Romania
Contents
- 1 Photography
- 2 Early cinema
- 3 Interwar avant-garde
- 4 Geometric abstraction, Neo-constructivism, Op art, Kinetic art
- 5 Electroacoustic music
- 6 Performance art
- 7 Computer and computer-aided art
- 8 Conceptual art
- 9 Experimental film, avant-garde film
- 10 Video art
- 11 New media art, Media culture
- 12 Art history, Art theory
Photography[edit]
- Carol Popp de Szathmári
- Ferenc Veress
- Iosif Berman
- Samoilă Mârza
- Alexandru Bellu
- Nicolae Ionescu
- Costică Acsinte
- Nicu Ilfoveanu
- Iosif Kiraly
- Alexandra Croitoru
Early cinema[edit]
"Only five months after its world premiere in Paris, the cinematograph arrived in Bucharest, on 27 May 1896, brought along by a team of the Lumière Company, led by Edwin Schurmann. The first projections took place inside the building of the French-language newspaper L’Indépendence roumaine, which had been printed in Bucharest since 1876. Schurmann's team showed a number of early cinéma vérité productions including: A Dinner-Party, Cycling Lessons, The Conservatory, Parishioners Leaving the Church, Breakfast Picnic, Place de l'Opéra, The Buffet, as well as the legendary Arrival of a Train in the Ciotat Station." (Source)
- Filmmakers
- Paul Menu, author of the first film shot in Romania and another 16 newsreels (1897).
- Gheorghe Marinescu, author of the first scientific film in the world (1899).
- Aleksandar Lifka
- Ianachia and Manakia Manakis, cineasts & photographers, pioneered the ethnographic film (c1906).
- Jenő Janovics, made several documentaries about Romania (for production companies based in Cluj).
Interwar avant-garde[edit]
- People
Ion Vinea, Marcel Janco [1], Victor Brauner, Max Herman Maxy [2], Saşa Pană, Ilarie Voronca
- Exhibitions
- The First Contimporanul International Exhibition was organised by Contimporanul magazine 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, Viktor Eggeling, Lajos Kassák, Lempereur Haut. The Contimporanul journal issues 50-51 and 52 (Nov-Dec 1924 and Jan 1925) largely covered the event of unprecedented magnitude in Romania.
- 'From Dada to Surrealism: Jewish Avant-Garde Artists from Romania, 1910-1938', virtual exhibition, 2011. [3]
- Journals
- Contimporanul (The Contemporary), 1922-1932, Bucharest. Edited by Ion Vinea and Marcel Janco. Most widely regarded of the modernist periodicals in Romania.
- 75HP (Horsepower), 1924, Bucharest, 1 issue. Edited by Ilarie Voronca, Stéphane Roll and Victor Brauner. Brauner and Voronca contributed their picto-poetry, non-figurative oil paintings with words culled from dada-futurist vocabulary and manipulated into geometric forms.
- Punct: Revistă de artă constructivistă internaţională [Point: International magazine of constructivist art] was edited by Victor Brauner (nos. 2-9) and Stéphane Roll. 16 issues that appeared between 15 November 1924 and 1 March 1925 were devoted to constructivist art, architecture and literature.
- Integral: revistă de sinteză modernă [A magazine of modern synthesis] was edited by Max Herman Maxy and published by himself together with Ilarie Voronca and Victor Brauner. The issues contain abstract linocuts, reproductions of constructivist collages, stage design, non-figurative sculpture. Another publishing office was added in Paris under Benjamin Fondane and Hans Mattis-Teutsch. 15 issues were published between March 1925 and April 1928.
- Periszkop: A havi szemle új tipusa, 1925-26, 5 issues, Arad, Romanian-Hungarian avant-garde journal, edited by György Szántó.
- Alge: revistă de artă modernă, 1930-31.
- Writings
- Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto published in Romanian in Craiova in a local newspaper (Democratia), 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.
- Ilarie Voronca, "Aviograma", 75HP, Oct 1924. [4] [5]
- Ilarie Voronca. Untitled statement, 75HP, 1924.
