Sense of Autonomy (In Search of) – a retrospective exhibition by Oberliht Association
The exhibition opening will take place on Saturday, May 3, from 2 pm to 5 pm, at the Middle Art Space in Taipei, and will feature several Moldovan wines for degustation.
The exhibition will be on view between May 6 – July 5th, 2025
Schedule of the exhibition: Tue-Sat 11:30-20:00 (GMT+8)
address: The Middle Art Space, 103台北市大同區太原路156巷13號1樓

The present program aims to familiarize the Taiwanese audiences with the early activities of Oberliht Association and with Moldovan contemporary art. Curated by Vladimir Us this retrospective exhibition presents the activity timeline of Oberliht Association complemented by a limited number of videos, art works, photographs, objects, technical drawings and publications that document the work of Angela Candu, Ghenadie Popescu, Ștefan Rusu, Jaroslav Sedlak and of other artists and cultural workers, with whom Oberliht has been collaborating along the years.

Both the exhibition and the accompanying program of public events touch upon the topic of Moldovan cultural identity and the way it has been evolving during the last few decades after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and in relation to the local context of rural and urban transformations. Organized around several elements like food, clothing, transportation, housing and public spaces, the presented works offer a distinctive perspective on their meaning as a part of the daily lives of Moldovan citizens, while approaching the topic of identity through its rural (associated with traditional culture) and urban (associated with an emerging civic culture) origins and influences.

Throughout our entire lives we can adopt multiple identities so even if we look and dress the same and speak similar languages, the societal model that we adopt could differ from region to region and from country to country (in this context the term post-Soviet, when referencing to Moldova, is too general and can be rather confusing). This is to say that our contemporary identity is formed both from what we used to be and believe in in the past and what we consider to be representative for us today, including the set of values that we adhere to as a community of people and that are constantly being shaped by an evolving political system that we are part of.

As a young country, Republic of Moldova is still in the process of defining its own identity in a new global order, having to deal with a complex past, rethinking its cultural traditions and embracing new values. Relying mostly on farming activities while lacking its own natural resources, having weak public institutions and an underdeveloped civic sector, facing a demographic crisis and other important issues, Moldovans have still to identify their sense of autonomy and to negotiate their independence from much stronger actors in the region and while avoiding leaning too much towards older or newer centers of power, to find the necessary means for creation of a democratic society.

In many ways, this influenced the situation in which the independent cultural actors from Moldova (Oberliht Association as one of them) were acting during the last few decades, while facing structurally precarious conditions (lack of spaces, funding and educational opportunities) they would stay focused on the need for achieving artistic autonomy and a more just and peaceful society.

May 9, 2025, 7 pm (GMT+8)
Interventions 3 (2008) – art interventions in public spaces of Chișinău, film screening
35 min., Romanian with English / Mandarin subtitles

The exhibition opening will be complemented by a public talk with participation of the curator Vladimir Us, which will take place on Friday, May 9, 2025 at 7 pm at the Middle Art Space in Taipei and that will be followed by the screening of Interventions 3 film.

The Interventions 3 (curators: Natasa Bodrozic, Vladimir Us), artistic project dealing with the topic of public space took place in the city of Chisinau and its surroundings throughout August 2008, thus anticipating the Kiosk project. It gathered more than thirty participants from Moldova, Romania, Croatia, Germany and France who stayed in the city for a short term residency creating art works and reflecting over the processes producing Chisinau’s public space, the city’s visual structure, the hidden histories and experience of its inhabitants’ everyday life.

Their stay and the results of the project was documented in a catalogue, in two different issues of State of Emergency magazine / Oberliht Supplement and in this film.

