 1973. [115] [116]
• Sherban Epuré, "Realism Mathematic", the Arta Review, Bucharest, Romania, 4.13.1973. [117] [118] [119]
• Abraham Moles, Artă şi ordinator [Art and Computer], Editura Meridiane, Bucharest 1974. Classic book translated to Romanian.
• Sherban Epuré, "Applications of Cibernetical Methods in the Fine Arts", the Arta Plastica Magazine, Bucharest, Romania, October 1974. [120]
• Sherban Epuré, "Painting and Cybernetics", Installation and Extensive One Man Show, part of the 
Art and Energy exhibition, at The New Gallery, Bucharest, Romania, 1974. Catalog text. [121] [122] [123]
• Viktor Ernest Maşek, review of Jalobeanu's exhibition 'Computer Graphics', Arta 6, Bucharest 1976
• Radu Bagdasar, Informatica Mirabilis - Arta şi Literatura de calculator [Computer Art and Literature], Editura Dacia, 1982.
• Solomon Marcus (ed.), Semiotica matematică a artelor vizuale [Mathematical Semiotics of Visual Arts], Editura Ştiinţifică si Enciclopedica, Bucharest 1982, 409 pp. Contains two substantial texts in the field of the computer–art relationship, namely, Mihai Jalobeanu, "Imaginile, producerea si prelucrarea lor cu sistemele actuale de calcul" [Images, their Production and Processing with today's Computing Systems] and Mihai Brediceanu, "Timpul polimodular în artele vizuale" [Polimodular Time in Visual Arts].
• pamphlet accompanying 'Art and Computer' exhibition, 1985. Text by Horia Medeleanu.
• Ambroise Barrac, Poezia electronică, 2008. [124]
• Sherban Epuré, "An Artist's Journey in Art and Science: From behind the Iron Court to Present-Day America". Leonardo, October 2006, vol. 39, #5, MIT Press, Boston. pp.402-409 and 436. [125]

Experimental film, avantgarde film

Artists

Kinema Ikon group (Arad, 1970-2005), Sigma group (Timisoara, 1970s), Ion Grigorescu, Sergiu Lupse [126]

Literature

• George Sabau, "Contextual history of Kinema Ikon" (2005) [127]

Works

• Sigma, Multi-vision I and II, presented at the exhibition "Study 1", in the high school gym in Timisoara, 1978. A spatial environment formed by a three-dimensional structure made of coloured semi-transparent nets, spatially arranged in the form of a tetrahedron, onto which there was a projection of black and white and colour film for two cameras.

Video art

Equipment

• VCR were available on the black market in 1980s. Video cameras became available in a second wave, however they were more expensive than VCRs and therefore did not spread as quickly or easily. In the black market, a video camera cost approximately the equivalent of a yearly salary for someone from the upper echelons of society (Ian Bogdan Lefter, "On the Romanian Video Context", in: Ex Oriente Lux, 1994).

Artists

• 1990s: Calin Dan, Kinema Ikon, Alexandru Patatics, Sandor Bartha, Antik, Dan Mihaltianu, Sorin Vreme, László Újvárossy, Lia Perjovschi
• 2000s: Stefan Constantinescu, Mona Vătămanu and Florin Tudor, Irina Botea, Istvan Laszlo, Ioana Marinescu

Exhibitions

• Ex Oriente Lux. Curated by Calin Dan, Dalles Hall, 1993.
• Media Culpa. Curated by Irina Cios, Soros for Contemporary Arts Bucharest, 1995.
• Transferatu: New Tendencies in Rumanian Art. Curated by Dan Mihaltianu and Barbara Barsch, IFA Gallery Berlin/Bonn, Institut fur Auslandsbeziehungen, 2000/2001.
• Context Network. Curated by Alexandru Patatics and Sebastian Bertalan, 49 Venice Biennial Romanian Pavilion, 2001.
• Romanian Video Art- Looking East: Contemporary Art from Eastern Europe. Curated by Zygmunt Bauman, Romanian Cultural Institute London, 2007.
• Personal Places. Curated by Mona Vatamanu and Florin Tudor, Gallery A+A, Slovene Central Visual Art, 2003.
• Portraits of the Artists as Young Artists. Curated by Andreiana Mihail, Andreiana Mihail Gallery, Bucharest, 2009.

Literature

• Calin Dan (ed.), Ex Oriente Lux, Bucharest: The Soros Center for Contemporary Arts, 1994. (catalogue)
• "Videokunst in Rumänien", (German), [128]
• Natalie Musteata, "Wired to History: Romanian and Lithuanian Video Art Post-1989", PhD Program in Art History, CUNY Graduate Center, 2010. [129]

New media art, Media culture

Exhibitions

• [R][R][F] 2004, section: "Young media art from Romania", 2004. [130]

Electronic poetry

• Eliza Deac, "On the matter of language in digital works", 2010. [131]

Art history, art theory

Alexandra Titu [132], Adrian Guţă

Literature

• Alexandra Titu, "Experimentalism in Romanian Art after 1960" (Experimentul în Arta Românească după 1960), 2003 [133]
• Calin Dan, "Media Arts Get Media Free: A Small Anthology of Older Views", in: Transitland: Video Art From Central and Eastern Europe: 1989-2009, 2009.

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