- Victor Brauner and Ilarie Voronca, "Pictopoetry", manifesto, 75HP, Oct 1924.
- Ilarie Voronca, "Assessments", Punct, 1924.
- Scarlat Callimachi, "The Contimporanul Exhibition (Notes)", Punct, 1924.
- Tudor Vianu, "The First Contimporanul International Exhibition", Miscarea literara, 1924.
- Ilarie Voronca, "Marcel Janco", Punct, 1924.
- Max Herman Maxy, "Visual Chrono-metering", Contimporanul, 1924.
- Felix Aderca, "Conversations with Lucian Blaga", Miscorea literara, 1925.
- Ilarie Voronca, "Gramatica" [Grammar], Punct, no. 6-7, Jan 1925.
- Ilarie Voronca, "Voices", Punct, 1925.
- Oscar Walter Cisek, "Expoziția internațională a revistei 'Contimporanul'", Gandirea 4:7 (15 January 1925), pp 218-220. (Romanian)
- editors of Integral, "Man", Integral, Vol. 1, No. 1, March 1925.
- Ilarie 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: [6], Julian Semilian, translator
- Literature
- "Moments in the Romanian Literary Avant-Garde", [7]
- 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. [8]
- "The Romanian Avant-Garde", Plural Magazine 3, 1999. [9]
- Ovid S. Crohmalniceanu, Evreii in miscarea de avangarda romaneasca, Hasefer Publishing House, Bucarest, 2001
- Irina Livezeanu, "'From Dada to Gaga': The Peripatetic Romanian Avant-Garde Confronts Communism", 2005.
- Sandqvist,Tom, Dada East : the Romanians of Cabaret Voltaire, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006
- Dan Gulea, Gentlemen, Tovarishes, Comrades. A History of Romanian avant-garde, Paralela 45 Publishing, “Deschideri” Series, Piteşti, 2007, 484 pp. [10] [11] [12]
- Andrei Oisteanu, "The Romanian Avant-Garde And Visual Poetry", in Dada East? The Romanians of Cabaret Voltaire, eds. Adrian Notz and E-cart.ro, Zurich: Cabaret Voltaire, and Bucharest: E-cart.ro, 2007; repr. in Exquisite Corpse. A Journal of Letters and Life, n.d. (English)
- Contimporanul. Istoria unei reviste de avangarda?, Bucharest: Institutul Cultural Roman, 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). [13]
- Roland Prügel, Im Zeichen der Stadt. Avantgarde in Rumänien 1920–1938, Cologne/Weimar/Vienna: Böhlau, 2008, 270 pp. (German). [14], Review.
- Van dada tot surrealisme: Joodse avant-garde kunstenaars uit Roemenië, 1910-1938 / From Dada to Surrealism: Jewish Avant-Garde Artists from Romania, eds. Radu Stern and Edward van Voolen, Amsterdam: Joods Historisch Museum, 2011, 159 pp. Catalogue. (Dutch)/(English)
- Irina Livezeanu, "Romania: 'Windows toward the West': New Forms and the 'Poetry of True Life'. Revista celor l'alti (1908); Insula (1912); Chemarea (1912); Contimporanul (1922-32); 75 HP (1924); Punct (1924-5); Integral (1925-8); Urmuz (1925); and unu (1928-33)", in The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines. Volume III, Europe 1880-1940, eds. Brooker, Bru, Thacker, and Weikop, Oxford University Press, 2013, pp 1157-1183.
- Film
- Radu Igazsag and Alexandru Solomon, Strigat in timpan [Shriek Into the Ear-Drum. A visual essay on Romanian avant-garde, 1916-1947], 1993. Film. [15] [16]
Geometric abstraction, Neo-constructivism, Op art, Kinetic art[edit]
- Terms
experimentalism (1960s-70s).
