curated by VIVIANA CHECCHIA and ELEONORA FARINA

March 17-24, 2011

Vernissage: 17th of March 7 pm at golden PARACHUTES
(opening hours: Wednesday – Friday, 2 pm – 6 pm)

Round table “Be (in)visible. A Romanian and a Slovak perspective”: 18th of March 6 pm at Collegium Hungaricum Berlin
guests: Omar Mirza, Michal Murin, Lia Perjovschi, Raluca Pop and Rita Kálmán as moderator
(the conference will be held in English)

Video screening: March 19th 7 pm at 91mQ Art project space
invited artists: Peter Barényi, Radeq Brousil, Ştefan Costantinescu, Pavlína Fichta Čierna, Dan Mihălţianu, Olivia Mihălţianu, Maja Štefančiková, Jaroslav Varga

Portfolio presentation: March 23rd 7 pm at Uqbar project space
guests: Călin Dan and Magda Stanová
(the presentation will be held in English)

Selection of bibliographical material: March 17th–24th at the Library of the Institute for East European Studies at the Freie Universität
(opening hours: Monday – Friday, 9 am – 7 pm)

The “TWIST – Ţuică/Tusovka” project starts from the curatorial research of Viviana Checchia in the Slovak Republic and Eleonora Farina in Romania.
The material gathered during the curators’ respective time in Bratislava and Bucharest will comprise an ‘open office’ at golden PARACHUTES for the duration of the events in Berlin.

In spite of the twenty-odd years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the differences between the Romanian and Slovakian countries have been subsumed under the Eastern European umbrella for many years, a term that mystifies as much as it reveals. Showing affinities between each context, as well as contrast and diversity is a fundamental motivation for the project. Berlin has been chosen as a location for the event because of its role as the epicentre of Europe’s political and geographic struggles in the 20th century.

The ‘open office’ is a way for the public to read, watch and deepen their understanding realities of each country’s cultural landscape during a week of direct interaction with the material. In addition to a paper, video and audio archive, experimental video works will be presented at golden PARACHUTES, including works from the film festival unarte_fest, University of Fine Arts in Bucharest; Platforma DigiVAF(ex), Academy of Banskà Bystrica; the Faculty of Art’s students in Košice and the internet-based show Hore Bez.

A rich programme of events will run parallel to the ‘open office’, which will include the participation of important representatives of the contemporary art world in Romania and Slovakia with the aim of establishing a permanent dialogue between the two. The support of the Library of the Institute for East European Studies at the Freie Universität will enrich the archive with its own bibliographical materials.

Viviana Checchia (1982) has devoted herself to a research on the development of the contemporary art system in Slovakia for two years, thanks to a grant of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the School of Art of Loughborough University (UK) about the new identity between East and West Europe.

Eleonora Farina (1981), after her one-year-long Leonardo da Vinci grant at MNAC – National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest, is dedicating her PhD-research to the Video Art in Romania in the Seventies and Eighties during the Ceauşescu’s dictatorship (Freie Universität, Berlin).

Project’s venues
golden PARACHUTES, Kreuzbergstr. 42E 10965 Berlin

Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, Dorotheenstraße 12 10117 Berlin

91mQ Art project space, Landsberger Allee 54 10249 Berlin

Uqbar project space, Schwedenstr. 16 13357 Berlin

Library of the Institute for East European Studies at the Freie Universität, Garystr. 55 14195 Berlin

Acknowledgements
With the support of: Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, Romanian Cultural Institute
Under the patronage of: Italian Cultural Institute
Partnerships: 91mQ Art project space, golden PARACHUTES, Library of the Institute for East European Studies at the Freie Universität, Uqbar project space
Media partners: mondaynews | berlinerpool, EUNIC – European Union National Institutes for Culture, INDEX Berlin
For the archive material: Hore Bez, Platforma DigiVAF(ex), Nitra Gallery, Pavilion Unicredit, Kathy Rae Huffman
Graphic designer: Vincenzo Estremo
Video editor: Bruno Di Lecce
Special thanks to: Elena Bellantoni and 91mQ Art project space, Jesi Khadivi, Andrea Vara

For more info, please contact:
golden PARACHUTES
Kreuzbergstr. 42E, 10965 Berlin
T: +49 (0)30 86 45 22 22