LA BISERIfIcAcIOn! LA VIVA VIVA june 2014 june magazine culture & art l ORTHODOX IS BETTER ORTHODOX ORTHODOX IS BETTER ORTHODOX revistã de artã ºi culturã l iunie 2014 LA BISERIfIcAcIOn!VIVA Stained glass 2 june 2014 Samizdat Table of ConTenTs Preface (AdA MunteAn). 7 Foreword (VisuAl KontAKt) . 9 Orthodox Is Better (oliMpiA BerA phd. & GABriel MiloiA). 11 Orthodox Is Much Better (oliMpiA BerA phd.). 17 New Gold (Astrid ÞîrleA). 21 The Cavern (GABriel MiloiA) . 25 Artistic Installation and Aesthetics of Detail in Orthodox Is Better (AdA MunteAn). 29 Highlights from the Orthodox Is Better Exhibition (CArlos CArMonAMedinA). 35 The Hierarchy of the Romanian Orthodox Church (iGor MoCAnu). 39 The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Construction of Cathedrals (AndrAdA luCA) . 43 The Order of the Golden Cross (oliMpiA BerA phd.) . 47 Installations with Chinese Icons and Other Wonders from Neverland (AlinA stAiCu phd.) . 57 Architectural Aberrations in Romania. About Language. (AndrAdA luCA). 59 Art or blasphemy? (AnA ÞeleA) . 65 Rublyov – Symbol of Russia, Symbol of the Icon (teodorA onutz). 71 Socialist Realism vs. Post-Socialist Iconography (AdA MunteAn) . 75 Serving the Beast (GABriel MiloiA) . 79 Wind of the East, Wind of the West – This Brings on a Draft (AlinA stAiCu phd.) . 89 Sacred Experience in Plastic Arts Creation: Contemporary Art vs. the Icon (AdA MunteAn) . 91 Design and Religion (Astrid ÞîrleA) . 99 Details from Orthodox Is Better exhibition Samizdat june 2014 3 4 june 2014 Samizdat Samizdat june 2014 5 6 june 2014 Samizdat Preface Ada Muntean AMizdAt is a cultural magazine The concept of the present edition rests spirituality per se, but the institu - which appears periodically and on the project of the Visual Kontakt tionalized system which strives to strives – through a thematic unity, Laboratory, Orthodox Is Better, an enclose these within, i.e. the Church. S which is particular in its spectrum exhibition conceived in a satirical tone, The project is extremely complex due to of concern – to take an X-ray of which criticizes the institution of the the subtle visual analysis of some of the certain subjects with real social, moral Romanian Orthodox Church and its customs of the Church and of the gap and cultural implications. The starting specific mode of functioning through between what it wishes to transmit as point is always the present, as it is of specific means – conceptual and visual. spirituality and what actually transpires. course a mere coordinate between past It also dares to take on adjacent themes. The goal of the present magazine is to and future. This aspect is reflected in the The critique which Visual Kontakt wishes unveil as comprehensively as possible thematic conception of the articles that to exert does not “hit” religion and the permeation of the main concept of make up the magazine and which are the Visual Kontakt project throughout born out of the reflections of the Visual history and the effect in different Kontakt Laboratory, an exhibition space domains and social aspects. This meant for artistic projects that are com - perspective is filtered through the plex – in what regards their concep - individuality of the collabora tors of tuality, as well as their role as visual Samizdat and the uniqueness of the means. The themes that give life to the approach towards the diverse impli - projects of the Laboratory represent the cations the subject concentrates on. same generator of reflection for the Samizdat magazine, but the tone of Samizdat wishes to stand out because of interpreting and extrapolating becomes its approach and the transparency of the different through the individuality of each critical spirit manifested in full power, Samizdat collaborator. totally uncensored and totally assumed. Samizdat june 2014 7 Details from Orthodox Is Better exhibition 8 june 2014 Samizdat Foreword Visual Kontakt rthodox is Better is a curatorial In july 2013, out of the over one hundred sacred reinterpretations of the mock-ups project, conceived and created by the applications, designer Astrid Þîrlea and created by the students for the semestrial Visual Kontakt Laboratory and architect Arnold Platon made an official examinations. O exhibited on its premises between selection of 28 works and one winning november 2013 and March 2014. creation, i.e. the proposal for urban The Orthodox Is Better cave is the work of planning from Ms Monica Mateiu. The sculptor Maria Sicoie, which built a The project was initiated in March 2013, selection was exhibited in two similar cavernous wall of 6 m × 3 m, onto which after the publishing of the article friezes, the layout of which recreated the Mr Daniel Rãduþu projected an icono - “Romanian Children Learn the nazi architectural look of a nave. The winning graphic collage imagined by designer Salute at Church” by the journalists creation, representing the central square Raul Lupu. Patrick André de Hillerin and Raul Gheba of Oradea, was reconstructed as an urban in the weekly issue of Caþavencii. The mock-up by Mr Lucian