Back to Where It All Began virtual exhibition, part of Accelerator programme

100% Mirroring the Back to Where It All Began exhibition on view at Gaep Gallery since February 10-May 13, 2023, the objective of the viewing room is to extend the access of the public to the artworks hosted by the gallery and to create new audiences, people who don’t live in Bucharest, but who are interested in contemporary art.

Andrei Arion, Flaviu Cacoveanu, Roberta Curcă, Lucia Ghegu, Mihaela Hudrea, Alina Ion, Maria Mandea, Delia A. Prodan, Stanca Soare and Ana Maria Szöllösi  are the 10 emerging artists selected last year in the programme, whose artworks are now available also online.

Financed with the support of EEA Grants 2014-2021 within the RO CULTURA Programme and implemented by Asociația Culturală Eastwards Prospectus, in partnership with Gaep Gallery in Bucharest and i8 Gallery in Reykjavik, Iceland, Accelerator is the first and the most complex program for emerging artists who proposes a strategic approach on their artistic careers.

Accelerator covers 3 dimensions: know-how and expertise by national and international contemporary art professionals, that was provided in last year’s mentorship stage, resources for producing new artworks and presentation opportunities. One of the latter was the recent exhibition at Gaep, doubled by the viewing room; soon the public art projects are to start in several Romanian cities.

„Going digital opened the world of many areas, especially during the last 3-4 years, and connectivity has become a way of living, working, a way of doing business. Why would we underestimate the role of the online applied to contemporary art? Art itself could be the most suitable field to mix innovation and creativity, as the meaning of these 2 concepts sometimes overlap. The viewing room opens the access of new audiences to contemporary art and breaks boundaries – geographical, linguistic and cultural. Moreover, in online, we show those countries, having a more developed contemporary art landscape, that Romania also produces high quality art and that it has emerging artists with great potential, who, in the early stage, need support to thrive internationally.” – Andrei Breahnă, president of Asociația Culturala Eastwards Propectus, co-founder of Gaep and Accelerator project manager

Back to Where It All Began viewing room allows the archiving of the exhibition on a longer term, just as it was installed at Gaep.

Founded over 7 ago, Asociația Culturală Eastwards Prospectus (ACEP), aims, through Accelerator, to support emerging artists in the development of their career path by offering them learning opportunities inspired from international education approaches and practices. In addition, ACEP aims to deepen its efforts of training and developing new audiences by the means of activities organised in Bucharest and country-wide, both online and offline. If the public takes part in them, it will get to understand and connect to contemporary art. Thus, art contributes to individual and collective progress – fulfilling its well-known role from older ages – to foster the evolution of the society.

Accelerator continues with public art, the last stage that is scheduled for June-September 2023. Details about the first cities that will host the said projects will follow soon.