Stefan Constantinescu
Encyclopedia
Ştefan Constantinescu, born 1968, is a visual artist and film director living and working in Stockholm and Bucharest. He works with various mediums including film, artist books and paintings approaching the political through introspection to challenge notions of identity, while working in and with issues of post-communist Romania. Constantinescu grew up in Romania during the most austere years of communism, where an ordinary day began with a queue for almost anything (bread, shampoo, gas) - days of routine. As a result his work is often strongly autobiographical. Within the work, monuments are challenged as permanent inscriptions of memory, fictional films resemble un-official documentaries, and artist books challenge history and education. Known for his "powerful study of everyday terror" in his short film Troleibuzul 92 that was shown in the Venice Biennale
2009
Recent work includes the painting series An Infinite Blue, the pop up book The Golden Age for Children, the film My Beautiful Dacia (co-directed with Julio Sotto) and the film Passagen. Stefan is currently (2011) working on the curatorial project The Last Analog Revolution, a Memory Box together with Xandra Popescu, who creates film, text and video projects.
and Ciprian Muresan submitted the project The Seductiveness of the Interval curated by Alina Serban for the Venice Biennale
The project was selected to represent Romania at the Biennale, along with the films: Passagen and Troleibuzul 92. That same year the The Seductiveness of the Interval project was remade and exhibited at The Renaissance Society Museum in Chicago.
In 2007, he had a solo show "Thank you for a Wonderful, Ordinary Day" at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest.
, Poland’s Zuzanna Janin
, UK-based collaborators Karen Mirza and Brad Butler, Lithuanian Deimantas Narkevičius and Switzerland’sYves Netzhammer
, sound-work by Liliana Moro, a sculpture by Via Lewandowski and Constantinescu's own film My Beautiful Dacia. The project will be exhibited at the 54th Venice Biennale in autumn, 2011. The Last Analog Revolution, a Memory Box functions within the framework of the project Romanian Cultural Resolution – documentary and will be exhibited at the New Gallery of the Romanian Institute for Culture and Humanistic Research in Venice.The Artist initially had intended "to base the project around a kind of interactive memory box, for which a selection of international artists were due to be invited to design an object referring to their Cold War experience of a divided Europe. This idea, however, proved financially and logistically difficult to achieve. Instead, Constantinescu and co-curator Xandra Popescu have selected existing works of art to exhibit in a group installation."
Constantinescu participated in the fourth Bucharest Biennale
with this series.
, with the films Passagen and Troleibuzul 92, which is an 8 minute film showing a man sitting down beside a female passenger on a trolleybus. Based on a witnessed incident, the realistic account reveals the man having a series of abusive phone calls with his wife, girlfriend or lover (who is on the opposite end of the line), filled with "cursing, accusations, and continuous threats of harm, even murder". As Chronicle Art Critic, Kenneth Baker puts it: the film shows the man "castigating her for making him jealous by being unreachable. He never raises his voice, but his reproaches quickly grow fierce to the point of obscenity... In the Eastern European setting of Constantinescu's piece, in the aftermath of generations under communist rule, uncertainty over the duties of citizenship must weigh heavily on individuals' minds." The surrounding passengers are visibly uncomfortable by these exclamations, yet nobody intervenes to stifle his threats - and in such "Constantinescu may be implying that they are accomplices."
- known as The Golden Age. The book creates a story which covers 20 years of Romanian contemporary history, beginning in 1968 (the year Stefan Constantinescu was born) and ends with the Revolution
in 1989. For the reader of this children’s book an uncanny quality emerges in the tension between the naïvety of the form and the dark surrealism of its content. Constantinescu created the work "in order to recount his experience – living under the regime of Ceausescu – to his daughter. In the process he encounters the challenge of telling the story and of passing on history to younger generations as he weaves text and photos from his own life with briefly stated historical facts in textbook form."
