[oberlist] Fwd: Oberliht Association & Druzhba Collective at tranzitiasi

[Asociația Oberliht]

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From: Asociația Oberliht <info at oberliht.org>
Date: Fri, Sep 1, 2023 at 1:34 AM
Subject: Oberliht Association & Druzhba Collective at tranzitiasi

https://ro.tranzit.org/en/exhibition/0/2023-09-02/oberliht-association-druzhba-collective-at-tranzitro-iasi

Vladimir Us, Ghenadie Popescu and Maxim Polyakov with special participation
of Veaceslav Fisticanu, Angela Candu, Ionuț Ion Savin, Inga Spravedlivaia,
Dumitru Musteață, Adrian Moraru
OPENING: 2nd of September 2023, 6.00 p.m. @tranzit.ro/ Iasi
ADRESS: GreenHouse, Str. Sf. Atanasie nr. 25, Iași

tranzit. ro/ Iasi is pleased to present a conclusive group exhibition that
pivots around the critical premise of organisational structures and how
artistic scrutiny spreads and permeates the formal construct.
OBERLIHT ASSOCIATION is one of the leading non-government entities working
and evolving in the field of culture in the Republic of Moldova. It was
founded by an active group of people in the first decade of the 21st
century as a specific situational response to the city of Chisinau.
THE EXHIBITION is an attempt to widen the context by gauging our own unique
position and how the concept of “the civil society” was deployed during the
post-socialist transformation of our societies. The objective to
investigate the genesis of the “civil society” and identify the seeds and
the fruits of this contested conceptual construct is in itself a labyrinth
chore. By juxtaposing OBERLIHT’s inceptive activity with the current
activities of the Druzhba (translated as “Friendship”) Collective, we have
added more layers of complexity to the task. The artistic practice of the
Druzhba Collective is an attempt to escape the formal dictums that
segregate and control the categories of art and life. The two initiatives
are cohesively sharing the The House of Zemstvo (Clădirea Cârmuirii
Zemstvei Guberniale a Basarabiei) space amidst the other large groups of
cultural, political and social organizations.
Amidst the dense discourse, we have positioned the two Collectives and
their representatives, Vladimir Us, Ghenadie Popescu and Maxim Polyakov, so
that together they may embark on a rather difficult sojourn of
reconstituting their movement of becoming in the city of Iasi. While this
seemed utopian and not realistically achievable since all perspectives are
continuously changing, we contemplated a methodology to engage the social
relations alongside the coordinates of overproduction. Conclusively, we had
to confront this overwhelming production with the most pertinent yet
obvious questions of what, how, why and for whom?
Oberliht was “many” from the very beginning and they were all formally
educated as “artists”. Developing its roots in the painting studio of Prof.
Veaceslav Fisticanu, the group was constituted around Vladimir Us, Ghenadie
Popescu, Ionuț Savin, Inga Spravedlivaia, Dumitru Musteață, Adrian Moraru
and the well-accomplished artist, Angela Candu. Accepting an understanding
of the social value of the 20 years’ old association, they all agreed to
recreate and nurture its past in the current exhibition. Each artist
contributed one work that has been a part of the nascent years of their
artistic practice. The paintings are accompanied by a series of videos
which serve as a documentation of group's graduation show followed by an
after party of prof. Fisticanu’s class of 2003 and few other documentation
videos of public events and exhibitions organized by Oberliht between 2003
and 2007. Interestingly, all these events were self-organized both from a
financial and technical point of view thus operating outside the ambit of
regular funding structures of what we term as “civil society”.
In line with the informal beginnings of Oberliht, DRUZHBA defines itself as
“a situational cooperation of people around experiments with co-creation,
coexisting and cultural-leisure activities” that is “actively working with
ways to organize rapid reaction typography, collective production methods
and dissolving of individual authorship”, thus making it extremely
difficult to be reproduced outside of its premises. Drujba is an informal
organization of a heterogenous group of people who meet and involve in
creative activities but also share tips regarding possible lucrative jobs,
attend social or cultural events or to simply bike together. The most
obvious results of their cooperation/collaboration emerges through printed
material such as books, fanzines, drawings and sketches. They also organise
a wide range of social activities highlighting the processes of printing,
community cooking, organizing parties and workshops.
We would like to thank and acknowledge the other institutions that played a
crucial role in the ways artists organized and arguably influenced their
possibilities to formalize cultural activities in Chisinau during the first
three decades of post-socialism. Chisinau cultural scene was and continues
to be much more complex than what we have included in this project. It
comprises of a vibrant mosaic of public institutions and “civil society”
initiatives, out of which we have chosen to focus on a very limited section
that appears to share active similarities and associations with the
contemporary art scene in Iasi.
SPECIAL THANKS to Veaceslav Fisticanu, Angela Cându, Ionuț Savin, Inga
Spravedlivaia, Dumitru Musteață and Adrian Moraru who agreed to participate
in this insightful project.