- Artists
- Bucharest: Ion Bitzan, Andrei Cădere (conceptual and performance art, lived in Romania from late 1930 until 1967 he emigrated to Paris [17]), Ion Grigorescu, Mihai Olos (constructivist/conceptual art, [18]), Illie Pavel
- Paul Neagu (in 1970 emigrated to France, then to UK). In late 1960s quasi-geometrical paintings and drawings, tactile/palpable objects.
- 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).
- subREAL Group
- Literature
- Ştefan Bertalan, "Fragments of a Possible Program", Arta 8 (1970).
- Alexandra Titu, "Experimentalismul în arta românească după 1960", in Experiment în arta românească după 1960 / Experiment in Romanian Art since 1960, ed. Madga Cârneci, Bucharest: Soros Center for Contemporary Art, 1997, pp 11-29. (Romanian)
- "Experimentalism in Romanian Art after 1960", trans. David Hill, in Experiment în arta românească după 1960 / Experiment in Romanian Art since 1960, ed. Madga Cârneci, Bucharest: Soros Center for Contemporary Art, 1997, pp 10-28, HTML. (English)
- Ramona Novicov, "Experiment Intermedia: secvente ale artei româneşti contemporane din intervalul 1968-1974", Biharea 26-27, 1999-2000. (Romanian)
- Cristian Nae (ed.), Cadre (in)vizibile. Retorici și practici expoziționale în România în perioada 1965-1989 / (In)visible Frames. Rhetoric and Exhibition Practices in Romania During the Period 1965-1989, Cluj: Idea Design & Print, and Bucharest: Unarte, 2016, 351 pp. Publisher. (Romanian)/(English)
Electroacoustic music[edit]
Composers[edit]
- Octavian Nemescu, mixed electro-acoustic music and live electronic works. The first Romanian to receive an award at Bourges. [19] [20] [21]
- Corneliu Cezar [22] [23] [24]
- 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. [25] [26]
- Aurel Stroe
- Liviu Dandara. Attended the Internationale Ferienkurse Darmstadt in 1967 and 1978 under Stockhausen, Ligeti and Caskel. [27]
- 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). [28] [29]
- 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). [30]
- 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. [31] [32] [33] [34]
- Myriam Marbe, attended Darmstadt summer classes between 1968 and 1972. [35]
- 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. [36] [37] [38] [39]
- 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. [40] [41] [42]
- Sorin Vulcu [43] [44]
- Lucian Meţianu [45]
- Ana-Maria Avram. DEA in aesthetics of music at the Sorbonne (1992). Spectral, acousmatic, heterophonic and transformational works. [46] [47] [48] [49]
- Călin Ioachimescu, studied at IRCAM. [50]
- active at SMEI studio: Maia Ciobanu [51] [52], Ulpiu Vlad [53], Mihaela Stănculescu-Vosganian [54] [55], Irinel Anghel-Kivu [56] [57].
Works[edit]
- 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[edit]
- 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[edit]
- 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[edit]
"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." [58]
Events[edit]
- New Music Festival / International New Music Week, *1990, organised by Union of Composers and Musicologists of Romania (UCMR). [59]
Releases[edit]
- Hyperion Ensemble - Ansamblul Hyperion. Electrecord, ST-ECE 01754, 1980. [60]
- Dinu Petrescu – Ciclul "Cosmofonie". Electrecord – ST-ECE 02719; Romanian Contemporary Music – ST-ECE 02719, 1980?. [61]
- Liviu Dandara – Suspended Time / Affectus Memoria / Quadriforium III / Three Stages About Silence / Rezonances. Electrecord, ST-ECE 02037; Romanian Contemporary Music, ST-ECE 02037, 1981. [62]
- Fernando Grillo - Iancu Dumitrescu / Octavian Nemescu / Costin Cazaban / Horia Surianu – Untitled. Electrecord – ST-ECE 01981-01982, 1981. [63]
