Dan Acostioaei, József Bartha, Irina Botea, Razvan Botis, Claudiu Cobilanschi, Ștefan Constantinescu, Alexandra Croitoru, Cristina David, Bogdan Gîrbovan, Alex Mirutziu, Ciprian Mureșan, Vlad Nancă, Mircea Nicolae, Cristi Pogăcean, Ștefan Sava and Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor
Few Were Happy with Their Condition
Gallery 400
College of Architecture and the Arts
University of Illinois at Chicago
400 South Peoria Street (MC 034), Chicago, IL 60607
January 15 – February 27, 2016
Reception: January 15, 5-8 pm
January 15, Gallery 400 opens Few Were Happy with Their Condition, a group exhibition examining contemporary life in Romania and the country’s transition from communism. The 1989 Romanian Revolution—one of a series of aligned revolutions in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and the Soviet Union and the last removal of a communist regime from a Warsaw Pact country that year—led to a violent upheaval of the government and the execution of its leader, and marked the beginning of an socially and economically uncertain period that continues into the present. Few Were Happy with Their Condition is an exploration of Romania’s identity post-communism, and the psychological impact of the country’s history on its citizens. The exhibition includes digital and analog photography, film and video, sculpture, and installation.
Olga Stefan, curator of the exhibition, will give a lecture at the gallery on January 19, from 6-8 pm.
Stefan Constantinescu, On the Other Side, 2015. Actor: Andi Vasluianu, Director of Photography: Alexandru Timosca. Produced with the support of The George Foundation, Winterthur, Switzerland. Courtesy of Gallery 400.
Vlad Nancă, No Parking, 2010–14. 20 black and white photographs, ultra giclèe print mounted to alucobond, 8 x 12 inches each. Courtesy of Gallery 400.
Bogdan Gîrbovan, 10/1, 2008. Enhanced adhesive synthetic photo paper, matte (inkjet print), fixed on dibond, 25 x 34 inches (framed). Courtesy of Gallery 400.
Dan Acostioaei, What Goes Around, 2011. Video, 15 minutes. Courtesy of Gallery 400.
Ciprian Mureșan, I’m Protesting Against Myself, 2011. Video, 31 minutes. Courtesy of Gallery 400.
