After the opening on December 5, the exhibition THIS IS NOT MY YOUTHOPIA, which concludes the Post-Digital Intersections project, organized by the Cultural Association Marginal, entered the last week in which it can be visited. It brings together in the premises of the Ștefania Palace in Timișoara works from 6 young people from Timisoara chosen following an open call, who worked with six young curators to develop their projects around the post-digital concept and starting from the curatorial theme Youthopia. The exhibit can be visited until Friday, December 15, between 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Public access is free.
The six spaces created explore post-digital ideas and practices in complex, large-scale installations in a quest to demystify the digital and return to what matters.
Post-Digital Intersections was an open challenge to talk about the world that does not surround in a free, open, and above all direct way, abandoning the cryptic language that art generally uses. Through the open way in which all the participants responded to the challenge, from the young artists to the mentors from all over the world and, finally, to the entire project team, we opened a dialogue about the society that we do not face every day. – Andrei Tudose, curator of the Post-Digital Intersects program.
The six young Timișoara artists exhibiting in the THIS NOT MY YOUTHOPIA exhibition are Alexandra Costea, Anca Şișu, Andreea Ioniță, Dorian Boloca, Ioana Bartha and Sorin Valea and the curators who accompanied them from the Center for Excellence in Image Studies in Bucharest they are Alexandra Buiga, Andra Merfu, Eliza Pătrașcu, Iulia Kycyku, Mihai Milea and Miruna Barcan.
The project allowed me to create different rules than the ones I’m used to, both in terms of the creative environment and the development process. For me, Post-Digital Intersections meant bringing to life an extremely important sliver of expression that would otherwise not have seen the light of day. – Anca Şișu, artist in exhibition THIS NOT IS MY YOUTHOPIA.
Although I started with an idea, I wasn’t sure about, Post-Digital Intersections allowed me to develop the installation in a safe and open environment. The alternative format of the project allowed me to express myself freely, coherently, and honestly. Being the first time, I worked with the installation, the fact that the mentors and curators supported me at every step of the process made it possible to materialize these ideas that changed drastically during the mentoring period. For me, this project meant the realization of an idea that was rejected in an academic environment, but reborn in an alternative environment. – Alexandra Costea, an artist exhibiting THIS NOT IS MY YOUTHOPIA.
The cultural project Post-Digital Intersections was developed by Association Marginal at the intersection of art, science, and technology, which aimed to provide support for both research and artistic production for 12 young practitioners from Romania selected through an open call. They had to collaborate throughout the opportunity of the program both among themselves and with international artists and curators – Annick Anderwald (FR), Ruth Anderwald + Leonhard Grond (AT), Claudia Schnugg (AT), Dasha Ilina (FR/RU) ), Jan Świerkowski (PT/PL), Andrei Tudose and Sabina Suru (RO). The mentoring program was coordinated by Andrei Tudose and Annick Bureaud and had a hybrid format, both online and offline, thus creating a framework for practitioners in both the visual arts and humanities.
THIS IS NOT MY YOUTHOPIA is not just « another” exhibition in an intense cultural programme. It is based on a very unique process of mentoring that has been a rich, complex and rewarding experience. I was struck by the maturity and excellence of the artworks that came out of it, their openness and multilayered meanings which triggered passionate discussions among the mentors. I have been intrigued by the fact that many of the works were dealing with memory and loss, specially coming from young people. It was then very interesting to see how each of them has embodied these topics in a different manner, material and aesthetics. – Annick Bureaud, CESI student coordinator for the exhibition THIS NOT IS MY YOUTHOPIA.