The project consisted of several phases: city walks, artists’ projects, public presentations and discussions, Ghidighici Graffiti session and opening to the public of ArtHotel – a space for artistic production and exchange.
https://archive.oberliht.org/interventii3.html

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About Oberliht Association

Founded in 2000 and based on a rather long working experience as an independent cultural actor, “Oberliht” Young Artists Association aims to interconnect dispersed artistic scenes and build an artistic community making use of public spaces. The Association aims to provide support to emerging artists and contribute to their professional development. It develops and maintains interdisciplinary platforms and projects aiming to connect the local and international contemporary art and culture initiatives, and advocates for a strong and independent cultural sector in the Republic of Moldova and in the region.
https://oberliht.org/

Apartament Deschis – apel la proiecte

Ce?
În cadrul proiectului Chioșc, Asociația Oberliht face apel către artiști să vină cu propuneri de proiecte și lucrări care să fie prezentate în Apartamentul Deschis, ca o intervenție în spațiul acestuia.

Ce este Apartamentul Deschis?
Apartamentul Deschis este o replică funcțională a unui apartament de tip socialist, proiectat de Ștefan Rusu și comandat pentru a reprezenta identitatea proiectului Chioșc. Punctul de plecare pentru proiectarea în elaborarea designului a fost preocuparea autorului pentru a expune public spaţiul privat al unui apartament limitat de standardele societăţii socialiste. Structura deschisă a Apartamentului sugerează ideea unui modul extras dintr-un bloc de apartamente cu elementele de bază specifice societăţilor aflate în tranziţie: faţada principală cu un balcon împachetat în termopan, camera de zi, bucătăria şi un grup sanitar.
Aflați mai multe despre acest spațiu în acest articol: http://chiosc.oberliht.org/apartament/
De asemenea, vedeți acest video (2013): https://vimeo.com/81801968
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Ce este proiectul Chioșc?
Proiectul Chioşc, punct de informare cultural şi platformă publică de manifestare a fost lansat în oraşul Chişinău în 2009. A fost conceput într-un context social-politic complex al procesului de tranziţie, cu intenția de a promova arta contemporană şi cultura tinerilor în spaţiul public.
Mai multe despre proiectul Chioşc: http://chiosc.oberliht.org/chiosc/

Ce căutăm?
Vă rugăm să ne trimiteți propunerile voastre, care ar putea fi realizate în spațiul Apartamentului Deschis (vedeți planul). Puteți utiliza pereții, podeaua și spațiul din jurul Apartamentului. Vă puteți folosi și de panoul informativ iluminat, similar cu cele amplasate pe marginea drumului. Proiectele pot să facă uz de întregul spațiu, dar pot să se limiteze doar la panoul informativ, sau poate doriți să interveniți pe suprafața pereților. În cazul selecției, lucrarea voastră va fi expusă pentru o perioadă limitată de timp.

Unde poți trimite propunerea ta?
Vă rugăm să completați acest formular google
Și să ne anunțați prin expedierea unui e-mail la: info(a)oberliht.org
Puteți expedia schițe, fotografii sau texte în limita la 10 Mb prin email. În cazul în care proiectul propus va fi selectat noi vă vom oferi suportul necesar pentru prezentarea lui în spațiul Apartamentului Deschis.
termen limită: în curs de desfășurare

foto de Ștefan Rusu

Flat Space – call for project proposals

What?
As part of the Kiosk project, Oberliht Association is calling on artists to come up with proposals for projects and works to be presented in the Flat Space as an intervention in its space.

What is Flat Space?
The Flat Space is a functional replica of a socialist apartment designed by Stefan Rusu and commissioned to represent the identity of the Kiosk project. The starting point for the design in developing the design was the concern to publicly expose the private space of an apartment limited by the standards of socialist society. The open structure of the Flat Space suggests the idea of a module extracted from a block of flats with the basic elements specific to societies in transition: the main facade with a balcony wrapped in double glazing, the living room, the kitchen and a bathroom.
Learn more about this space in this article: http://chiosc.oberliht.org/apartament/
Also, see this video (2013): https://vimeo.com/81801968
Facebook page

What is the Kiosk project?
The KIosk project, a cultural information point and a platform for public events, was launched in Chisinau in 2009. It was conceived in a complex social-political context of the transition process, with the intention of promoting contemporary art and youth culture in the public space.
More about the Kiosk project: http://chiosc.oberliht.org/chiosc/

What are we looking for?
Please send us your proposals, which could be realized in the Flat Space space (see the plan). You can use the walls, floor and space around the Flat Space. You can also use the illuminated information board similar to the ones placed on the roadside. Projects can make use of the whole space, but can also be limited to just the information panel, or you may want to use the surface of the walls. If selected, your work will be displayed for a limited period of time.

