Exhibitions – UNArte Doctoral School

EXHIBITION AT THE VĂDASTRA CULTURAL CENTER

Mihaela — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 10:35:34 +0000

25 years ago, under the scientific coordination of Professor Dr. Arch. Dragoş Gheorghiu, a series of experiments with pyrotechnologies began in the commune of Vădastra, Olt County, in which both teachers and students from National University of Arts Bucharest, as well as many European archaeologists participated. Today, after a quarter of a century of art and archaeology experiments, the Vădastra City Hall has offered to UNArte Doctoral Studies a splendid experimentation center with a modern exhibition hall to which students and graduates of the UNArte Doctoral Studies have access.

On December 12th, 2024, a triple event took place at the Vădastra Cultural Center, namely the official opening of the Cultural Center, the opening of an exhibition of the PhD students, PhD Candidates and graduates of the UNArte Doctoral Studies and the personal exhibition of the ceramic artist Associate Professor Dr. Ovidiu Ionescu. The curators of the exhibitions were PhD Candidate Cornelia Moţăianu and Associate Professor Dr. Ovidiu Ionescu.

On behalf of the UNArte Doctoral Studies participated and talked Professor Dr. Ruxandra Demetrescu, Vice-Rector Professor Dr. Eugen Gustea, Dean Professor Dr. Cosmin Paulescu and Professor Dr. Arch. Dragoş Gheorghiu, the initiator of the event.

On behalf of the CSM Department participated Professor Dr. Lucian Butucariu, Associate Professor Dr. Ovidiu Ionescu and Lecturer Dr. Ioana Stelea, who offered a crystal cup on behalf of the UNArte Doctoral Studies to Mayor Sorin Rădulescu.

On behalf of the research team from the Time Maps Project (www.timemaps.net), Mrs. Eng. Livia Stefan took the floor, presenting the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality experiments carried out in the last decade in Vădastra.

On behalf of the Vădastra community, the Mayor Eng. Sorin Rădulescu spoke, as well as Mr. Marin Bătrânca, the Director of the Secondary School in Vădastra Professor Laura Voicu, Mrs. Paula Ruscu, Mr. Ion Cococi, as well as other villagers who participated in experiments with the foreign experts and UNArte students.

The event was also attended by officials from the county, reporters from TVR Cultural in Craiova and from Slatina television. On behalf of the UNArte Doctoral Studies, the filming was made by PhD student Mihai-Mircea Bodea Tătulea, and the photographs by Dr. Mihaela Moţăianu.

Artworks exhibited by:

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Photos from the event were posted on the Modernism.ro website.

Expoziția Școlii Doctorale a Universităţii Naţionale de Arte din Bucureşti (UNArte) @ Centrul cultural din Vădastra

DOCTORAL RESEARCH EXHIBITION/ 2024

Mihaela — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 14:54:45 +0000

The Doctoral Research Exhibition / 2024 showcases the results of the artistic research and creation accomplished between 2023 and 2024 by a selection of PhD students. Following a call for works, the selection was performed by the exhibition’s organizers.

Built around the idea of complementary dialogue, the curatorial program of the exhibition integrates a wide array of doctoral research directions and methodologies. Brought forth in a variety of artistic media (installation, painting, graphic art, sculpture, video, photography, ceramics, glass, mixed media, etc.) these artworks, together with the abstracts of the theoretical/artistic doctoral research displayed on the parietal panels of the gallery’s loggia, become highlights of the individual perspectives of the 45 PhD students present in the exhibition.

The exhibition curated by assoc. prof. habil. Dorina HORĂTĂU, PhD, was opened by univ. prof. Cătălin BĂLESCU, PhD – Rector, univ. prof. Eugen Alexandru GUSTEA, PhD – Prorector and Chair of CSUD, and univ. prof. Iosif KIRÁLY, PhD – Chair of CSUD, on Wednesday, December 11th, 2024, 18 o’clock.

Media partners | TVR Cultural, Radio România Cultural, The Institute, Modernism.ro, UAP.

DOCTORAL RESEARCH EXHIBITION /2023

Mihaela — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 20:55:53 +0000

DOCTORAL RESEARCH EXHIBITION /2023 organized by the Doctoral School of the National University of Arts Bucharest at UNAgaleria brings to the fore the results of the research and artistic creation activity carried out between 2022 and 2023 by over 60 participating doctoral students. Within the exhibition are exhibited artworks associated with the research activity of doctoral students. An exhibition curated by Conf. univ. dr. habil. Dorina HORĂTĂU.