- Octavian Nemescu – Gradeatia / Natural. Electrecord, ST-ECE 02330, 1983. [64]
- Octavian Nemescu – Metabizantiniricon / Trisson. Electrecord, ST-ECE 03923, 1991. [65]
- Iancu Dumitrescu – Ursa Mare / Aulodie Mioritică. Electrecord, ST-ECE 02720, 1984. [66]
- Iancu Dumitrescu – Nimbus / Zenith. Generations Unlimited, GU-LP 1005, 1988. [67]
- Iancu Dumitrescu / David Prescott. Generations Unlimited, GU-LP 1006, 1989. [68]
- Ana-Maria Avram / Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1002, 1991. [69]
- Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1001, 1991. [70]
- Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1003, 1991. [71]
- Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1005, 1993. [72]
- Ana-Maria Avram / Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1006, 1994. [73]
- Madrigal Choir - Marin Constantin – Contemporary Music II. Electrecord, EDC 236, 1995. [74]
- Iancu Dumitrescu / Ana-Maria Avram – Untitled. Artgallery, AG 006 CD; Edition Modern, ED.MN.1007, 1995. [75]
- Ana-Maria Avram / Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1009, 1997. [76]
- Ana-Maria Avram / Iancu Dumitrescu – 5 Pieces. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1008, 1997. [77]
- Iancu Dumitrescu / Ana-Maria Avram – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1012, 1998. [78]
- Ana-Maria Avram / Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1010, 1998. [79]
- Ana-Maria Avram / Iancu Dumitrescu – Untitled. Edition Modern, ED.MN.1014, 1999. [80]
- Iancu Dumitrescu / Ana-Maria Avram / Chris Cutler / Tim Hodgkinson / Hyperion Ensemble – Musique Action '98. ReR Megacorp, ReR DACH1, 1999. [81]
- Corneliu Cezar – Ziua Fără Sfârşit. Anastasia, UCMR-ADA 05616153, 2000. [82]
Literature[edit]
- Aurel Stroe, Grădina sunetelor - eseuri despre muzică [Sound Garden - Essays on Music], Bucharest: Muzicală, 1991. (Romanian)
- "Brève Histoire de la Musique Electroacoustique en Roumanie", 2007. (French)
- Ciprian Lorin Jalbă, Electro-acoustic Music - Technology and Composition. Implications in the Romanian Music, Iaşi: University of Arts „George Enescu” Iaşi, 2010. PhD thesis summary. (English)
- Octavian Nemescu, "Avangarda în componistica românească", Muzica 1, 2010. (Romanian)
- Dragoș Rusu, "Electronic Music under Communist Romania: The Sound of Resistance", La Noi, Feb 2024. (English)
Resources[edit]
- cIMeC: Muzică românească cultă contemporană, [83]
- cIMeC: Contemporary Romanian musicians, [84]
- UCMR: Composers, [85]
- UCMR: Musicologists, [86]
Performance art[edit]
- Literature
- Books
- Ileana Pintilie, Actionismul in Romania în timpul comunismului, Cluj: Idea, 1999. (Romanian)
- Actionism in Romania During the Communist Era, trans. Silviu Pepelea, Cluj: Idea Design & Print, 2002, 165 pp. (English)
- Cristian Nae (ed.), Cadre (in)vizibile. Retorici și practici expoziționale în România în perioada 1965-1989 / (In)visible Frames. Rhetoric and Exhibition Practices in Romania During the Period 1965-1989, Cluj: Idea Design & Print, and Bucharest: Unarte, 2016, 351 pp. Publisher. (Romanian)/(English)
- Essays
- Ileana Pintilie, "Performance Art In Romania. Between gesture and ritual", in Crossroads in Central-Europe. Ideas, Themes, Methods and Problems of Contemporary Art and Art Criticism, ed. Katalin Keserü, Budapest: Egregia, 1996, p 147. (English)
- Ileana Pintilie, "The Dilemmas of Artistic Transition in Post-Communism. Performance art in Romania at the Beginning of the '90s", in Zone 3 Catalogues, Timişoara, 2000; repr. in Periferic 4, Iaşi, 2000.
