Screening of video works produced [in Iași, Chișinău and more] between 2002 - 2024
July 22, 2025, @tranzitiasi
6:30 p.m - 8:30 p. m
Screening of video works by: Pavel Braila (Shoes For Europe, 26 min, DV, Colour, Non-Spoken, 2002), Matei Bejenaru (Looking for Caslav, 8:54, 2002 and Moldova, 10:07, 2016), Dan Acostioaei (Crossroads, 2 min 32 sec, 2004), Edi Constantin (302.22.46.08, 3 min 56 sec, 2005 and Romania is Waiting, 3 min 57 sec, 2005), Cristina David (The Real Reason of the Migration of People in Europe to West (Adevaratul motiv al migratiei oamenilor catre vest), 1 min 57 sec, 2006 and Gustavus Adolphus Magnus, 1 min 29, 2011), Andreea Faciu (Touching the City, No. 1 (Iasi, RO), 13 min 25 sec, 2007), Vladimir Us (The March, 4 min. 29 sec, 2012), Simona Dumitriu & Ramona Dima (Bahlui Arcadia, 31 min 20 sec, 2015), Dan Acostioaei (Mari sub pustiuri, 9 min 53 sec, 2017), s.a.b.a (Silvia Amancei & Bogdan Armanu): (Video Monuments, part 1 (Mitrita & Silvia sr.), documentary, 21 min. 01 sec., 2018 and Video Monuments, part 2 (Doru), documentary, 15 min. 30 sec., 2018), Sit Vertical (Livia Pancu & Florin Bobu) (Silk District, 4 min 14 sec, 2021), Ghenadie Popescu (Lant trofic, video, 8 min 30 sec, 2022), Drazen Crnomat (Kiew, video, 1 min. 29 sec., 2024).
The artistic works included in this video program were produced by former or current friends, colleagues and collaborators of tranzit iași starting from the 2000s and span almost 25 years. In a spirit of solidarity, they were offered free of charge to be presented to colleagues who chose to participate in the intensive program about art and politics in Iași and Chișinău. This is not the first such attempt of tranzit iasi to critically reflect on the video production realized in this context and we feel that this gesture of solidarity cannot be explained only by the need for visibility that many of these artists (rightfully) share. Therefore, we look at these video works with an additional sense of responsibility that derives from the fact that they are entrusted to us to be analyzed and historically contextualized.
The various aspects of economic, military and ideological separation that we have witnessed in recent years, the proximity of the war in Ukraine, the increasingly acute awareness of the regional and global character of this conflict, the confluence and continuity with other regional conflicts, as well as the imminent composition and generalization of the conflict at a global level leaves an extremely pronounced imprint on the reception of these video works.
Most often, these were not produced to offer explicit answers to the geopolitical questions of our days, but have tried to communicate and open conversations regarding the dominant political narratives from the region, especially those that describe the divisions between an "east" and a "west" imposed as objective, immutable realities. These narratives have probably decisively marked the artistic representations of this historical period.
Some of these video works have employed important resources and/or have engaged the critical, social and political apparatuses of important contemporary art institutions (Pavel Braila, Matei Bejenaru, representative artists of their generation who do not hesitate to integrate, generate, modulate or rewrite the most important narratives of the communities they belong to, benefiting from the support of those around them and offering the security of their perpetuation). Others are realized in an almost self-organized manner, but which nonetheless benefit from institutional support (Dan Acostioaei, Andrea Faciu, Cristina David) or in which the institutional influence is partially covered by the individual capacity to semanticize (Dan Acostioaei, Simona Dumitriu and Ramona Dima, etc). Others find themselves more or less obviously outside the institutional space in which the dominant narratives are manufactured and rely on a form of humor and explicit complicity (Ghenadie Popescu, Edi Constantin, Vladimir Us, Cristina David) that tries to mask the seriousness of these productions.
Stemming from the experience of the wars in former Yugoslavia, the short video testimony of Drazen Crnomat regarding the war in Ukraine concludes this program on a rather tragic note: "People here [in former Yugoslavia] measure time [using the expressions] "before" and "after" war; in Ukraine there exists before the war, but for now not after. For after, they/we are not prepared".
This screening is part of the program: In Between Ourselves: Perspectives on art, political imaginaries and realpolitik, co-organised by tranzit.ro/ iași in partnership with 1+1 Association and HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design, associated initiative of the Centre for Art and the Political Imaginary (CAPIm).
The main partner of tranzit.ro is the ERSTE Foundation.
Image: Cristina David, The Real Reason of the Migration of People in Europe to West (Adevaratul motiv al migratiei oamenilor catre vest), videostill, 2011