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/

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Animație de Ghenadie POPESCU – proiecție de filme animate
19 august, 2014, ora 21:00
APARTAMENT DESCHIS
str. Bucuresti 68/1, Chisinau

proiecţie publică

La miezul nopții, 2007
1′

Râul Ichel
2012 / 14′ 55”

Tank MM
5′ 37”

Râul Racovăț
2013 / 11′ 26”

Public – privat, 2012
56”

Acest eveniment este parte a programului CENTRUL CIVIC al CHIȘINĂULUI – un parc pentru comunitate: http://chisineu.wordpress.com/proiecte/ccc-parc-comunitate/

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Animation movies by Ghenadie POPESCU – animation film screening
August 19, 2014, 9 pm
FLAT SPACE
str. Bucuresti 68/1, Chisinau

At midnight
1′

The river Ichel
2012 / 14′ 55”

Tank MM
‘5 “37

The river Racovat
2013 / 11′ 26”

Private public
“56

This event is part of CHISINAU CIVIC CENTER – people’s park program: http://chisineu.wordpress.com/proiecte/ccc-parc-comunitate/

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Din 2013, într-un colț al scuarului din str. București 68, în fața Apartamentului Deschis și în spatele unuia dintre sutele de chioșcuri din Chișinău, o bucată de trotuar a fost schimbată într-o mică grădină. Este doar un triunghi iregulat înconjurat de cărămizi recuperate, completat cu o cantitate rezonabilă de teren negru, gras și, evident, fertil. Pământ adus direct de la țară.

Sâmbăta trecută, în ciuda vremii capricioase noi am decis cu Ghenadie Popescu, artist și inițiatorul ideii, de a lansa o nouă fază de plantare, de a semăna solul cu semințe de floarea-soarelui, în centrul capitalei, cu încălțămintea plină de noroi, acompaniați de zgomotele mașinelor în loc de cântecele păsărilor …

Săpatul solului și trasarea brazdelor într-un mediu urban unde tu trebuie să lovești asfaltul nu este o experiență ciudată. Este un privilegiu și o plăcere foarte mare, care îți oferă o gură de aer proaspăt, în speranță că săpatul acestei umile parcele nu se va opri prea curînd. A fost plăcerea unui moment, prins într-un ocean de beton, dar evadînd și imaginîndu-mi o viață diferită, căutînd un ritm diferit, pur și simplu sperînd la o schimbare.

M-am născut într-un oraș și dau dovadă de o stângăcie teribilă în manipularea unei lopeți. Ghenadie Popescu s-a născut la sat și a lucrat câțiva ani în agricultură: am admirat îndemînarea sa și am urmat cu atenție sfaturile sale. Am fost surprins de împlinirea imediată care părea să i-o aducă această muncă. El mi-a explicat teoria și practica repetînd de cîteva ori: “nu te grăbi și bucură-te de moment”. M-am binedispus repede, am început să contemplez o altă imagine a mea: cea a unui om vesel și liniștit, prelucrînd solul. Am uitat complet de parcarea din jurul meu, alimentîndu-mi fantasmagoriile mele cu izvoare și fluxuri din afară, legate de ceva mai puternic decât obișnuita comunitate de oameni cu obiceiurile lor, fiind o parte a ceva mai profund.

Apoi, Ghenadie mi-a povestit cum el a petrecut cîteva luni la Paris, câțiva ani în urmă, cum s-a plimbat prin oraș impresionat de densitatea istoriei si a artei afișate pe străzi, contemplînd și mereu uitându-se în jur. Un pic uimit, pentru a spune adevărul, de mulțime și strivit de masă, înălțat și la un pas de epuizare. Deja prea obosit pentru a rămîne, el a mirosit din întâmplare ceva neobișnuit pentru un megalopolis – un miros curios de bălegar de cal. Și aceasta i-a dat din nou energie, el se hrănea cu parfumul unei alte lumi.

O bucată surprinzătoare de “altundeva”, pusă unde aceasta nu ar trebui să fie deloc – într-o parcare. Transformarea unei parcări prozaice și disperat funcționale prin reamintirea unui mic și adevărat paradis – o grădină plină de floarea-soarelui.

Orice om are nevoie de un subiect pentru a-și forma visele sale mari. Spațiul unui oraș nu este uniform și are o valoare simbolică. Michel Foucault numește aceasta heterotopie: o localizare fizică ce conține o utopie. Acestea sunt spații concrete ce acomodează imaginația și inconștientul. De la bordeluri la parcuri, spațiul este plin de zone marginale încărcate, cu alte cuvinte deloc neutre. Și ele au o funcție în societate – ele sunt spații ale fanteziei ce răstoarnă organizarea normală a societății.