Where can you send your proposal?
Please fill in this google form
and notify us by sending an email to: info(a)oberliht.org
You can send by email sketches, photos or texts in the limit of 10 Mb. If your project proposal will be selected we will provide you with the necessary support to present it in the Flat Space.

deadline: ongoing

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VIDEOCHIOȘC: O selecție de Artă Video și Film Experimental moldovenesc din Arhiva TV ALTE ARTE

22 septembrie 2015, ora 20:30
APARTAMENT DESCHIS
str. București 68/1, Chișinău

Compilația cuprinde lucrări ai artiștlor din Moldova, realizate în diferite perioade, care reprezintă contribuția lor artistică la completarea emisiunii ALTE ARTE, produse de Centrul pentru Artă Contemporană, Chișinău KSAK, în parteneriat cu proiectul Relations, Berlin. ALTE ARTE este un program dedicat practicilor artei contemporane, cu un cronometraj de 30 min., difuzat de două ori pe lună la TV Moldova 1, în perioada 2003-2007: https://vimeo.com/channels/227001/videos
Au fost selectate lucrări din compartimentele STUDIO și GALERIA ALTE ARTE.

artiști: Veaceslav Druță, Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu, Pavel Brailă, Vadislav Hîncu, Lilia Dragneva, Lucia Macari, Ștefan Rusu, Serghei Țurcanu, Adel Idris, Maxim Moraru, Igor Scerbina, Mark Verlan ș.a.

‘intrare’ liberă

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VIDEOKIOSK: Moldovan Videoart and Experimental Films Selection from ALTE ARTE TV Archive

September 22, 2015, 8:30 pm
FLAT SPACE
Bucuresti str. 68/1, Chișinău

This compilation includes works of artists from Moldova, realized in different periods, which represents theirs artistic contribution to the completion of ALTE ARTE TV program, produced by the Centre for Contemporary Art, Chisinau KSAK, in partnership with the Project Relations, Berlin. ALTE ARTE is a 30 min. TV program, dedicated to contemporary art practices, broadcasted bimonthly on Moldova 1 TV channel (between 2003-2007): https://vimeo.com/channels/227001/videos
There were selected works from ARTE ARTE STUDIO and GALLERY compartments.

artists: Veaceslav Druta, Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu, Pavel Braila, Vadislav Hincu, Lilia Dragneva, Lucia Macari, Stefan Rusu, Serghei Turcanu, Adel Idris, Maxim Moraru, Igor Scerbina, Mark Verlan & others.

free “entrance”

[ksa:k]

CHIOȘC/KIOSK exhibition
Galéria HIT, Bratislava
April 17 – May 10, 2013
April 17, 2013, 6pm – opening

Eternal Play 2012, a film by Paula DURINOVA – screening
April 17, 2013, 8pm

http://www.galeriahit.com
http://chiosc.oberliht.org

participants: AREA Chicago, Aliona BALAN and Alexandru LOZINSCHI, Nataša BODROŽIĆ, Maxim CUZMENCO, Paula DURINOVA, Michal HOLY, Tonka MALEKOVIĆ and Ion FISTICANU, Ștefan RUSU, Jarek SEDLAK, Spălătorie Theatre, Gruppo Tökmag, Vadim ȚÎGANAȘ, Vladimir US.

curator: Vladimir US

Diana AROSIO, Ivy. Plastic Garden, installation, 2010

CHIOȘC/KIOSK project articulates and expresses the need for alternative cultural infrastructure to be created in Chisinau – a city where the cultural life is still dominated by institutions established during the Soviet period – as a model for sharing, education, production and presentation of socially engaged artistic practices.

