Now the Impulse is to Live! Edition Sofia

An exhibition organised in the frame of the project C4R (Cultures for Resilience), by tranzit.ro, in collaboration with Atelier d'Architecture Autogérée (FR), Casco Art Institute (NL), Nethood (CH) and in partnership with Toplocentrala (BG).

2 – 17 September 2022 Toplocentrala, 5 Emil Bersinski Street, Sofia, Bulgaria

“The European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC) has warned that the current drought could be the worst in 500 years.” (Euronews, 10/08/2022)

Some would equate resilience today with foolishness, utopianism, naïveté. For the world is falling apart in millions of incomprehensible pieces and apparently the realist contemplation of the disaster is all we are left with. For others yet, there are seeds to be collected and re-sowed, rainwater to be stored, communities to be invested in and cared for. We will live and we will see, as a proverb in Romania says. The propulsion for living seems to be the only solution to the mess around. Living means that the now makes sense, but this belief in the living is far from just indulging in a timeless now, it is an enacted form of hope. Some would call it resilience and associate it with skills and knowledges that have been around for long and keep resurfacing, upgraded following the challenge of the current times; or with trust in non-human species, which are most of the times doing their job in protecting each other much better than sophisticated and destructive chemicals produced in sealed labs; or they would simply see resilience as the bliss of sharing (crops, ideas, friends, predictions and uncertainties).

Participants:

• atelier d’architecture autogérée, r-urban, CASCO, nethood, Remix the commons, tranzit.ro;
• Gilles Clément, Georgiana Strat;
• Alex Axinte, Bogdan Iancu, Monica Stroe, Alexandru Vârtej;
• GreenMogo, Legumim/ Gastronaut, Luca’s Farm, Nettle Garden, Țopa Farm, Soil and Soul, Seed Bank “Casa Semintelor”;
• Vlad Basalici, Vlad Brăteanu, Adriana Chiruță, Eduard Constantin, Oto Hudec, Delia Popa, Sorin Popescu, Anamaria Pravicencu;
• Ovidiu Țichindeleanu;
• New Rural Agenda, Adelina Luft;
• Carambach (Adriana Chiruță), Cecălaca/Csekelaka Cultural Studio (Oana Fărcaș), Crețești Studio-Garden (Delia Popa), Cucuieti Permaculture (Otilia & Radu Boeru), The Dendrological Park Romanii de Jos (V. Leac), Drenart (Stoyan Dechev, Olivia Mihălțianu), The Experimental Station for Research on Art and Life (Dana Andrei, Edi Constantin, Valentin Florian Niculae), The House of Light and Information (Matei Bejenaru), Intersecția Residency (Emanuela Ascari), Jan Hála House (Zuzana Janečková), LATERAL AIR (Cristina Curcan, Lucian Indrei), Muze. Gemüse Initiative (Maria Balabaș & Vlad Mihăescu), The Rajka Orchard (Martin Piaček), Rădești House (Irina Botea Bucan & Jon Dean), Reforesting project (Vasilis Ntouros, Dora Zoumpa), Siliștea Future Studios (Adelina Ivan, Ioana Gheorghiu, Virginia Toma, Ramon Sadîc, Robert Blaj, Vlad Brăteanu), Slon Residency (META Cultural Foundation, Raluca Doroftei), Solar Gallery (Ariana Hodorcă & Albert Kaan), Watermelon Residency (Daniela Pălimariu, Alexandru Niculescu), Na záhradke Gallery (Oto Hudec).

A research exhibition comprising documentation produced in the C4R activities, as well as artworks and documents related to a localised understanding of resilience. The first edition of the exhibition took place in July 2022 in Bucharest and it is now moving to Sofia, in an adapted version, and with some works presented in premiere. In the framework of the C4R project, tranzit.ro has looked at practices that redefine the relationship with the countryside, with land and soil, with nature, with food and natural resources, with the rural communities and with people in the big cities who are looking for sustainable alternatives to their life styles.

All the partners in this project have used a variety of tools: anthropological and cultural mapping, conferences, discussions and seminars as well as digital platforms, in order to highlight different forms of resilience in our societies, in the East, West and North of Europe, touching on issues from the circuit of organic food, to sustainable building materials, forms of commons and of governance, communities structured around ecological thinking and action, and not least artistic initiatives that seek for linking with nature and the countryside.

Some of these different understandings of the concept of resilience are reflected in the exhibition Now the impulse is to live!. As part of a project that is still in progress, the exhibition offers a format for continuous reflection on the topics researched.

CCA Toplocentrala is the new public cultural institute in Sofia, established in a close collaboration between the Sofia Municipality and the independent scene of contemporary art in Bulgaria. The centre provides a platform for performing arts and music and has an exhibition program, focused on contemporary art and its social, educational and community impact.

The project is supported by the EC's Creative Europe - Culture programme.

Exhibition title from a material on Luca’s Farm, by Alex Axinte Image: Zaharia Helinger: Watermelon, 1979, acrylic on cardboard. Presented by Watermelon Residency (Daniela Pălimariu, Alex Niculescu)