[Nettime-ro] Vlad Nanca exhibition

[Vlad Nanca <vladnanca@yahoo.com>]

It is my pleasure to invite you to the 
SPACE Gallery
International Center for Contemporary Arts (C.I.A.C, str. Selari 9-11) on Tuesday
19th June  at 18.00.


C.I.A.C will be the host for a one off showing of ‘Swing Me’ a photography and
installation exhibition by Vlad Nanca which was shown previously in Oxford, England
during March this year. The success of the exhibition was huge and lead to Vlad
Nanca being named the Artist of the Month on www.romanian-art.com and has now been
selected by the Contemporary Arts Center to be exhibited in Bucharest for one day
only as part of a celebration of young Romanian Artists.


It is my delight to invite you to the event and hope to see you there.




Vlad NANCA






‘SWING ME’  
An exhibition by Vlad Nanca.

Vlad Nanca was born and raised in Bucharest, Romania where he continues to live and
work as a freelance photographer whilst studying photography at the Art University
of Bucharest. Nanca specializes in still photography working with both colour and
black and white images.


The images featured in the solo exhibition ‘Swing Me’ combine striking colour with
long exposure and the use of flash to create photographs that see the characters in
Nanca’s photographs look almost ghostlike. It may be implied that these images of
ghosts seen in Nanca’s work can be linked to the historical conditions surrounding
his hometown of Bucharest. During Communist rule many beautiful tenth-century houses
and churches were demolished in the capital’s center to be replaced by Ceausescu’s
dream of a new immense palace (the third largest building in the world which is now
known as the Palace of the People). There are numerous stories surrounding this
palace and it is said that lots of people were supposed to have died during its
construction. It is here, next to this immense building where the park in which many
of Nanca’s photographs are taken. 


This perhaps somber description of Nanca’s photographs may be juxtaposed with
Nanca’s own inspiration and motivation for ‘Swing Me’.  Nanca grew up in what many
would call a typical Bucharest ‘neighborhood’, a maze of identical apartment blocks.
Nanca remembers how these apartment bocks made the Communist regime so proud because
they gave people somewhere to live. It didn’t matter that they lived with no
heating, no hot water and sometimes no electricity. The system gave them houses.
Reminiscing about his childhood and remembering what gave him pleasure during what
may be described as a challenging time was staring for hours out of his window
looking onto a playground below. The playground kept a lonely swing frame but no
swing was attached and instead of being used for swinging, the bars served as
goalposts instead. There was hope hidden in this striking image, as Nanca knew that
there would come a big surprise. On Romania’s National Children’s Day people would
come and fix the swings. They were repainted and finally used for their true
purpose. Nanca, instead of playing on the swings would remain sat at his window and
watch. This observation of people enjoying swings for their real, true purpose can
be seen in Nanca’s work as he continues to spend time watching people enjoy the
swings. Nanca documents his friends and those close to him playing on the swings,
urging them to go back to their childhood so that he can photograph them. Through
his exhibition ‘Swing Me’ other people can also enjoy them.



=====
Vlad NANCA,
B-Dul Regina Elisabeta nr. 69, Sector 5, Bucuresti, ROMANIA.
www.vlad.nanca.home.ro 
Tel: 0040 1314 7704
Fax: 0040 13121311

____________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk
or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie


_______________________________________________
Nettime-ro mailing list
Nettime-ro@nettime.org
http://extra.waag.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-ro
-->
arhiva: http://extra.waag.org/pipermail/nettime-ro