The opening took place on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, at 18:00, in the presence of the Rector of UNArte – Prof. univ. dr. Cătălin BĂLESCU, the Pro-Rector – Prof. univ. dr. habil. Eugen Alexandru GUSTEA and Prof. Univ. dr. habil. Iosif KIRÁLY, Director of the Doctoral Studies.

Consultants for the organisation of the exhibition | Prof. Univ. Dr. Habil. Iosif KIRÁLY – Director of CSD | Prof. Univ. Dr. Arh. Dragoș GHEORGHIU | Researcher Dr. Constantin HOSTIUC (CSAU/UAUIM).

Graphic concept made by Lecturer Univ. Dr. Bogdan MATEIAȘ | Photo/video documentaries made by Drd. Razvan TUN | Photos by second-year bachelor student Darius-Hristu, photo-video department.

Media partners | TVR Cultural, Radio România Cultural, The Institute, Modernism.ro, UAP.

FOTO>GRAFISME | Artist Talk and Performance

Mihaela — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 07:33:12 +0000

Foto>Grafisme – An exhibition organized by Mihaela Moțăianu and Constantin Rusu and curated by Prof. Dr. Marina Theodorescu. The two artists exhibited at Gallery 15 Design between June 23^rd and July 14^th, 2023.

The closing of the exhibition took place on Friday 14^th July 2023 and was marked by the following moments:

– at 5:00 pm, Constantin Rusu held an artist talk around the project “Ekphrasis”. A brief history of the artistic approach was presented, focusing on the last performances realized with composer Peter Vukmirovic Stevens and clarinettist Mihai Pintenaru.

– at 6:00 pm, Constantin Rusu and Mihai Pintenaru gave a visual-musical performance. The pre-existing sound background of the performance was improvised by Peter Vukmirovic Steven who used the digital instrument “Ambit” – a personal creation, in collaboration with the programmer Giancarlo Ciarelli.

EXHIBITION | FOTO>GRAFISME

Mihaela — Thu, 22 Jun 2023 22:30:11 +0000

The exhibition Foto>Grafisme proposes a dialog between two meanings of the visual sign. Mihaela Moțăianu (PhD Candidate) discovers through photography the signs of the action of time on matter and the signs of human action in urban space. For Constantin Rusu (PhD Candidate) the sign means his own intervention in the space of the working surface. The exhibition was open at the Gallery 15 Design – The Tea Tree Inn, from June 23 to July 14, 2023. Curator Prof. Dr. Marina Theodorescu.

As a result of artistic research, Mihaela’s conclusions originate from her interest in studying the effects of the geographical environment on her own perceptions and emotions while walking. Her experiments are carried out in the urban environment, collecting photographic images with details subject to degradation or transformation over time. The set of photographs presents a suite of images with signs of the past, where human action is present by preserving them in the built environment, up to signs of the degradation of matter that the artist presents as visual narratives giving them new interpretations. Thus, the “signs of the times” are “adopted” by Mihaela, becoming forms of graphism in her photographs.

For Constantin, creation is intertwined with research and discovery of the expression and meaning of his own signs. An important place is the graphisms generated by the music they listen to, which “dictate” their shapes, routes, and intensities. Whether it is a piece of music performed by an instrumentalist partner, generated as an experiment by a composer partner, or listened to at a concert, there is a connection between the musical sign and the visual sign, which Constantin presents both as a result – ink drawing or painted canvas, as well as performance, the process of generating signs and thus, his own works, always being recorded.

EXHIBITION | PANTA RHEI

Mihaela — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 20:00:47 +0000

The famous aphorism “panta rhei” (πάντα ῥεῖ) / “everything flows” – attributed to Heraclitus and summarising his philosophical concept, teaches us that change is real, and stability is illusory.

Mihaela Moțăianu’s photographs are visual metaphors of the ideas of permanent movement, change, and transformation. Whether the photographs represent the very transformation of matter through burning or flowing or short stories of a character moving or intervening in an environment they transform, the images capture snapshots of the permanent “flow” of matter, our thoughts, our feelings, and our perception of the world.

The photographs exhibited are part of the graphic concept signed by Mihaela for the international journal Design | Arts | Culture, Volume 3, Imagine and Memory, published by the Doctoral Studies of the National University of Arts Bucharest in partnership with the Department of Design, Interior Architecture and Audiovisual Documentation of the Faculty of Applied Arts and Culture of West Attica University of Athens. The exhibition was open between the 6^th to 21^st of June 2023 at the Galeria 15 Design, curated by Associate Professor Marina Theodorescu.