Jarek SEDLAK, Power to Flowers, installation, 2011

The exhibition presented in HIT takes form of a furnished flat, thus making reference to the FLAT SPACE – a functional replica of a socialist apartment designed by Stefan Rusu and commissioned to represent the identity of KIOSK/CHIOȘC project. In its turn, the FLAT SPACE was conceived as a response to the existing self-sufficient and closed system of cultural institutions that is continuously supported by the Moldovan state within an outdated cultural policy framework.

The other important reference that FLAT SPACE has is the phenomenon of the apartment exhibitions that took place in the mid of 70s, in bigger cities in USSR like Leningrad, Moscow or Odessa, organized by artists whose works got censored or banned from being exhibited in the official exhibition halls.

Today, many years later, FLAT SPACE can still be read as an apartment exhibition space due to the lack of support that contemporary art and culture receive from the authorities of the recently-born independent Moldovan state, thus being marginalized and reduced to an invisible phenomenon.

In the course of 2009-2012 KIOSK/CHIOȘC project supported artists, architects, curators and activists to project new functions and sometimes add a different significance to the inherited social (in the past controlled by the Soviet state) space, by extending the limits of what could become later a public space and by inviting new actors to step in, thus opening the process of city planning and space distribution to other previously excluded social groups.

The current exhibition presents the works created by local and invited in the frame of KIOSK/CHIOȘC artist in residency program participants. By making use of abandoned, underused or mono-functional public spaces the artists along with Chișinău inhabitants, open new spaces of dialogue and critical reflection, and observation of the recent public space transformations, questioning in the same time the established order and the existing regulations along with the authority that maintains them.

The outcomes of these interventions and the reactions to them should encourage us to rethink the role that art could play and the artist could have when working in and with the public domain, regaining and opening new space of interaction in a landscape dominated by private political and economic interests.

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Catalogul CHIOȘC – lansare
Holul Direcției Cultură a Municipiului Chișinău (în spatele Teatrului Licurici)
str. București 68, Chișinău
Joi, 26 aprilie 2012, ora 17:00

Vă invităm la lansarea catalogului CHIOȘC, care cuprinde acțiunile organizate între anii 2007-2010 în cadrul proiectului CHIOȘC – punct de informare cultural / platformă publică de participare. În calitate de învitați îi vom avea pe Ștefan Rusu, artist și curator, autorul “APARTAMENT-ului DESCHIS”, Ovidiu Țichindeleanu, filosof şi teoretician al culturii, co-fondator al platformei CRITICATAC, Ina Borozan și Andrei Vatamaniuc, arhitecți.

În discuție vom prelua drept punct de plecare activitățile întreprinse în cadrul proeictului CHIOȘC ca ulterior să ne axăm asupra proceselor de transformare urbană din Chișinău înregistrate pe parcursul ultimelor două decenii, efectelor produse de aceste transformări asupra vieții publice, și conotațiilor lor ideologice.

Catalogul CHIOȘC cuprinde texte publicate de paticipanți la proiect, printre care artiști, curatori, teoreticieni, poeți, voluntari, care prin lucrările și textele lor abordează recentele transformări prin care trece spațiul public Chișinăuian: Aliona Balan și Alexandru Lozinschi [MD] / Nataša Bodrožić [HR] / Maxim Cuzmenco [MD] / Elena Hall [UA] / Tonka Maleković [HR] / Szilvia Nagy [HU] / Roman Petruniak [US] / Maud Revol [FR] / Ștefan Rusu [MD] / Tokmag (Tamás Kovács și András Tábori) / Daniel Tucker [US] / Vadim Ţîganaș  [MD] / Răzvan Ţupa  [RO]/ Vladimir Us [MD] / Raluca Voinea [RO] / Tamara Zlobina [UA]

Catalogul are 136 pagini / limbile română-engleză / design de Georg Waldman [DE] http://chiosc.oberliht.org/2012/03/31/catalogul-chiosc

Lansarea catalogului CHIOȘC încheie oficial ciclul de activități sprijinite de Fundația Culturală Europeană. Totodată, pe această cale dorim să mulțumim tuturor celor care au sprijinit realizarea acestui proiect, partenerilor și participanților.