THE ASSOCIATION OF YOUNG ARTISTS OBERLIHT is a non-governmental,
benevolent, politically non-affiliated organization, constituted in the
form of a Public Youth Organization, which pursues the public benefit. It
acquired legal personality on July 6, 2000. Founded in 2000 and based on a
long experience as an independent cultural actor, the Oberliht Association
aims to interconnect dispersed artistic scenes and form an artistic
community, using public spaces. The association aims to support young
artists and contribute to their personal development. It develops and
maintains interdisciplinary platforms and projects aimed at connecting both
local and international contemporary art and culture initiatives, and
advocates for a strong and independent cultural sector in the Republic of
Moldova and in the region. The Association's activity is carried out on a
voluntary basis and follows the principles of self-management and
non-profit.
VLADIMIR US (1980) is an artist and curator based in Chisinau, Moldova,
founding member of the Oberliht Young Artists Association (
http://oberliht.org
<https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Foberliht.org%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2g9dEqCS5_eb2Ph5YSSGAe41ncZyZbNhm985c_C9FZnV_M_zM0T1Yz0bA&h=AT1lq14aJ-DCsOaRBcrfK-42X-BHS955jOpPqW59aIsKZIvxMv_xyi2htJxhtXHBEoPYu5nOy5e5ku82fHF76EqMYCmUqTSMy5SPUonbpUvX-lOxVKPaSfMkhmVJQeaQBTrQw1zoV82t6YKlLQnEhI0Ljw&__tn__=q&c[0]=AT3nSrmRItsXJ15FZdQHlx6bC-McFTUrc_mFhyrIG9LEhIRdz7zLpl1otfvdQsUXh6ZlgbVUycTrV_RTWMb0jmuYY9LXl8VAFRUVotaOSD-zC5akFfcHG8UZP8bozApvu7IUm3_BSIWj21zuZIVMuA3513hC>).
He studied art, curating, cultural management and cultural policies in
Chisinau, Belgrade and Grenoble. Through his recent works and projects, Us
explores the processes of transformation of public spaces in post-Soviet
cities, while being concerned with the need to conceptualize an alternative
network of public spaces for Chisinau.
GHENADIE POPESCU (Moldova, 1971; lives and works in Chisinau) interested in
local (post-communist) particularities of common visions about identity,
tradition, geopolitic mixture. Using different forms of expression such a
performance, video, animation he refers to the absurdity of the world he
lives and works in. He studied at the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine
Arts, Painting Department, on the basis of free attendance, Chisinau,
Moldova and since 2012 has been mostly involved in personal stop-motion
animation projects. Group exhibitions: Expanded space, Bucharest, RO
(2017); Attention borders, Labirint gallery, Lublin, Arsenal gallery
Bialystok, PL (2017); Cronograf Documentary Film Festival, Chisinau, MD
(2013-17); One six of the Earth, MUSAC, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de
Castilia y Leon, ES, ZKM Karlsruhe, DE; Shaping the new, Kosice, SK (2011);
Rencontre de la performance, La Generateure, Gentilly, FR (2009); Un pas de
cote, Die/Grenoble, FR.
DRUZHBA (eng. Friendship) is a situational cooperation of people around
experiments with co-creation, coexisting and cultural-leisure activities.
The focus of cooperation is work with printed matter and organising of
events accompanying the presentation of the results of such collective
work: cooking sessions, parties, workshops, plein airs. The Drujba is
actively working with ways to organize rapid reaction typography's,
collective production methods and dissolving of individual authorship.
MAXIM POLYAKOV is a cultural worker in DRUJBA cooperation, KOLXOZ
collective and Oberliht Association. Most of the time he lives and works
between Tiraspol and Chisinau. His current research focuses on
methodologies for ‘samizdat’ (self–publishing), considering this practice
primarily not in terms of object production, but as a platform to build and
develop conversations, social situations and communication spaces. Examples
include grassroots publishing houses and distribution centres, open studios
and temporary services such as pop-up cafes and libraries.

This exhibition is part of the project ”Ways of Organisation” organised by
tranzit. ro/ Iași in partnership with 1+1 (Iași), ZaCin (Belgrade) and
“George Enescu” National University of Arts (Iasi) and co-funded by the
Administration of the National Cultural Fund. This project does not
necessarily represent the position of The Administration of the National
Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or
how project results can be used. These are entirely the responsibility of
the beneficiary of the funding.

The main partner of tranzit. ro is ERSTE Foundation.
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