- Ileana Pintilie, "Actionism in Romania in the 6th and 7th Decades", Balkon 2, Cluj, 2000. (English)
- Ileana Pintilie, "Actionism in Romania in the 8th Decade", Balkon 3, Cluj, 2000. (English)
- Ileana Pintilie, "Performance art in Romania in the '90s (Rumunska umetnost performanse devedesetih)", Artcontext, Apr 2001; repr. in Vrsac 1.
- Ileana Pintilie, "Action Art in Romania Before and After 1989", Centropa 14:1, Jan 2014. (English)
Computer and computer-aided art[edit]
Summary[edit]
"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 Florin Maxa presented a computer graphics work at the collective exhibition Artă şi Energie [Art and Energy] at Galeria Nouă 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 1974 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, Florin 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 Viktor Ernest Maşek, Estetica. Informatie. Programare [Aesthetics. Information. Programming], comprising important texts by Abraham Moles, Max 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: 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]." Source: George Sabau, "Contextual history of Kinema Ikon" (2005).
Artists[edit]
- 1970s: Mihai Jalobeanu (computer works in 1973-76), Florin 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[edit]
- 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. [87]
- 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. [88]
- 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[edit]
- 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 Florin Maxa and computer-aided painting by Sherban Epuré (Painting and Cybernetics exhibition at The New Gallery in April [89]) at Artă şi Energie [Art and Energy] exhibition, Galeria Nouă, Bucharest, 1974, curated by Dan Hăulică.
- 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. [90]
- Metamorphoses, Florin 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[edit]
- Electronic Computing Center, Arad. Director: Lucian Codreanu
Theorists[edit]
Viktor Ernest Maşek (philosophy, aesthetics), Mihai Nadin (philosophy, aesthetics, computer graphics), both studied Max Bense's theories of information aesthetics.
Literature[edit]
- Sherban Epuré, "Redefinirea structurii artistului. Atitudine cibernetică, gândire matematică" [Cybernetic Attitude, Mathematical Thinking], România Literarã 25, Bucharest, 13 Jun 1970. (Romanian)
- Adrian Rogoz, "Arta Programativã", Stiinta si Technica, Bucharest, Jun 1970. (Romanian)
- Sherban Epuré, "Cibernetica şi arta" [Cybernetics and Art], Arta Plasticã 7, Bucharest, Sep 1970. (Romanian)
- Sherban Epuré, "Glosar" [Glossary], Arta Plasticã 1-5, Bucharest, Feb-Aug 1971. The "Glossary" was published throughout most of 1971, as a series of monthly articles. It dealt with such terms as: cybernetics, structure, input, output, feedback behavior, information, the significance of information, feedback, black-box, redundancy, noise, sensibility, original, entropy, etc. [91] [92] [93] [94] [95] (Romanian)
- Viktor Ernest Maşek, Arta şi matematica. Introducere în estetica informaţională, Bucharest: Politică, 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. (Romanian)
- 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, 1972.
- Sherban Epuré, "Realismul matematic" [Realism Mathematic], (cont.), (cont.), Arta Plasticã, Bucharest, 13 Apr 1973. (Romanian)
- Sherban Epuré, "Matematică şi construcţie anatomică" [Mathematics and Anatomical Constructions"], (cont.), Secolul XX 11-12, Bucharest, 1973. (Romanian)
- Abraham Moles, Artă şi ordinator [Art and Computer], trans. Claudia Dumitru and Ion Pascadi, pref. Ion Pascadi, Bucharest: Meridiane, 1974, 311 pp. Romanian trans. of the classic book Art et ordinateur (1971). (Romanian)
- Sherban Epuré, "Artă plastică și metode cibernetice" [Fine Arts and Cybernetic Methos], (cont.), (cont.), Bucharest: New Gallery, Mar 1974. Catalog text; part of the Art and Energy exhibition, at The New Gallery, Bucharest. (Romanian)
- Sherban Epuré, "Aplicații ale metodelor cibernetice în artă plastică" [Applications of Cybernetic Methods in Fine Arts], Arta Plastică, Bucharest, Oct 1974. (Romanian)
- Viktor Ernest Maşek, "Computer Graphics", Arta 6, Bucharest, 1976. Review of Jalobeanu's exhibition. (Romanian)
- Radu Bagdasar, Informatica Mirabilis - Arta şi Literatura de calculator [Computer Art and Literature], Dacia, 1982. (Romanian)
- Solomon Marcus (ed.), Semiotica matematică a artelor vizuale [Mathematical Semiotics of Visual Arts], Bucharest: Editura Ştiinţifică si Enciclopedica, 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]. (Romanian)
- Art and Computer, 1985. Pamphlet accompanying exhibition, with text by Horia Medeleanu.
