[EN] The exhibition series “Ways of Collecting” explores various approaches to collecting by unveiling local and international private collections that are seldom available to the public. In post-communist countries especially, where for decades every collection accessible to the public was held solely by state institutions, the role of private collectors remains somewhat of a mystery. Who collects, and why? What do they collect? What is the relationship between artists and their collectors? How do private and public collections coexist?
“Lost in the Moment That Follows”, the second exhibition in the “Ways of Collecting” series, is dedicated to the collection of philanthropist Ovidiu Șandor, who is based in the city of Timișoara. Focusing on Romanian art, Șandor’s collection traces artistic practices, movements, and ideas that have greatly contributed to reflections on our common recent history. Through the exploration of topical themes in contemporary art such as identity, the human condition, and nature, the exhibition juxtaposes works by emblematic figures of the historical avant-garde such as Constantin Brâncuși, Victor Brauner, and Brassaï, important works by post-war avant-garde artists such as André Cadere and Ana Lupaș, and the works of contemporary artists such as Mircea Cantor, Ciprian Mureșan, Ioana Nemeș, and many others. The collection covers a variety of media, from painting to installation, drawing, photography, and video.
The title of the exhibition comes directly from a quote by the famous French writer André Breton, the founder and main theorist of surrealism, an artistic movement that is strongly represented in Ovidiu Șandor’s collection. Curator Tevž Logar explains the exhibition’s title: “The original quote by Breton concerns time—the relationship between the past, the present, and the future. It is also very closely related to the exhibited artworks from Ovidiu Șandor’s collection, especially in the sense that this exhibitioin is not only a retrospective but also a dialogue with the present.” Breton’s original quote reads: “The important thing is that man is lost in time, in the moment that immediately precedes him—which only attests, by reflection, to the fact that he is lost in the moment that follows.”
The Ovidiu Șandor Collection is exemplary in the region of southeastern Europe for it demonstrates how the operations of a collection can contribute significantly to the improvement of local conditions related to artistic production. This has been accomplished not only through the acquisition of works by Romanian artists but also through the long-term program of the Art Encounters Foundation, which carries out complementary activities to the collection and acts as a meeting point and an open platform for contemporary art connecting Timișoara with other spaces in the global art scene.
The exhibition “Lost in the Moment That Follows” provides a detailed insight into Șandor’s vision for the collection while also showcasing artistic practices that for more than a century have been creating a space for critical reflection on society and our everyday lives.
How is the Ovidiu Șandor Collection structured, and what new things does it bring? According to curator Tevž Logar, the collection rests on a trio of historical pillars that contest each other. The first pillar is represented by the historical avant-garde, which is further developed by the works of the postwar Romanian neo-avant-garde (i.e., postwar art until the end of the 1980s).
The third pillar is the art that began to emerge after the Romanian Revolution of December 1989, which, given its course and number of victims, ranks among the most violent of the anti-communist upheavals that took place in the late 1980s in Central and Eastern Europe.
“This third pillar is in some sense the most complex of the three, in part because it was at this time that the collection began to provide direct support to the generation of artists who began their artistic creation after the revolution. During their personal and professional development, artists of this generation witnessed the total transformation of the social and political panorama, and this was directly expressed in the formation of their own positions as artists,” writes Tevž Logar in the exhibition catalogue.
According to Logar, visitors should think of the presented collection not as a burial ground for objects but rather as a living organism. The collection is constantly expanding with new acquisitions that often reveal the similarities between the conceptual and formal interests of contemporary artists and those of their predecessors. It was for this reason as well that the curator approached three contemporary Romanian artists to enter a dialogue with the existing collection, add new impulses and layers, responding to the specific spaces of Kunsthalle Praha and the context of the Prague exhibition. This initiative resulted in the creation of, for example, a new drawing entitled Peace by Dan Perjovschi, whom local audiences may know from his drawings on the walls inside the National Technical Library. Visitors will also be able to see a sculpture by Ciprian Mureşan entitled Echoes, which contains a built-in camera obscura, or the performance Intervention Is Enough Evidence. Finally. by Alex Mirutziu.
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[RO] “Lost in the Moment That Follows” este a doua expoziție din seria “Ways of Collecting”, organizată de Kunsthalle Praga, și este dedicată colecției filantropului român timișorean Ovidiu Șandor. Seria expozițiilor ce au în centru colecții de artă urmărește să aducă publicul mai aproape de fenomenul colecționismului, dar și să exploreze rațiunile acestei vechi preocupări ale unor oameni pasionați de artă. Seria “Ways of Collecting” se concentrează, în special, pe colecții de artă din țările care au făcut parte din blocul sovietic.
Concentrându-se pe arta românească, colecția lui Ovidiu Șandor urmărește practici, mișcări și idei artistice care au contribuit în mare măsură la reflecțiile asupra istoriei noastre recente comune. Prin explorarea unor teme de actualitate în arta contemporană, cum ar fi identitatea, condiția umană și natura, expoziția juxtapune lucrări ale unor figuri emblematice ale avangardei istorice precum Constantin Brâncuși, Victor Brauner și Brassaï, lucrări importante din perioada postbelică. artiști de avangardă precum André Cadere și Ana Lupaș și lucrările unor artiști contemporani precum Mircea Cantor, Ciprian Mureșan, Ioana Nemeș și mulți alții. Colecția acoperă o varietate de medii, de la pictură la instalație, desen, fotografie și video.
Colecția Ovidiu Șandor este un exemplu pentru regiunea de sud-est a Europei, deoarece demonstrează modul în care operațiunile unei colecții pot contribui semnificativ la îmbunătățirea condițiilor locale legate de producția artistică. Acest lucru s-a realizat nu doar prin achiziționarea de lucrări ale artiștilor români, ci și prin programul pe termen lung al Fundației Art Encounters, care desfășoară activități complementare colecției și acționează ca punct de întâlnire și platformă deschisă pentru arta contemporană.
