Shape of Time – Future of Nostalgia

The National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest (MNAC) presents Shape of Time – Future of Nostalgia works from the Art Collection Telekom.

Deutsche Telekom’s art collection, a young and growing collection, was founded in 2010 with a focus on contemporary art from Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The collection seeks to highlight the variety and wealth of the region’s artistic and social life and encompasses a wide variety of artistic media. The collection places contemporary works alongside important historical works from previous decades.

Shape of Time – Future of Nostalgia emphasises the strong narrative quality of Eastern European art, relating the history of the countries of Eastern Europe through individual and personal stories from the artists. These narratives reveal an engagement with the past and at the same time a vision of the future. All are characterised by a reflection on how history is constructed and modified.

Among the works on display are large series like Roman Ondák’s collectively produced “Futuropolis,” consisting of 100 drawings by friends and relatives of the artist; Lesia Khomenko’s Drawings from Maidan, in which the artist portrayed activists during the protest on Maidan in Kiev; and Aneta Grzeszykowska’s Negative Book, documenting in mesmerizing black and white photographs a body performance by the artists, which took place for days during a residency in Los Angeles. Radenko Milak reflects in his 365 (the image of time) about our common visual memory as it is constructed by media and education. Igor Grubić is referring to the revolutionary year of 1968 and performs 40 years later a number of small rituals and actions in the public sphere, playing with youth’s enthusiasm, rebellion, idealism and nostalgia.

“Nostalgia,” as Svetlana Boym analyses in The Future of Nostalgia is a symptom of our age. It may seem retrospective, but “the fantasies of the past, determined by the needs of the present, have a direct impact on the realities of the future.”

The exhibition is curated by Adriana Oprea of MNAC, in collaboration with the curators of Art Collection Telekom, Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher.

A public programme featuring expert lectures, a music performance and artist talks will accompany the exhibition.

Participating artists: Mihuț Bosçu-Kafchin, Yane Calovski, Stanisław Dróżdż, Ksenia Gnilitska, Igor Grubić, Aneta Grzeszykowska, Nilbar Güres, Petrit Halilaj, Vladimir Houdek, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Ali Kazma, Šejla Kamerić, Lesia Khomenko, Genti Korini, Eva Kotátková, Zofia Kulik, Vlado Martek, Radenko Milak, Sükran Moral, Ciprian Mureşan, Vlad Nancă, Ioana Nemes, Paulina Ołowska, Roman Ondák, Dan Perjovschi, Agnieszka Polska, Tobias Putrih, Nedko Solakov, Mladen Stilinović.

Press contact: Antigona Silvia Rogozea, antigonarogozea [​at​] gmail.com

Also at the MNAC:

Installation by Konrad Smolenski
Partner: Rokolectiv Festival
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MNAC Palace of the Parliament, Ground Floor

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MNAC Palace of the Parliament, Second Floor

The House Looks for an Admiral to Rent
Curator: Marie Bechetoille
Artists: Abäke, Boris Achour, A Constructed World, Madeleine Aktypi, Karina Bisch, Antonia Carrara, Antonio Contador, Pauline Curnier-Jardin, David Evrard, Seulgi Lee, Jeanne Moynot, Guillaume Pellay & Yoan Sorin, Matteo Rubbi, The Bureau of Melodramatic Research, Julien Tiberi, Valentina Traïanova, Giuliana Zefferi
April 20–October 9, 2016
MNAC Palace of the Parliament, Second Floor

Shrinking Cities in Romania
Curator: Ilinca Păun Constantinescu
Partner: ATU Association
Winner of the MNAC 2014 Call for Projects
April 20–October 9, 2016
MNAC Palace of the Parliament, Third Floor, Hall 1

The Second Law
Chapter 3 of The White Dot and the Black Cube
Curatorial Project in six chapters
Curators: Anca Mihuleț, Diana Marincu
Artists: Carmen Dobre-Hametner (Romania-Germany), Suk Kuhn Oh (South Korea)  
Winner of the MNAC 2014 Call for Projects
April 20–October 9, 2016 
MNAC Palace of the Parliament, Fourth Floor