Ivãnescu, The logistical coordination was carried out article was a catalyst for approaching the according to the approved plans of under supervision of the doctoral student multitude of controversies connected to renovation for the near future (2014-2015) Adrian Pop and the public campaign was the activity of the Romanian Orthodox of the arch. Horia Gavriº, whilst the organized by Ms nicoleta Pecherle. Church throughout the past century. monument proposed by Ms Mateiu was constructed by the sculptor Adrian Sabãu. The concept of the exhibit and the Between March and june of 2013, statement were developed by Olimpia Visual Kontakt launched an online Drawings of the illustrator Constantin Bera, PhD, general curator for Visual competition of photographic inter - Stoian sent out throughout the period of Kontakt, with the participation of the vention. Making use of images shot by the competition for the off-section, were organization’s president, Gabriel Miloia. arch. Alexandra Þelea, which portray exhibited in the form of a neo-Gothic The aesthetic concept is a creation of historical monuments, industrial stained glass recreated by the artist. designer Astrid Þîrlea. buildings or street furniture from the city of Oradea, the participants were asked With the help of the students of Oradea’s Visual Kontakt would like to thank the to turn these sites into places of worship Faculty of Architecture and Constructions, architects Adrian Pescaru, Greta Zsak or to pervade them with sacred designer Astrid Þîrlea and architect and Szilágyi László for the granted connotations, as was seen fit. Alexandra Þelea have created a series of support. Samizdat june 2014 9 10 june 2014 Samizdat Orthodox Is Better olimpia Bera, phd. & Gabriel Miloia rthodox is Better is not so much for appeasement in a debate which meets the monumentality, opulence and a critique raised against the cannot exist from a conceptual point of symmetry pertaining to canonical forms, institution of the Romanian view. Blasphemy, as a favourite and principles of the ecumenical doctrine O Orthodox Church, as it is a critical instrument of the anti-clerical rhetoric, find themselves integrated into objects manifest towards the sterile debate which covers its activity. Starting from the supposition that the connection between religion and secularity should be resolved a priori in a democratic society, Visual Kontakt does not limit its perception strictly to the forms of the discourse as being ludicrous but regards the mere existence and preservation of such a discourse as an absurdity. Thus finding its setting in a network of conceptual nonsense, the project is a review of the hybrids that are incom - patible with life and which lacking any ontological consistency, find their ideational manifestation in society and their objectified representation – in the gallery. If dialogue is understood in the Romanian society as a forced juxta - position of two self-sufficient entities, Orthodox Is Better suggests a series of secular-ecclesiastical syn theses by Previous page: producing objects, spaces and archi - Details from Orthodox tectural projections which forcedly Is Better exhibition combine the views that are not looking Details from The Factory of Angels – Orthodox Is Better exhibition Samizdat june 2014 11 Details from Details from Orthodox Is Better Orthodox Is Better exhibition exhibition 12 june 2014 Samizdat Samizdat june 2014 13 and situations of daily life, making their way through and conquering secular territories. Concept-objects generate ideational syntheses by intending to acquire impossible or useless functions, of which the sole purpose is to reconcile industrial and relativist modernity with dogma and canon. The Orthodox Is Better project takes place in a gallery-like setting, which allows an intuition of the religious element on a monumental scale. The numerous architectural mock-ups allude to the congestion of ideas and viable possibilities in what regards the transformation of urban ensembles into ecclesiastical constructions. The creation of mock-ups as a process within the project is a semblance of the power the institution of the Romanian Orthodox Church has over the collective psyche and its role as a forum of decision- making in Romanian public affairs. The infusion of the religious phe - nomenon is suggested by the absurd eclecticism of a frieze which conveys an architecture built in the spirit of modern and post-modern functionality. The traditional Romanian crucifix (troiþa) transformed into a concrete monument, the garages and apartment buildings, the gas station and the supermarket are just a few of the elements sharing their place in the contemporary world. The institution as is that of the church can The exhibits displayed as part of unifying element which appears intervene as a legislative power in our Orthodox Is Better represent metaphors symbolically in the public domain is in lives, without any concern for one’s of the superposition of a traditionally accordance with the belief that an individual spiritual conviction.