Theo Prodromidis, Alăgam frate, tu tuti părțâli (We're running, brother, in all directions)
new commission
OPENING:
Thursday, 6th of November, 2025, 7 p.m.
@tranzitiasi
Address: Str. Sf. Atanasie nr. 25, Iași
“We're running, brother, in all directions!” is a new work by Theo Prodromidis realized with tranzit ro/Iași in the frame of the project Institution(ing)s. At this moment it consists of four aluminum casted plaques of 15 x 20 x 1,5 cm, on which one can read the inscription (“Alăgam frate tu tuti părțâli (We run, brother, in all directions) in Aromanian/Vlach language. This is a Romance language spoken by communities historically dispersed throughout the Balkans and former Ottoman Empire territories. One of the plaques was installed in August 2025 in the village of Vrysochori, Greece and one is installed on the building where tranzit ro/Iași is located and open to the public starting with 6th of November 2025.
In Iași, the plaque is accompanied by two photographs from Vrysochori. The first photograph, taken in August 2025, depicts teenagers gathering in the main square of the village. Behind them stands a multifunctional building that serves as both the village council headquarters and post office. On its wall, next to the post box, one can distinguish the installed plaque mentioned above. The second photograph was taken by Theo Prodromidis during his visit to Vrysochori after returning from Iași in May 2025. It shows a silver gelatin print from approximately the 1920s depicting the peak Tsouka Rossa (2,379 m) on Mount Tymfi in the Zagori region, part of the Ioannina regional unit in Epirus, Greece.
This work came into being as a proposition that followed a one month residency of Theo Prodromidis in Iași in May 2025. It engages with the 'question of instituting' as explored in the Institution(ing)s project - examining how institutions emerge from and shape our understanding of blood (lineage, heritage, belonging), identity (both personal and collective), movement (migration, displacement, return), and territory (both physical and cultural boundaries). The work approaches these interconnections from the unique vantage point that Iași provides, given its complex historical and geopolitical position.
The use of Aromanian/Vlach language in a conceptual art work bridges cultural histories across modern nation-states, raising questions about why such linguistic identities endure or transform in our contemporary world.
Theo Prodromidis (b. 1979, Thessaloniki, Greece) is a visual artist based in Athens. He studied Contemporary Media Practice at the University of Westminster and graduated with an MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths in 2007, London, UK. Theo's artistic research and practice on performativity, participation and citizenship has been activated in both institutional and non- formal spaces of knowledge, action and exhibition. He has participated in international exhibitions in galleries, museums and festivals, including Callirrhoe, Victoria Square Project, GMK Zagreb, 3rd Biennale of Industrial Art, Furtherfield Gallery, Galerija Nova, State of Concept Athens, 1st and 5th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, 4th Athens Biennale, etc. In 2020-21 he presented "An Album for Our Square", supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Public Humanities Initiative (SNFPHI) at Columbia University and was an AFIELD fellow. His artistic research has been supported by the Ministry of Culture and Sport, and he also participated, through the production of new artwork, in the project "Communities of Learning, Bridging the Gap of Isolation", an initiative of WHW with the support of the Culture of Solidarity Fund of the European Cultural Foundation. In 2023 he was a guest artist at the Department of Public Activities of the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. For 2024-2025, he was a resident artist at the ArtExplora festival in the Mediterranean and he is currently developing a new body of work for tranzit ro/Iași in the framework of Institution(ing)s.
Full curatorial text, will be soon available here.
Institution(ing)s is a medium-scale collaboration project co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. Co-funded by the European Union.
The main partner of tranzit.ro is the ERSTE Foundation.
Photo Credit: Theo Prodromidis, “Alăgam frate tu tuti părțâli (We run, brother, in all directions), Vrysochori Community Building, Zagori”, 2025, courtesy of the artist.
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Curatorial text_Theo Prodromidis_Alagam frate tu tuti partili_Livia Pancu & Florin Bobu_noiembrie 2025 (pdf, 213 kb)