The Institute of the Present exhibits a series of film-interviews with Adriana Babeți, Livius Ciocârlie, Ingo Glass, Diet Sayler, Laurențiu Ruță, Dan Mihălțianu, George Săbău. The films are produced in the frame of “Parkour Video,” a programme dedicated to the presentation and analysis of several artworks and art events representative of the recent history of Romanian art and culture, for the specific development of the work of the artistic personalities in focus. It is a program consisting of short documentary-interviews made with the participation of artists and some invited art historians and writers. Similar to the series of printed interviews called “Parkour,” their digital correspondent has an oral history format and a dense path of themes, moments and events, accompanied by their context, which can be found in various configurations in the research, exhibitions and editorial projects of the Institute of the Present. “Parkour Video” offers immediate access to the ideas that shaped the work of the artists as well as their stories, which have remained alive in the memory of the witnesses of the time.

The interviews part of the programme presented on February 17 & 18, between 12:00–19:00, by The Institute of the Present at the House of Arts on the occasion of Timișoara 2023 opening days, were taken in 2021–2022 by art historian Alina Șerban, and the films are edited by video artists Andreea Lăcătuș (2021) and Dan Iordache (2022), with a visual identity by Sebastian Pren. The films have a duration of 10-15 minutes each and are subtitled in English. The access to the event is free.

The dedicated space at the House of Arts will also host a display of the P+4 Publications series from the Institute of the Present. P+4 Publications is an independent publishing programme dedicated to the promotion of Romanian contemporary art, photography and architecture, exploring the book medium as a point of encounter between theoretical research, graphic design experiment and artists’ ideas and subjects present in their practice.

IP—The Institute of the Present is a research and an artist and theory resource platform in the field of visual and performing culture conceived by Ștefania Ferchedău and Alina Șerban.

The “Uncensored Act” programme, which features the event, dwells on the idea of community, collective action, collaboration and solidarity in the spirit of shared values, with a route that is triggered by the history of Timișoara in the 1989 context, connected regionally and internationally through the proposed artistic content.

Image: Adriana Babeți, still from the Parkour Video interview on Sigma Group
Event partners: House of Arts, Department for Culture of the Timiș County Council, Meta Spațiu