Art Encounters 2017 Exhibitions:
The Second Nature

Active in the field of photography, film, and photo books, Nicu Ilfoveanu (b. 1975) is particularly interested in marginal histories and peripheral spaces as topics combining the beauty of the picture with a subtle conceptual operation. He graduated from the National University of Arts Bucharest, where he is currently teaching photography. His work is characterized by an unexpected and unpredictable interplay between personal and documentary, between sublime and trivial, between evidence and hidden.

Selected exhibitions: Valerică Bienheureux, Mois de la Photo du Grand Paris (2017, solo); The Factory of Facts and Other (Unspoken) Stories, Salonul de Proiecte, Bucharest (2016); Series. Multiples, Realisms, Uqbar Project Space, Berlin (2014, solo); Working title 1: Valerică, eau de vie / Working title 2: Jurgis Lemaire vs Christopher Baltrusaitis, Anca Poterașu Gallery (2014, solo); Vision of a Nation, Fotogalleriet Oslo (2014); The Forgotten Pioneer Movement, District K&K, Berlin (2014); The Mistaken Present Tense, Arsenal Gallery, Poznan (2013, solo); Reflection Center for Suspended Histories. An Attempt, the 55th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2013).

Alexandra Gulea (b. 1970) studied at the Art Academny in Bucharest, at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris and at Hochschule fur Fernshen und Film in Munich. In 2000 she presents the short film Anonim at numerous international festivals among which can be named Munich Documentary Film Festival where she wins a prize.

In 2001, she enters the german competiton for short movies Kurrzfilmtage Oberhausen with the movie The Fourth Wall. In 2003, she wins the APTR prize for the best fiction for the movie HACKER. Dumnezeu la saxofon, dracu’ la vioară is the movie which in 2004 brings her numerous selections and prizes at international festivals such as: Kassel Documentary Film & Video Festival, Les Ecrans Documentaires, IFF Rotterdam, Cinema du Reel Paris, IDFF München, IDAFF Leipzig, IDVF Kassel, Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, MoMA. Azi eram frumoasă, Juna (2007) is present at film festivals such as Festival dei Popoli in Firenze, Italiy and Transilvania International Film Festival in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. In 2013, Matei copil miner wins the Grand Prize “Lino Micciché” and the “Young Critics Award” at the Pesaro IFF of New Cinema in Italy.

Built as an experimental video-essay, Wooden Boy stages a situation on the border between reality and dream. Pinocchio comes to life and tries to render the events in the story, in a syncopated rhythm and with the voice of a child who recounts the day’s school lesson. Along the way, the pauses between the child’s narratives, like blocked memories, are visually ‘filled’ with sequences from a natural science museum. Stuffed animals look reproachfully into the eye of the camera, the child’s blockage comes back constantly, and the narrative clipping deepens into the suggestions of the subconscious. The border between “real” nature and the nature close to man through dioramas and taxidermia can be compared to the line between truth and fiction. The story continues with the suspense of film noir as Pinocchio learns about the true face of humankind.

Images:

1. Nicu Ilfoveanu, Potrait, photo credits: Mihai Barabancea

2.Nicu Ilfoveanu & Alexandra Gulea, Băiat de lemn (2017), digital + Super 16 / b&w + color / sound / 9 min