Cred că grădina a jucat acest rol pentru mine: am trecut o frontieră și m-am regăsit într-o altă lume, depășind împrejurimile fără echivoc. Deși pare minor, eu mi-am reconsiderat stilul meu de viață (ce diferit față de o sâmbătă normală!) și mi-am schițat primele semne a unei alte lumi.

În consecință, ar fi o greșeală să subestimăm puterea latentă a unei grădini de floarea-soarelui, care apare dintr-o dată în mijlocul unei parcări.

Valentin HENAULT, mai 2014
traducere: Diana SANDU

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Public gardening and the possibility of an evasion

Since 2013, in a small corner of the square “Bucharest 68“, facing the Flat Space and behind one of the hundreds of kiosks of Chisinau, a fragment of the sidewalk was changed into a little garden. It’s only an uneven triangle edged by old stones, but it’s filled out with a reasonable quantity of black ground, fatty and obviously fertile. Imported ground, coming directly from the countryside.

Last Saturday, in spite of the capricious weather we decided with Ghenadie Popescu, the artist at the root of the idea, to launch a new planting phase sowing the ground with sunflower seeds. Sowing sunflower seeds in the center of the capital, with muddy shoes, escorted with the car noises instead of the singings birds …

Digging the soil and tracing furrows where you should just pound the pavement in an urban environment is not a strange experience. It’s a privilege and a huge pleasure that gives you a breath of fresh air, hoping that it won’t stop too fast, deploring the humble area covered. It was the pleasure of a moment, trapped in an ocean of concrete but escaping and imagining a different life, suspecting a different rhythm, simply hoping for a change.

I was born in a city and I spread a terrible clumsiness while handling the shovel. Ghenadie Popescu was born in a village and worked some years in agriculture: I admired his ease and followed carefully his advices. I was surprised by the immediate fullness that seemed to bring him this work. He explained me the theory and the practice and repeated few times: “don’t hurry, enjoy the moment”. I was instantly gained by the mood, I was able to contemplate another image of myself: a man gaily and peacefully working the soil. Forgetting completely the cars parked around me, populating my phantasmagoria with springs and streams, coming from outside, linked to something stronger than the mere community of men with their customs, being the part of something more profound.

Then Ghenadie told me a story. He spent few months in Paris some years ago. Walking in the city, impressed by the density of the history and art displayed in the streets, contemplating and constantly looking out. A bit, to say the truth, stunned by the crowd and crushed by the mass, exalted and on the brink of exhaustion. Already too tired to stay, he smelt by chance something unusual in a megalopolis – a curious odor of horse manure. And it gave him his energy back; he fed himself with the fragrance of another world.

A surprising piece of “elsewhere”, put where it absolutely shouldn’t be – on a square full of cars. Transforming a prosaic and extremely functional parking through the recollection of a little and real paradise – a garden full of sunflower.

Any human needs a subject to form his big dreams. The space of a city is not uniform and has a symbolic value. Michel Foucault calls it heterotopia – a physical localization containing a utopia. These are concrete spaces hosting imagination and unconscious. From the whorehouses to the parks, the space is full of loaded marginal areas, in other words not at all neutral. And they have a function within the society: they are spaces of fantasy, inverting the normal organization of the society.

I think that the garden played this role for me: I crossed a border and moved myself in a different world, transcending the unequivocal surroundings. Although it looks inoffensive, I could reconsider my lifestyle (so different from a normal Saturday!) and draft the first signs of another world.

As a consequence, it would be a mistake to underestimate the latent power of a sunflower garden appearing suddenly in the middle of a square.

Valentin HENAULT, May 2014

cîteva luni mai tîrziu / few months later

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Acest eveniment este organizat în cadrul proiectului SPACES al Uniunii Europene. Proiectul SPACES este finanțat de Uniunea Europeană prin Programul Cultural al Parteneriatului Estic.

This event is organized in the frame of the EU project SPACES. The SPACES project is financed by the European Union through the Eastern Partnership Culture Programme.

Shaping the NEW – expoziție de o zi / one day exhibition

APARTAMENT DESCHIS / FLAT SPACE
8 septembrie 2011, ora 14:00-19:00
str. Bucuresti 68/1, Chisinau

În lunile aprilie-mai 2011, 5 artisti din Republica Moldova, Cehia, Polonia, Ungaria și Slovacia au participat la un schimb de reședințe artistice organizate drept parte a proiectului Shaping the NEW. Rezultatele acestui proiect vor fi prezentate publicului din Chisinau joi, 8 septembrie 2011 la APARTAMENT DESCHIS, sub forma unei expozitii / instalatii de o zi, specifice locului – transformind scuarului din str. Bucuresti 68 din Chisinau dintr-o parcare auto intr-un spatiu de arta.