EXHIBITION | CRONOS

Mihaela — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 08:48:39 +0000

The common denominator of the project proposed by the two artists, as the chosen title suggests, is time. Beyond the theme, Ana Roșoga’s artworks (PhD student, 1^st year) are based on the use of pre-existing objects, particularly found objects, reconfigured in collages and installations where taking over meanings, recycling and intentional modification of fragments lead to both new and surprising results. The decontextualization and recontextualization of objects or fragments involve both the use of their visual qualities (colours, textures, shapes or images of a decorative or informational character), as well as the speculation of the utilitarian or cultural meanings they originally had. Here comes “the game time” in the creation of Ana Roșoga. In a collage, the grandfather’s tie appears as a visual sign, but it also emphasizes the idea that what was once a piece of clothing becomes in a work of art just a textile, with an exclusively visual function. In other of her artworks, beyond the embedded images, the postcards are reminiscent of times and places, being practically messages from the past. The fragments of the scores rhythms, also “hatch” certain parts of various artworks, but link to the time when they were composed, edited and in which they were read by performers until they became unusable. Ana Roșoga intervenes moderately on the fragments in her collages, which turns them into picto-objects, removing them from the classic readymade, if we admit that there is such a classification. The artist counterbalanced the works made by collage with so-called simple paintings, in oil or acrylic on canvas.

Marius Cristea (PhD student, 1^st year) supported a performance (called “Time after Time”), in which he operated a suite of irreversible interventions on an important painting in his creation, a work of no less than six square meters. In this way, after years of work, events in which it has been exposed (previously displayed in a personal exhibition organized at the Romanian Academy) and waiting, transformed into fragments, the painting acquired a new form of existence. The artwork cut by Marius Cristea and transformed into several paintings, by fixing parts of it on various frames, however great the loss of material, it’s not an easy job, in no case one that was created for this purpose. Marius Cristea’s painting, especially when working in medium and large dimensions, has its anchors in figurative, but it develops as a chromatic abstraction and has modular solutions, with strong decorative references. Figurative visual signs, “hidden” among often gesturalist touches, usually portraits, avian, floral, cruciform or esoteric motifs, are organically integrated into the field of the artworks, signaling their presence concisely, but discreet. For the purposes of the above analysis, the number of parts, related cuts and routes followed by the cutter blade were thoroughly premeditated. The artist, beyond the fact that he knows best how, what and why he worked on the original canvas, also knows exactly where he wants to go. In order to avoid possible errors, because of instinct or automatic dictation, he made rigorous documentation regarding the dimensions of the resulting fragments, the frames, the golden ratio, in relation to the new dimensions and last but not least, to the losses of the material and with them, of the image itself. Documentation is a part of the performance and of the whole project.

By associating their artistic work, materialized in artworks, with the unconventional space and with the performance, Ana Roșoga and Marius Cristea are part of the concept of social sculpture, theorized since the ’70s by the same Beuys, still relevant today.

EXHIBITION | IMAGE AND MEMORY

Mihaela — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 16:56:53 +0000

The third volume of the International Journal Design | Arts | Culture (DAC), edited and published by the National University of Arts Bucharest – Doctoral Studies, is dedicated to image and memory. The launch event took place on 28^th April 2023 at the exhibition hall of the University of Architecture and Urbanism “Ion Mincu” in Bucharest, where the artistic portfolios published in the magazine were exhibited.

“Image and Memory” is part of DAC’s multidisciplinary volume series and has inspired visual artists, art historians and theorists to contribute both textual and visual essays, which have been published in two issues: Image and Memory No.1 and Image and Memory No.2. Click on the images to view the issues in pdf format.

The two issues are published on the journal Design | Arts | Culture platform alongside the first two volumes edited and published by the Department of Design, Interior Architecture and Audiovisual Documentation of the Faculty of Applied Arts and Culture of West Attica University in Athens, Greece.

Editors: Prof. univ. dr. Ruxandra Demetrescu, Prof. univ. dr. arh. Dragoș Gheorghiu

Managing Editors: Mihaela Moțăianu (PhD Candidate) și Angelos Psilopoulos (Lecturer at the University of West Attica, Greece)

Design and Layout: Mihaela Moțăianu

„Image and Memory” were exhibited also in the library of the University of West Attica, between 22^nd May and 13^th June 2023.

Both issues contain articles and portfolios on topics related to the connection between image and memory.