- Sherban Epuré, "An Artist's Journey in Art and Science: From behind the Iron Court to Present-Day America", Leonardo 39:5, MIT Press, Oct 2006, pp 402-409, 436. [96] (English)
- Ambroise Barrac, Poezia electronică, 2008. [97] (Romanian)
- Mihai Nadin, "Foresight and Hindsight", Leonardo 51:3, Jun 2018, pp 270-276. [98] (English)
Conceptual art[edit]
- Ileana Pintilie, "Conceptual Art on the Edge - Some Romanian Perspectives between the '60's and the 80's", c.2008. (English)
- Erwin Kessler (ed.), Cel ce se pedepseşte singur. Ştefan Bertalan, Florin Mitroi, Ion Grigorescu: arta şi România în anii ′80-′90 [The Self-Punishing One: Stefan Bertalan, Florin Mitroi, Ion Grigorescu: Arts and Romania during the 1980s and 1990s], Bucharest: Institutul Cultural Roman, 2009, 332 pp. Catalogue. [99] (Romanian)
- Revista Arta 6(20-21): "Conceptualismul în Europa Centrală și de Est / Conceptualism in Eastern and Central Europe", ed. Cristian Nae, Bucharest, 2016, 191 pp. [100] (Romanian)/(English)
- Cristian Nae (ed.), Cadre (in)vizibile. Retorici și practici expoziționale în România în perioada 1965-1989 / (In)visible Frames. Rhetoric and Exhibition Practices in Romania During the Period 1965-1989, Cluj: Idea Design & Print, and Bucharest: Unarte, 2016, 351 pp. Publisher. (Romanian)/(English)
- Smaranda Bostan, Maria Bilaşevschi, "The Many Facets of the Romanian Conceptual Art", in Rethinking Social Action. Core Values in Practice, eds. Camelia Ignatescu, Antonio Sandu and Tomita Ciulei, Lumen, 2017, pp 103-110. (English)
Experimental film, avant-garde film[edit]
- Artists
Kinema Ikon group (Arad, 1970-2005), Sigma group (Timisoara, 1970s), Ion Grigorescu, Sergiu Lupse
- 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.
- Literature
- George Sabau, "Contextual history of Kinema Ikon", 2005.
- Olga Stefan, "Freedom in the Gray Zone: Experimental Film and Photography in pre-1989 Romania", Art in America, Dec 2015, pp 122-128, HTML.
Video art[edit]
- 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, Alexandru 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
- Ex oriente lux, ed. Cãlin Dan, Bucharest: Soros Center for Contemporary Arts, 1994, 111 pp. Catalogue. Exhibition. (Romanian)/(English)
- "Videokunst in Rumänien", (German), [101]
- Natalie Musteata, "Wired to History: Romanian and Lithuanian Video Art Post-1989", PhD Program in Art History, CUNY Graduate Center, 2010. [102]
New media art, Media culture[edit]
- Cities
Bucharest, Cluj, Timisoara, Arad, Oradea.
- Exhibitions
- [R][R][F] 2004, section: "Young media art from Romania", 2004. [103]
- Literature
- Eliza Deac, "On the matter of language in digital works", 2010. [104]
- 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.
Art history, Art theory[edit]
Alexandra Titu, Adrian Guţă, Horea Avram
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