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Shoes for Europe, 2002, 16 mm film transfered to DVD, color, sound, approximately 25 min.
acestea, e foarte important sæ ai o instituflie puternicæ în spate care sæ te promoveze,
pentru a putea face faflæ acestei întregi maøinærii de producflie de artæ. Pe de o parte,
DAAD-ul a fost o astfel de instituflie pentru mine, o adeværatæ rampæ de lansare.
Pe de altæ parte, pot spune cæ odatæ intrat acolo, chiar øi dupæ terminarea stipendiilor,
eøti mereu parte a clubului lor. DAAD-ul are, de altfel, o istorie foarte interesantæ,
pentru cæ foarte mulfli din cei care au fost bursieri, practic cam 90%, au ræmas
în Berlin. Astfel a devenit Berlinul pentru mine un oraø „uøor“ øi cred cæ mi-ar fi fost
mult mai greu sæ lucrez la Londra, New York sau Paris.
¬ Într-un fel sau altul chiar ai avut experienfla acestor oraøe, pentru cæ ai expus în
fiecare din ele. Pentru cæ tot veni vorba, aø vrea sæ remarc faptul cæ ai expus foarte
mult în ultimii ani, atît pe continent, cît øi în afara lui. Øi în acest context sînt curios
sæ te întreb dacæ a avut vreo importanflæ faptul cæ vii din Est.
√ Deseori mi se pune aceastæ întrebare. Øi, sincer sæ fiu, mi-e greu sæ dau un ræspuns.
Cert e însæ cæ momentul documenta 11 a fost foarte important, iar Shoes for
Europe, lucrarea pe care am fæcut-o pentru documenta, prezintæ o situaflie specificæ
spafliului estic. Sînt conøtient de faptul cæ spafliul est-european reprezintæ încæ o
resursæ de utilizat pentru a atinge succesul, însæ tind sæ cred cæ interesul occidentalilor
s-a mutat deja mai la est decît ceea ce percepem noi în mod normal ca Est, aøadar
cætre Asia. Tonul a fost dat de factorul economic, iar lucrul acesta este vizibil, de
exemplu, în tîrgurile comerciale. Totuøi, cred øi sper cæ dacæ faci lucræri bune nu conteazæ
locul de unde vii.
¬ Aruncînd un ochi asupra lucrærilor tale din ultimii zece ani, observ o transformare
a temelor abordate. Primele lucræri erau oarecum experimentale, tratau, dacæ îmi dai
voie, expresiile propriei tale subiectivitæfli, multe din ele fiind în acelaøi timp performanceuri
filmate...
artist, because tens or hundreds of galleries activate here, a great
many artists, many well-known names, moving here from all over the
world to build a career or to consolidate one. It’s an ideal place for
intersecting with the artists, it’s trendy, but due to these conditions,
it’s very important to be backed-up by a powerful institution promoting
you, in order to face this whole machinery of art production.
On one hand, the DAAD was such an institution for me, a real
launching platform. One the other hand, I can say that once there,
even after the stipends are over, you are always part of their club.
However, the DAAD has a very interesting story, as a great part of
the stipendiary, in fact about 90%, remained in Berlin. This is how
Berlin became an “easy“ city for me and I believe I would have found
it much more difficult to work in London, New York or Paris.
¬ One way or another, you really experienced those cities, as you
exhibited in each and every of them. By the way, I’d like to observe
that you’ve exhibited a lot in the past years, either on the continent
or elsewhere. Within this context, I’d like to know if the fact that
you’re coming from the East had any significance.
√ It’s a question I’m often asked. And, honestly, it’s hard for me to
find an answer. However, it’s a fact that the documenta 11 moment
was very important and Shoes for Europe, my contribution to documenta,
presents a situation specific to the Eastern space. I am aware
of the fact that the East-European space still represents a resource to
be used in achieving success, but I tend to think that the westerners’
interest has already moved more to the East than what we normally
perceive as the East, namely to Asia. The tune was called by the economic
aspect and this is visible, for example, at the commercial fairs.
Nevertheless, I think and I hope that if your work is good, it doesn’t
matter where you’re coming from.
¬ Taking a glimpse at your works in the last ten years, I can observe
a shift in your choice of themes. The first works were kind of experimental,
approaching, if I may say so, the expressions of your own
subjectivity, and many of them were, at the same time, filmed performances…
√ I’m still continuing those experiments, maybe your point is that
they were much related to Moldova...
¬ No, not necessarily, but to me it seems obvious that from a certain
point you started to approach themes with a political-social resonance.
Which are the sources of your reinvestment as a critical artist?
√ Of, course, this is true, there was a point when I became interested
in the political-social themes and this was in strong connection
to the fact that I was already travelling very much in the West.
Nevertheless, I think it was a natural evolution and I haven’t prepared
myself in any way to become a “critical artist“. The experience of
the West puts you very much in the position where you cannot help
but making distinctions and comparing. When you are in the middle
of the events or too close to the picture in front of your eyes, you
can’t perceive everything that is happening.
¬ I related the period of your experimental works to the birth of
the KSAK in Kishinev, since you are one of the initial advocates and
promoters. What I’m trying to say is that the existence of this institution
offered you the freedom to experiment a lot, as the desire to
experiment had been repressed until then by the social-political configurations
and by the limitation of the artistic expression means.
√ You are partially right, but I think it also has to do with the conditions
I was working in. In the mid ’90s, the centre had only one
VHS camera, which you had to wait for in queue in order to use, the
editing table was missing and when you lack the minimum means
which are necessary to create a work, there is the possibility of compensating
through experiment. The situation is different today, when
the problem of the production materials is not so stringent anymore.
On the other side, we were pretty isolated back then... we didn’t
know that what we are trying to do was already ancient history in
the West. Nevertheless, at the time I was invited very often to do
performances, which in fact I really liked doing. For example, I created
many performances in which I was working with paper, as I was
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