In the Portfolios section, the following PhD students have published artistic research projects: Andrei Mențeanu (PhD Student), Radu Lilea (PhD Student), Cornelia Moțăianu (PhD Candidate), Nicu Coșniceru (PhD Candidate), Vlad Basarab (PhD Candidate).

EXHIBITION | Form and Colour

Mihaela — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 18:08:45 +0000

The Exhibition Titled ‘The Morphology of Coloured Volume’ is a continuation of the personal exhibition from December 2022, hosted by the C.A.V. Gallery, and marks the conclusion of our doctoral research, introducing the novel aspect of the subjective relationship between volumetrics and the science of colours – chromatology. The coloured objects displayed are the result of doctoral research conducted at UNArte, opening new horizons in the field of visual arts, with a focus on coloured objects and installations.

The majority of the works were created during this year, but we also experimented with revitalizing some older objects by applying fundamental modifications through the treatment of surfaces with a chromatic film. This layer of colour was applied based on principles studied during the doctoral program.

One specific example is ‘The Wheel of Time,’ symbolizing the relationship between complementary colours, red-green, and between the yellow cylinder and the green prism. Philosophically, this wheel suggests the cyclical nature of time, seemingly returning and repeating endlessly. This concept initiates from the bottom part of the wheel, where the red square is located, symbolising the earth and associated with the red colour, following Johannes Itten and Kandinsky.

Infinite Red,’ created in 2022, was reprised, which continues an older cycle of works carved in traditional materials such as travertine, marble, and wood. This time, we experimented with a combination of tires, subsequently painted red.

Another example is ‘The Trumpet,’ representing a fragment from a sculpture created in 2013 during a symposium in Germany.

The vertical cylinder was gently heated by applying an orange-brown colour. This process accentuated the contrast between the convex volume and flat surfaces, as well as the warm and cool colours.

‘The Portal to the World of Coloured Volumes’ is a work that combines three objects into a single coloured sculpture. These objects levitate, entering a relationship with the void created by the blue frame, which also functions as a supporting structure.

We also explored the relationship between ovoid forms, painted with warm hues, and sharp, cool prisms with greenish shades.

The work ‘The She-Wolf and Portrait’ was exhibited in August as part of the Doctoral School Exhibition hosted by the SENATE. This work represents a contrast between an ascending prismatic volume, painted in blue, and a horizontally positioned object, predominantly composed of round forms (ovoid and cylinder), painted in red.

‘The Dialogue of Coloured Volumes’ exemplifies the harmony achieved between ovoid and prismatic volumes through the use of colours that accentuate the dynamics of the forms, depending on the surfaces they are placed upon.

The work ‘The Androgyne’ suggests, on the one hand, the symbolism of Eve’s birth from Adam and, on the other hand, the joy of communion between these two entities. The volumes were coloured based on the principle of warm colours for rounded surfaces and cool colours for surfaces with edges and straight planes, to highlight the three-dimensional interplay.

The exhibition includes other works that explore the same relationship between colours and forms.”

EXHIBITION | Form and Colour

Mihaela — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 11:07:40 +0000

The exhibition entitled “Form and Color” represented the initial phase of the doctoral research, introducing the relationship between volumetrics and the science of colors, known as chromatology. The colored objects exhibited were the outcome of research conducted within the National University of Arts (UNArte), opening new horizons in the field of visual arts, particularly in the realm of colored objects.

The works completed over the past three years have explored the relationship between colors and forms by applying a chromatic film to their surfaces. This layer of color was applied according to principles studied throughout the doctoral program.

An illustration of this is the work titled “The Blue Wing,” which examines the relationship between the cool color, blue, and the rhythm of prismatic forms.

Similarly, the work “The Tree of Life” explores the vertical succession of shapes: prism, pyramid, ovoid, prism, and pyramid once more. These fundamental shapes were colored in accordance with the principle of matching warm colors with corresponding forms.

“The Serial Ensemble Infants,” although initially created many years ago, was revisited from a new perspective. Six objects were integrated into a single colored installation, once again emphasizing the relationship between ovoid shapes, colored in warm tones, and the horizontal plane of a colored glass.

“The Phoenix Bird Sculpture” is a semi-kinetic work, colored in accordance with the aforementioned principles.

“Sacrifice” represents an installation that utilizes volume as an essential element in the depiction of the human figure. This work highlights the manner in which essential volumes intersect, combine, and generate figurative compositions.

“Portraits” explore the relationship between essential volumes and the color of the material (stone, marble) in the process of shaping the form.