Ochiul care veghează Praga – proiecție
APARTAMENT DESCHIS
str. București 68/1, Chișinău
Joi, 26 aprilie 2012, ora 20:00

Lansarea catalogului CHIOȘC va fi urmată de proiecția filmului OCHIUL CARE VEGHEAZĂ PRAGA (OKO NAD PRAHOU), dir. Olga Špátová, 2009 / Cehia / 78 min.

O poveste extraordinară despre Jan Kaplicky – un arhitect elegant și foarte pasionat, cu o viziune clară asupra viitorului, care are de înfruntat o luptă crîncenă în Praga. Filmat timp de 3 ani în Marea Britanie, Cehia și Italia filmul ne transmite o istorie impunătoare despre una dintre cele mai emoționante personalități din lumea arhitecturii. Cel mai mare proiect al său nerealizat, noua Bibliotecă Națională din Praga înseamnă totul pentru el.

Ochiul care veghează Praga este un proiect radical, pasionant și cu mult înaintea timpului său pentru a provoca reacții contraversate. El prezintă reîntoarcerea în propria țară a unui emigrant de origine cehă, vindicarea filosofiei sale directe și de necompromis, și un final tragico-poetic al carierei sale remarcabile.

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Proiectul CHIOȘC: http://chiosc.oberliht.org

În urma seriei de proiecte cu titlul INTERVENȚII (2006-2008) Asociația Oberliht a lansat, în 2009, proiectul CHIOȘC, întruchipat în APARTAMENTUL DESCHIS – un punct de informare cultural şi o platformă publică pentru participare, care oferă continuitate acțiunilor realizate anterior și se prezintă drept alternativă instituțiilor de cultură moștenite din perioada comunistă. Instalat pe un mic segment al teritoriului municipal, strecurat printre maşinile care ocupă în mod agresiv trotuarele, APARTAMENTUL DESCHIS joacă rolul unui agent activ caracterizat prin implicare civică conform unui model »de jos în sus«, interpretând angajamentul cultural ca acţiune socială şi generând, astfel, cultură critică. Activităţile desfăşurate în cadrul acestuia ţin de cele mai importante aspecte ale relaţiei cu spaţiul care îl înconjoară, una dintre preocupările majore fiind problema spaţiului public. Într-un sens mai larg, proiectul oferă premisele pentru o analiză a realităţilor culturale, sociale şi politice ale uneia dintre suburbiile Europei.

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KIOSK catalogue – launch
The entrance hall of Cultural Department of Chisinau (behind Licurici Theatre)
68 str. Bucuresti, Chisinau
Thursday, April 26, 2012, 5 pm

You are invited to the lauch of the KIOSK catalogue that comprises the actions organized between 2007-2010 in the frame of KIOSC project – cultural information point / public platform for participation. The invited guests are Stefan Rusu, artist and curator, the author of FLAT SPACE, Ovidiu Tichindeleanu, philosopher and cultural theoretician, co-founder of CRITICATAC platform, Ina Borozan and Andrei Vatamaniuc, architects.

The discussion will have as reference the activities undertaken in the frame of KIOSK project after which the emphasis will be put on the urban transformations taking place in Chisinau during the last two decades, its outcomes and ideological connotations.

KIOSK catalogue includes contributions offered by artists, curators, theoreticians, poets, volunteers who took part in the project and whose works and texts reflect the recent transformations that Chisinau public space was going through: Aliona Balan și Alexandru Lozinschi [MD] / Nataša Bodrožić [HR] / Maxim Cuzmenco [MD] / Elena Hall [UA] / Tonka Maleković [HR] / Szilvia Nagy [HU] / Roman Petruniak [US] / Maud Revol [FR] / Ștefan Rusu [MD] / Tokmag (Tamás Kovács și András Tábori) / Daniel Tucker [US] / Vadim Ţîganaș  [MD] / Răzvan Ţupa  [RO]/ Vladimir Us [MD] / Raluca Voinea [RO] / Tamara Zlobina [UA]

The catalogue has 136 pages / in Romanian-English languages / design by Georg Waldman [DE] http://chiosc.oberliht.org/2012/03/31/catalogul-chiosc

The launch of KIOSK catalogue brings officially to end the cycle of activities supported by the European Cultural Foundation. We would also like to express our gratefulness to everybody who contributed to this project, partners and participants.

