[artinfo] [fwd] Bucharest, National Museum of Contemporary Art

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: "Ruxandra Balaci" <ruxandra.balaci at artexpo.ro>
Subject: Press release MNAC
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 15:06:17 +0300

The opening of the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC) in the
new location of the Palace of Parliament is a project of
unprecedented amplitude in the recent history of Romanian visual
arts. This event can contribute to a significant extent to the
advancement of Romanian contemporary art on the international scene.
The MNAC location in the Palace of Parliament represents a challenge
for artists, curators, and art critics, as well as an opportunity to
transform this edifice into a space for international dialogue
through the development of partnerships with similar institutions worldwide.

The MNAC team and collaborators are artists and professionals active
in the local and international milieu. An important aspect of their
work consists in trying to bring Romanian contemporary art closer to
the international scene, to devise new patterns for the exchange of
ideas and creative resources, to improve the acquisition policy of
the museum and to encourage the establishment of a functional art
market. The cultural strategy of MNAC relies on the growing interest
of young generations for contemporary art, seeking to integrate these
new energies in a profitable dialogue on art and society.

In the current European context, the opening of a contemporary art
museum ö which could become one of the most important institutions of
this type in Eastern Europe ö will represent a real advantage for the
European integration of Romania. The powerful echo the inauguration
could have in the international press, especially due to the presence
at the opening of the museum of remarkable personalities from the
international scene - artists, curators and directors of prestigious
museums, art journalists ö could contribute to promote the image of
Romanian contemporary art in a European context.

It is essential to note the establishment of the MNAC international
advisory board. It is for the first time that a Romanian institution
enlists the support of such esteemed art professionals ö directors of
important institutions, curators and renowned art critics:

Ami Barak - curator, President IKT, Paris

RenŽ Block - Director Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel

Nicolas Bourriaud ö Co-Director Palais de Tokyo, Paris

Heiner Holtappels ö Director Netherlands Media Art Institute -
Montevideo Time Based Arts, Amsterdam

Anders Kreuger ö Free lance curator, former Director of NIFCA, Stockholm

Enrico Lunghi  - Director Casino Luxembourg, Forum d'Art Contemporain

Catherine Millet - Director Artpress, Paris

The new location will be inaugurated in the presence of the artists,
curators and museum directors involved in the projects described
below, as well as of other important members of the international
artistic community who, because of the viable concept on which MNAC
is based, have expressed their interest in Romanian contemporary art,
intending to support it through common projects in the near future.

We want the museum to be a catalyst for debate, a living space,
flexible and polemical at the same time, a ferment and not only a
space for art-historical hindsight. Mihai Oroveanu, General Director MNAC

MNAC will be an institutional work in progress, a place built on the
East-West intellectual partnership, an open laboratory for visual
research. Ruxandra Balaci, Artistic Director MNAC

For more infos about MNAC, please visit <http://www.mnac.ro/>www.mnac.ro


Opening Program

October 29: Wing E4, Palace of Parliament, access Calea 13 Septembrie.

17.00 International Press conference / debate: How should a Museum of
Contemporary art look in the 21st century? organized by MNAC with
Ambassade de France ˆ Bucarest, Institut Franais de Bucarest and
AFAA, in the presence of curators, invited artists, members of the
board and the accredited journalists. (For press accreditations
please call Mrs. Excelsa Exarhu: 0040745114411 and Mrs. Doina Anghel:
0040213111026)

Participants: Ruxandra Balaci (Artistic Director MNAC), RenŽ Block
(Director Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel), Laurence BossŽ (Curator,
MusŽe dâArt Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Nicolas Bourriaud
(Co-Director Palais de Tokyo, Paris), ES Philippe Etienne (French
Ambassadeur in Bucharest); Razvan Exarhu, Director Ex aequo), Heiner
Holtappels (Director Netherlands Media Art Institute - Montevideo
Time Based Arts, Amsterdam), Anders Kreuger (Independent curator,
Stockholm), Enrico Lunghi (Director Casino Luxembourg, Forum d'Art
Contemporain), Hans Ulrich Obrist (Curator, MusŽe dâArt Moderne de la
Ville de Paris), Mihai Oroveanu (General Director MNAC), Suzanne PagŽ
(Director MusŽe dâArt Moderne de la Ville de Paris) - to be
confirmed, Raluca Velisar (head dept. New Media MNAC).

19.00 Opening ceremony.

21.00 Party night

Exhibitions and projects in the inauguration program:

Romanian artist (and not only) love Ceausescuâs Palace?!

Artists: Irina Botea, Christoph BŸchel, Jordi Colomer, Nicolae
Comanescu, Stefan Cosma, Alexandra Croitoru, Josef Dabernig, Calin
Dan, Suzana Dan, Euroartist Bucures¸ti, Daniel Gontz, Dumitru Gorzo,
Teodor Graur, Ion Grigorescu, Karen Kipphoff, Iosif Kiraly, Peter
Jacobi, Dan Mihaltianu, Gianni Motti, Vlad Nanca, Marilena
Preda-S‰nc, Cristian Pogacean, Cristi Puiu, subREAL, Mona Vatamanu &
Florin Tudor.

Curator: Ruxandra Balaci

The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest
B-dul Balcescu 2
tel/fax: 0040-21-311026; 3139115