In April – May 2011, 5 artists from Republic of Moldova, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia took part in the artist in residency exchange program organized in the frame of Shaping the NEW project. The results of the residencies will be presented to the publics in Chisinau on 8 of September 2011 at FLAT SPACE, in the form of an exhibition / one day site-specific installation, aiming to transform the square from Bucuresti str. 68 from a car parking into an art space.

participanti / participants

Michaela BOTTKOVA
I am Slovak new media artist and I am in second class of my master degree in Kosice Fine art school. 24 years old, born in Nitra and I focus in my works on photography, video, interactive installations. The main theme use to be human being and his feelings.
5 months, 2 weeks and 3 days {that long was my sickness} – is about me and my mind and feelings during my illness. Documentation of installation can show you 3 different views of the same thing / window which was in front of me all the time and I could not go outside.

Balazs KOVACS

Balázs Kovacs (*1980), philosopher, electronic musician, media artist, head of the Moire Association for Culture and Periszkop Radio, Pecs. In my works I use found objects, mechanic devices and electronic control for creating movement, network interaction, sound.
If the target of a residency is to let the artist stay abroad, then for me it was successful – i like Brno, similar to my hometown.

Karina MARUSINSKA

Karina Marusinska is a graduate from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw (Ceramics Design). She studied under scholarship programs at Pais Vasco University in Bilbao, Spain (2007) and at the Institute of Ceramics in Guebwiller, France (2008). She is a manifold scholar, laureate of nationwide and international prizes; participation in numerous exhibitions, symposia, plein-airs and festivals in both her home country and abroad.
In her two month residency in Kosice, Karina Marusinska was researching about waste and culture. She wanted to find out, what trash says about the city and its inhabitants as well as which role plays culture in the further European capital of culture. Marusinska connected both topics to an sensible insight view into the society of Kosice and recorded it in the video documentation “power of waste”. Also, she wrote several letters to key players in the city (major, dirctor of Kosice 2013 etc.) to ask for building up trash bins for culture all over the city.

Ghenadie POPESCU

On May 13 – 14. 2011 the 11th Wheelbarrow Olympics (Hung: “Talicskaolimpia”) took place in Hosszúhetény, a Hungarian village close to Pécs. This event is dedicated to the wheelbarrow, so sport events as well as cultural events connected to this vehicle took place. As this is one of Ghenadie Popescus favourite tools, naturally he also took part – not in the competitions, but with a unique sculpture, exclusively designed and built for this event (link).

Jarek SEDLAK

Young Czech architect, born in Brno, working with public space. Lived in Finland, Tampere and in Netherlands, Amsterdam. In 2010 was working in Prague, in Office Po and Vasi/Architekti in Brno.
During his residency in Chisinau, in collaboration with Oberliht Association, Jarek Sedlak has produced a work composed of 500 flowers that were planted on the square from Bucuresti str. 68, restricting this way the transport circulation on the square and keeping it free of cars during one day (link). He has also coordinated a workshop for local artists and architects that resulted in a series of proposals for the Bucuresti 68 square (details here).

parteneri / partners

Kasarne Kulturpark, Kosice, Slovacia kosice2013.sk
ART TRANSPARENT Foundation, Wroclaw/Zmigrod, Polonia arttransparent.org
4AM Forum for architecture and media, Brno, Cehia forum4am.cz
Nikolaus Lenau Cultural Association, Pécs, Ungaria lenau.hu

finantatori / sponsors

Visegrad Fund
Robert Bosch Foundation
Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic
Goethe Institut Bratislava
goethe.de/ins/sk/bra

suport tehnic / technical support

Centrul pentru Arta Contemporana, Chisinau [ksa:k] art.md

suport media / support

Revista la PLIC plic.oberliht.com

Workshop Shaping the NEW

PLACE AND DATE: Kosice, Kasarne Kulturpark / 28th till 30th of March, 2011

MAIN TOPICS OF THE WORKSHOP:

- Introducing in the project “Shaping the NEW”

- Aims of the residencies and the whole project

- Topic of the residencies

- Content of the conference

- Concept of the travelling exhibition

PARTNERS:

Kasarne Kulturpark, Kosice, Slovacia (www.kosice2013.sk)

Moldova Young Artists Association Oberliht, Chisinau, Moldova (www.oberliht.com)

ART TRANSPARENT Foundation, Wroclaw/Zmigrod, Poland (www.arttransparent.org)

4AM Forum for architecture and media, Brno, Czech Republic (www.forum4am.cz)

Nikolaus Lenau Cultural Association, Pécs, Hungary (www.lenau.hu)