RRI Live!

Listen to Radio Romania International Live

Labyrinth – Halfway. Flowers Were Here

Three Romanian artists use discarded flowers to create an independent public art project.

Labyrinth – Halfway. Flowers Were Here
Labyrinth – Halfway. Flowers Were Here

, 09.02.2021, 14:00

A laborious work, Labyrinth – Halfway is the result of research and
community art experiments conducted by visual artist Roxana Donaldson, visual
arts researcher Cristina Irian and Cristina Bodnărescu, who was in charge of putting
the footage and ideas of the two artists into a film that went on to be shown
at a film and video festival called VKRS Bucharest. Cristina Irian tells us
more about the whole project:


This is both an artistic and a civic project because
it aims to provide an active response to the need to keep a community together
in times of crisis and symbolically salvage discarded flowers and turn them
into art objects. I worked directly with bouquets of flowers Roxana got me from
the market, from which I made eight dolls which I named the Matache dolls and
which appear to be dancing. In the second part of the project I used the dolls
and their shapes and added what I called poems in flowers. I kept a video record
of the entire transformation of a bouquet of flowers.



A performance was also created, and here’s Roxana
Donaldson telling us more about it:


We intended this project as an encounter
between people and plants in an urban environment. We wanted to speak about the
lives of people and that of flowers in these times of isolation and anxiety
generated by the Covid pandemic. We wanted to see how people live and survive together
in cities. The performance was inspired by the flowers discarded by the small
local producers in markets last November. This was the starting point and we
ended up making a film and then turning the dried flowers into works of art. I’m
an interdisciplinary visual artist and I’ve always been interested in eco-art
and plant-art and I wanted to create interdisciplinary and conceptual art with
and about plants. The performance involved our meeting at the half way point between
her market and mine, where we each bought ten flowers on the last day before
the markets were closed. And so, when we met at this halfway point, which happened to be on a street called Labyrinth, we exchanged flowers. We basically gave
each other flowers in the middle of the pandemic, during lockdown, at a time
when the city was cold, empty and shut down. We filmed everything, including
the sounds of the city, because we wanted to create a record of our urban
performance.



The life of the flowers continued in their adoptive
homes, the artists’ homes, and after drying out, they underwent a process of reinvention.
Roxana Donaldson:


I painted their story on canvas, writing in
pen ‘rescued abandoned flowers’ and these words blended into each other
becoming patches of colour and over these patches of colour I sewed flowers and
thus created a work of art which I exhibited in the street as part of the
second performance. I called it Flowers Were Here, because the flowers had
returned to a place they’d been to before. We each left a work: mine was a wall
covering made from canvas with flowers and hers was a doll made out of dried
flowers. They remained on the wall where we exhibited them as part of this
free-art performance, which is all about putting your whole heart into the creation
of pure art, art that is not regimented, and gifting it to the city, to the
community, for free and unconditionally.


Cristina Irian added:


The first part of the project took place
in the morning, the second in the afternoon and the next thing is for us to meet
for a third time on the same street, but this time in the evening, to use the objects
we created in a different way. I will focus on the shape of the doll and the
shadows it casts in an endeavour to reactivate the space.



The third part of the project will have different
components: a showing of a film on the life of the flowers which were transformed
into works of art, an exhibition of new works into which the dried flowers are
integrated, and a new urban performance.

Muzeul Arhitecturii Populare de la Curtișoara / Foto: Ștefan Baciu, RRI
Inside Romania Tuesday, 15 October 2024

Traditional crafts in Gorj

In 2008, the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list was officially created, in accordance with the provisions of the “Convention...

Traditional crafts in Gorj
Bacademia
Inside Romania Tuesday, 24 September 2024

Baccademia: the baccalaureate exam for everybody

The 2024 session of the baccalaureate exam in Romania has seen the highest promotion rate in the last decade, accounting for 76.4%. Notwithstanding,...

Baccademia: the baccalaureate exam for everybody
Srouce: Facebook FRUI VITA. Credit: Gabriel Mădularu
Inside Romania Tuesday, 17 September 2024

The Doina

The Botanical Gardens in Bucharest hosted a new edition of a very special festival called Dor de doină dedicated to the doina, a type of Romanian...

The Doina
Photo: The George Enescu International Festival
Inside Romania Tuesday, 10 September 2024

George Enescu and AI

  The George Enescu International Competition is under way in Bucharest, impressing the music lovers night after night with outstanding artistic...

George Enescu and AI
Inside Romania Tuesday, 06 August 2024

The Romanian Designer Floor

Alina Gavrilă started making clothes when she was just a teenager. The passion developed over time, and today the fashion designer aims to support...

The Romanian Designer Floor
Inside Romania Tuesday, 30 July 2024

Stories from 1974

Every moment in life brings with it something new. Sometimes, the everyday rush makes us move away from who we are, preventing us from becoming...

Stories from 1974
Inside Romania Tuesday, 16 July 2024

Seeds with Romanian soul

In her garden in Săhăteni, in Buzău county, Rodica Meiroşu grows so many species of plants one might think she is trying to compete with the...

Seeds with Romanian soul
Inside Romania Tuesday, 02 July 2024

The Tradition of Romanian Bubbly

Every important moment in our lives is celebrated by raising a glass of sparkling...

The Tradition of Romanian Bubbly

Partners

Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român
Liga Studentilor Romani din Strainatate - LSRS Liga Studentilor Romani din Strainatate - LSRS
Modernism | The Leading Romanian Art Magazine Online Modernism | The Leading Romanian Art Magazine Online
Institului European din România Institului European din România
Institutul Francez din România – Bucureşti Institutul Francez din România – Bucureşti
Muzeul Național de Artă al României Muzeul Național de Artă al României
Le petit Journal Le petit Journal
Radio Prague International Radio Prague International
Muzeul Național de Istorie a României Muzeul Național de Istorie a României
ARCUB ARCUB
Radio Canada International Radio Canada International
Muzeul Național al Satului „Dimitrie Gusti” Muzeul Național al Satului „Dimitrie Gusti”
SWI swissinfo.ch SWI swissinfo.ch
UBB Radio ONLINE UBB Radio ONLINE
Strona główna - English Section - polskieradio.pl Strona główna - English Section - polskieradio.pl
creart - Centrul de Creație Artă și Tradiție al Municipiului Bucuresti creart - Centrul de Creație Artă și Tradiție al Municipiului Bucuresti
italradio italradio
Institutul Confucius Institutul Confucius
BUCPRESS - știri din Cernăuți BUCPRESS - știri din Cernăuți

Affiliates

Euranet Plus Euranet Plus
AIB | the trade association for international broadcasters AIB | the trade association for international broadcasters
Digital Radio Mondiale Digital Radio Mondiale
News and current affairs from Germany and around the world News and current affairs from Germany and around the world
Comunità radiotelevisiva italofona Comunità radiotelevisiva italofona

Providers

RADIOCOM RADIOCOM
Zeno Media - The Everything Audio Company Zeno Media - The Everything Audio Company