EYE OVER PRAGUE – screening
FLAT SPACE
68/1 str. Bucuresti, Chisinau
Thursday, April 26, 2012, 8 pm

The launch of KIOSK catalogue will be followed by a screening of the film EYE OVER PRAGUE (OKO NAD PRAHOU), dir. Olga Spatova, 2009 / Czech Republic / 78 min.

An extraordinary tale about strongly passionate and elegant architect Jan Kaplicky with a clear vision of the future who has the biggest fight on his hands in Prague again. Shot over three years in the UK, Czech and Italy tells the powerful story of Jan Kaplicky, one of the most emotional figures in the world of architecture. His greatest unrealized architectural achievement, the new National library in Prague means the world to him.

The project called the Eye over Prague is radical, exciting and far enough ahead of its time to provoke a fair degree of controversy. It represents a triumphant return to his homeland for the Czech-born émigré, a vindication of his uncompromisingly forward-looking philosophy and a tragically poetic ending to his remarkable career.

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KIOSK project: http://chiosc.oberliht.org

Following the series of projects titled INTERVENTIONS (2006-2008) Oberliht association launched the KIOSK project in 2009. Embodied in FLAT SPACE – a cultural information point and a platform for public participation, it aims to provide continuity to the previously organized activities and offer an alternative within a cultural sector dominated by institutions inherited from the Communist period. Installed on a tiny segment of municipal ground, squeezed in between cars aggressively taking over the sidewalks, FLAT SPACE plays the role of an active agent of bottom-up civic involvement, understanding cultural engagement as social action capable of producing a critical culture. The activities built around it address, in its immediate surroundings, the urgent question of public space. In a broader way the project offers the basis for the analysis of the cultural, social and political realities of one of Europe’s suburbs.

Imagini de la eveniment

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Catalogul CHIOȘC

În urma seriei de proiecte cu titlul INTERVENȚII (2006-2008) Asociația Oberliht a lansat, în 2009, proiectul CHIOȘC, întruchipat în APARTAMENTUL DESCHIS – un punct de informare cultural şi o platformă publică pentru participare, care oferă continuitate acțiunilor realizate anterior și se prezintă drept alternativă instituțiilor de cultură moștenite din perioada comunistă. Instalat pe un mic segment al teritoriului municipal, strecurat printre maşinile care ocupă în mod agresiv trotuarele, APARTAMENTUL DESCHIS joacă rolul unui agent activ caracterizat prin implicare civică conform unui model »de jos în sus«, interpretând angajamentul cultural ca acţiune socială şi generând, astfel, cultură critică. Activităţile desfăşurate în cadrul acestuia ţin de cele mai importante aspecte ale relaţiei cu spaţiul care îl înconjoară, una dintre preocupările majore fiind problema spaţiului public. Într-un sens mai larg, proiectul oferă premisele pentru o analiză a realităţilor culturale, sociale şi politice ale uneia dintre suburbiile Europei.

EN
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KIOSK catalogue

Following the series of projects titled INTERVENTIONS (2006-2008) Oberliht association launched the KIOSK project in 2009. Embodied in FLAT SPACE – a cultural information point and a platform for public participation, it aims to provide continuity to the previously organized activities and offer an alternative within a cultural sector dominated by institutions inherited from the Communist period. Installed on a tiny segment of municipal ground, squeezed in between cars aggressively taking over the sidewalks, FLAT SPACE plays the role of an active agent of bottom-up civic involvement, understanding cultural engagement as social action capable of producing a critical culture. The activities built around it address, in its immediate surroundings, the urgent question of public space. In a broader way the project offers the basis for the analysis of the cultural, social and political realities of one of Europe’s suburbs.