Created in 2009, “My Beautiful Dacia” was co-directed by Julio Sotto. After premiering at the Montréal World Film Festival
, it went on to be awarded the second prize at the Documenta Madrid Festival (2010) and gaining wide circulation in film festivals across the globe.
in 1973. All three ended up living under Nicolae Ceaușescu
’s dictatorship, and in time, two of them decided to emigrate to Sweden. Through the protagonists’ shared experiences, the film highlights touches on the distinct social structures of Chile
, Romania
and Sweden
.
Passagen together with Troleibuzul 92 and the The Seductiveness of the Interval project, were the artworks Constantinescu showed at The Venice Biennale
in 2009 representing Romania.
Stefan Constantinescu first gained attention with his Project Archive of Pain shown in Vilnius
and Bucharest
. It dealt with the "confessions of Romanian political prisoners from 1945-65"
He rose to fame by representing Romania in the Venice Biennale
and the fourth Bucharest Biennale
with his installation An Infinite Blue.
His work is in the collections of Fondation Louis-Vuitton pour la création, Moderna Museet
, Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Malmö Museum of Contemporary Art. He has won the following prizes: 2010 Jury Award “Best International TV Documentary” for My Beautiful Dacia at The International Documentary Film Festival of Mexico City, Mexico and Second Prize, jury award for My Beautiful Dacia, Documenta Madrid, Spania.
The Map: Navigating the Present, Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden, 2008
The Social Critique 1993-2005 at the Kalmar Konstmuseum in Kalmar, Sweden, 2009
Dada East? Romanian Context of Dadaism at the Zacheta National Gallery of Art
in Warsaw, Poland 2008
indirect speech at the Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany, 2006
All that remains … Teenagers of Socialism at Waterside Project Space in London, United Kingdom, 2010,
Phoney Language at the no.w.here studio in London, United Kingdom, 2010,
Audience as a Subject at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
in San Francisco,USA, 2010,
C.o.n.t.r.a.v.i.o.l.e.n.c.i.a.s. at the Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea, San Sebastian, Spain, 2010,
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
2009
Recent work includes the painting series An Infinite Blue, the pop up book The Golden Age for Children, the film My Beautiful Dacia (co-directed with Julio Sotto) and the film Passagen. Stefan is currently (2011) working on the curatorial project The Last Analog Revolution, a Memory Box together with Xandra Popescu, who creates film, text and video projects.
Works
In 2009 Stefan Constantinescu, Andrea FaciuAndrea Faciu
Andrea Faciu is a Romanian artist who lives since 1991 in Germany.She graduated from the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Munich, where she studied with Olaf Metzel.She lives in Munich, Germany and Berlin.-Exhibitions:...
and Ciprian Muresan submitted the project The Seductiveness of the Interval curated by Alina Serban for the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
The project was selected to represent Romania at the Biennale, along with the films: Passagen and Troleibuzul 92. That same year the The Seductiveness of the Interval project was remade and exhibited at The Renaissance Society Museum in Chicago.
In 2007, he had a solo show "Thank you for a Wonderful, Ordinary Day" at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest.
The Last Analog Revolution, a Memory Box
In his 2011 project with Xandra Popescu Constantinescu is bringing together artists from Eastern and Western Europe. It reflects on the evolving concepts of revolution and geo-political division. The exhibition incorporates a cardboard installation with a series of video works by Hungarian artist Péter ForgácsPeter Forgacs
Péter Forgács is a media artist and independent filmmaker based in Budapest, Hungary. He is best known for his "Private Hungary" series of award winning films based on home movies from the 1930s and 1960s, which document ordinary lives that were soon to be ruptured by an extraordinary historical...
, Poland’s Zuzanna Janin
Zuzanna Janin
Zuzanna Janin, is a Polish visual artist and former actor. Janin lives and works in Warsaw and London.Janin was a teenage actor in a Polish serial "Szalenstwo Majki Skowron" ....
, UK-based collaborators Karen Mirza and Brad Butler, Lithuanian Deimantas Narkevičius and Switzerland’sYves Netzhammer
Yves Netzhammer
Yves Netzhammer is a Swiss artist who lives and works in Zurich. Born in Schaffhausen, he studied architecture there and later obtained a diploma at the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Zürich, department of visual design. He has been working with video installations, slide projections,...
, sound-work by Liliana Moro, a sculpture by Via Lewandowski and Constantinescu's own film My Beautiful Dacia. The project will be exhibited at the 54th Venice Biennale in autumn, 2011. The Last Analog Revolution, a Memory Box functions within the framework of the project Romanian Cultural Resolution – documentary and will be exhibited at the New Gallery of the Romanian Institute for Culture and Humanistic Research in Venice.The Artist initially had intended "to base the project around a kind of interactive memory box, for which a selection of international artists were due to be invited to design an object referring to their Cold War experience of a divided Europe. This idea, however, proved financially and logistically difficult to achieve. Instead, Constantinescu and co-curator Xandra Popescu have selected existing works of art to exhibit in a group installation."
An Infinite Blue
An Infinite Blue is a recent series of 24 paintings created in a style that is reminiscent of Socialist Realism. The title of the work is taken from the popular Romanian pop song sung by Angela Similea. This series was conceived by using images from archives made available after the fall of Communism.Constantinescu participated in the fourth Bucharest Biennale
Bucharest Biennale
The Bucharest Biennale is a contemporary art festival held every two years in Bucharest, Romania. The first Biennale was held in 2005, with the following one held in May-June 2006. From 2006 onwards, the festival will be held every two years...
with this series.
Troleibuzul 92
In 2009, Constantinescu represented Romania at The Venice BiennaleVenice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
, with the films Passagen and Troleibuzul 92, which is an 8 minute film showing a man sitting down beside a female passenger on a trolleybus. Based on a witnessed incident, the realistic account reveals the man having a series of abusive phone calls with his wife, girlfriend or lover (who is on the opposite end of the line), filled with "cursing, accusations, and continuous threats of harm, even murder". As Chronicle Art Critic, Kenneth Baker puts it: the film shows the man "castigating her for making him jealous by being unreachable. He never raises his voice, but his reproaches quickly grow fierce to the point of obscenity... In the Eastern European setting of Constantinescu's piece, in the aftermath of generations under communist rule, uncertainty over the duties of citizenship must weigh heavily on individuals' minds." The surrounding passengers are visibly uncomfortable by these exclamations, yet nobody intervenes to stifle his threats - and in such "Constantinescu may be implying that they are accomplices."
The Golden Age for Children
The Golden Age for Children is an interactive pop-up book "complete with pull tabs and 3D archival photos jumping out from every page" featuring the artists’ biography intertwined with highlights from the grand narrative of Romania's past, and pays specific attention to the period of Ceausescu’s regimeCommunist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
- known as The Golden Age. The book creates a story which covers 20 years of Romanian contemporary history, beginning in 1968 (the year Stefan Constantinescu was born) and ends with the Revolution
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
in 1989. For the reader of this children’s book an uncanny quality emerges in the tension between the naïvety of the form and the dark surrealism of its content. Constantinescu created the work "in order to recount his experience – living under the regime of Ceausescu – to his daughter. In the process he encounters the challenge of telling the story and of passing on history to younger generations as he weaves text and photos from his own life with briefly stated historical facts in textbook form."
My Beautiful Dacia
My Beautiful Dacia is a light-hearted portrayal of Romania`s evolution from Communism to Capitalism, told through the story of its most emblematic symbol, the Dacia automobile. The film, portrays different generations of Romanians – from the old and nostalgic to the young entrepreneurs – showing the present transformation of Romanian society. The connecting point between the different stories is the Dacia automobile: a symbol of the ambitious Communist technology and now a reflection of the new global economy. The film has had wide circulation in various Film Festivals.Created in 2009, “My Beautiful Dacia” was co-directed by Julio Sotto. After premiering at the Montréal World Film Festival
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival , founded in 1977, is one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF...
, it went on to be awarded the second prize at the Documenta Madrid Festival (2010) and gaining wide circulation in film festivals across the globe.
Passagen
Passagen follows the uprooted lives of three Chileans who were forced to leave Chile in the aftermath of the coup d’état led by Augusto PinochetAugusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
in 1973. All three ended up living under Nicolae Ceaușescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
’s dictatorship, and in time, two of them decided to emigrate to Sweden. Through the protagonists’ shared experiences, the film highlights touches on the distinct social structures of Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.
Passagen together with Troleibuzul 92 and the The Seductiveness of the Interval project, were the artworks Constantinescu showed at The Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
in 2009 representing Romania.
Complete list of works
- Archive of Pain, video installation, book, 2000
- Just what is it, photography series, 2000
- The Baron, video, 45′, 2002
- Dacia 1300, my Generation , 2003
- Passagen, film, 62′, 2005
- Northern Light, photography series & text, 2006
- The Golden Age for Children, pop-up book, 2008
- My Beautiful Dacia, documentary film, 2009
- Troleibuzul 92, film, 8’, 2009
- The Flag, 2010
- An Infinite Blue, painting series, painting, 2009–2010
Biography
The artist received his BA from Art University Bucharest in 1996 and his MA in 1998 from Royal Academy of Arts, Stockholm. Now he lives and works both Sweden and Romania.Stefan Constantinescu first gained attention with his Project Archive of Pain shown in Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
and Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
. It dealt with the "confessions of Romanian political prisoners from 1945-65"
He rose to fame by representing Romania in the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
and the fourth Bucharest Biennale
Bucharest Biennale
The Bucharest Biennale is a contemporary art festival held every two years in Bucharest, Romania. The first Biennale was held in 2005, with the following one held in May-June 2006. From 2006 onwards, the festival will be held every two years...
with his installation An Infinite Blue.
His work is in the collections of Fondation Louis-Vuitton pour la création, Moderna Museet
Moderna Museet
Moderna museet, the Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden, is a state museum located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, that was first opened in 1958. Its first manager was Pontus Hultén...
, Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Malmö Museum of Contemporary Art. He has won the following prizes: 2010 Jury Award “Best International TV Documentary” for My Beautiful Dacia at The International Documentary Film Festival of Mexico City, Mexico and Second Prize, jury award for My Beautiful Dacia, Documenta Madrid, Spania.
Selection of Group Exhibitions
Periferic 8 – Art as Gift, the eight, Biennale for Contemporary Art, Iași, Romania, 2008The Map: Navigating the Present, Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden, 2008
The Social Critique 1993-2005 at the Kalmar Konstmuseum in Kalmar, Sweden, 2009
Dada East? Romanian Context of Dadaism at the Zacheta National Gallery of Art
Zacheta
The Zachęta National Gallery of Art, short Zachęta, , is one of Poland's most notable institutions for contemporary art. Situated in the centre of Warsaw, the main aim of the gallery is to present and support primarily Polish contemporary art and artists...
in Warsaw, Poland 2008
indirect speech at the Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany, 2006
All that remains … Teenagers of Socialism at Waterside Project Space in London, United Kingdom, 2010,
Phoney Language at the no.w.here studio in London, United Kingdom, 2010,
Audience as a Subject at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is a multi-disiplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that celebrates local, national, and international artists and the Bay Area's diverse...
in San Francisco,USA, 2010,
C.o.n.t.r.a.v.i.o.l.e.n.c.i.a.s. at the Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea, San Sebastian, Spain, 2010,
External links
- Artist Stefan Constantinescu's website.
- Artist represented by GALERIE8, Hackney, London, UK; Gallery website
- Affiliated Artists in The Last Analog Revolution, a Memory Box project, websites: Xandra Popescu, Péter Forgács, Zuzanna Janin, Deimantas Narkevičius, Karen Mirza and Brad Butler, Via Lewandowski
- The 54th Venice Biennale website