It is said we are the sum of our mistakes. And that to fail is human. To admit to one’s mistake is to have it half forgiven, goes a Romanian proverb. But what does it mean to fail in life and to fail in art? What are the errors that have influenced our creation and how can we tell the story about them? Are there unforgivable mistakes in art? Are there unmissable mistakes? Great artists embrace the motto: don't be afraid to fail big. How can we fail meaningfully to get to the truest layers of our creation?
Between October 23-29, playwright Peca Ștefan will lead the Workshop of Errors at the Art Encounters Foundation, a creative process supported by the "Energie!" grant offered by the Timișoara City Projects Centre, within the framework of Power Station. The workshop is open to artists residing in Timișoara, regardless of their artistic branch, and aims to offer a week of creative, multidisciplinary, process-oriented artistic encounters, in which the 5 selected participants will generate, individually or collectively, ideas and structures for new projects that start from the story of mistakes, errors and failures that transformed their lives and their creation. The creative context of this process - which takes place under the motto of art encounter - will also include exploring the dimension of the encounter of the art object with its audience, investigating the possibilities and limits of participatory storytelling approaches in the way they can be presented. The creative sessions will also have as guests relevant local artists to share their experiences of mistakes and how they relate to their relationship with their audience.
The workshop week will begin on Monday, October 23, at 6 pm with a Meet & Greet of the participants, followed at 7 pm by the (pseudo)performative lecture mynewplay? by Peca Ștefan, an event open to the public. Creative meetings will take place every morning, October 24-28, between 10 am and 2 pm. On Sunday 29 October there will be a public presentation of the projects generated during the Workshop as an informal SafeToFail Party. Both public events are free of charge.
Participants will be encouraged to keep a workshop journal to record their thoughts, observations and inspirations during the creative week. If they wish, they can choose to make their journal public, sharing their experience and creative process.
Participation in the workshop is conditioned by the artists’ availability to take part in all the creative sessions between 23 and 29 October, as well by filling in the form available at peca.ro/atelierulgreselilor by October 19. In the first paragraph, artists are invited to share, briFacebookefly, the story of one or more personal mistakes that have marked their creation and/or professional development. In the second paragraph they can describe what they would like to explore and investigate in the Workshop of Errors, in the context of their creation. Playwright Peca Ștefan will select the 5 participants who will take part in the workshop. For more information and the application form visit the Atelierul Greșelilor page. The participants will be announced on October 20.
The Workshop of Errors will take place during the photography exhibition “The Poetics of Politics” by artists Michele Bressan, Dani Ghercă, Nicu Ilfoveanu, and the invited artist, Alexandra Croitoru, presenting a series of works in collaboration with Ana Conțu, Ioana Dumitrescu, Sonia Lupșa, Crăița Niga, Cătălina Pintilie, Roberta Roată. Curated by Belgian art critic and curator Sam Steverlynck, this project was conceived as an exhibition diptych held at Harlan Levey Projects in Brussels (June 10 – July 15, 2023) and the Art Encounters Foundation in Timișoara (September 21 – October 28, 2023), within the framework of Timișoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture.