PENINSULA/TM is a group of people who have been meeting regularly since September 2022 to leisurely discuss cultural events they all go to, together or separately, and observe from different perspectives, beyond like/don’t like or aesthetic preferences. Peninsula functions similarly to a book club, except that the discussion topics are not books, but events hapenning in Timisoara.
On 19 October, from 18:00 at FABER, the PENINSULA laboratory opens to the public and all those interested for a discussion dedicated to the PERFORMING 89 exhibition in its very space, together with the group members in 2023: Bianca Băilă, Otilia Galescu, Alex Luca, Cristina Potra-Mureșan, Adina Ștefănescu, Mihai Toth.
The PERFORMING 89 exhibition, organised by the Institute of the Present, looks at the complex interactions and connections between art and society during the 1990s through the poignant stories of transformation brought into discussion by artists from Romania, Serbia and Hungary. At the centre of the exhibition is the thoughtful concern of artists for the circumstances of their time and their proximity to the public space.
PENINSULA/TM is an initiative of the Institute of the Present in the frame of the “Uncensored Act” programme. “Uncensored Act” (2021-2023) dwells on the idea of community, collective action, collaboration and solidarity in the spirit of shared values, with a route that is triggered by the history of Timișoara in the 1989 context, connected regionally and internationally through the proposed artistic content. The project is part of the national cultural programme “Timișoara—European Capital of Culture in the year 2023” and is funded by the Municipality of Timișoara, through the Center for Projects. Peninsula visual: PREN
Presentation of participants:
- BIANCA BĂILĂ, seasonal visual artist, experimental gardener, programme coordinator and communication person at the Timișoara Community Foundation.
- OTILIA GALESCU, journalist and traveller, believes that the Fox was right in telling the Little Prince that you become forever responsible for what you have tamed.
- ALEXANDRU LUCA, engineer passionate about art, culture and civic involvement. He spends 101% of his free time working as a volunteer in various organisations or structures that aim to contribute to the improvement of the educational system in Romania. If he still had a little time left, he would certainly spend it at exhibitions, theatre shows or concerts.
- CRISTINA POTRA-MUREȘAN is co-founder of the FABER independent cultural centre and the Timișoara Community Foundation. She studied management in Ireland and France and worked in various international and multidisciplinary teams.
- ADINA ȘTEFĂNESCU had a BA in philosophy and computer science and is in love with art, philosophy of culture, but also technology and science. She has a MA in epistemology and a PhD in governance and cybersecurity. She was lead auditor in information security and a software architect for a long time. She enjoys painting, using different mediums, mostly oil, writing and traveling. Her ideal individual is a humanist, with a Renaissance profile, open to all aspects of non-dogmatic knowledge and to the creative environment, be it scientific, aesthetic or moral.
- MIHAI TOTH, visual artist, lives and works in Timișoara; current PhD student at the Faculty of Arts and Design in Timișoara; founding member of the Baraka Artist Cultural Association. Concerned with collective referential systems in which group cooperation and coordination take precedence over individual mechanism.
IP — The Institute of the Present is a research and an artist resource platform in the field of visual and performing culture conceived by Ștefania Ferchedău and Alina Șerban.
Contact: [email protected], www.institutulprezentului.ro