1. MONA VĂTĂMANU & FLORIN TUDOR (artists, Romania)
        Rite of Spring
        2010, super 8 film, color, no sound, 7:51 min.

      2. Mona Vătămanu & Florin Tudor, Rite of Spring, 2010, super 8 film, color, no sound, 7:51 min, length of film clip 2:53 min.

      3. In this film, the simple and poetic gesture of Roma children starting small fires in which to burn mounds of white poplar fluff implies a promise—the promise of renewal. Some are street kids, some have a family and some do not, some have a home, some are nomadic, and some just squat a derelict house without a roof. Occasionally the mesmerising play of the children leads the fire to consume a tree, and then fire fighters rush to extinguish it, leaving the burned trunk as a black drawing on the sky. This yearly ritual performed by kids is a metaphor for the spark that sets the existing order on “fire,” and leads to a change. The sparks and small fires in the film symbolically suggest associations with many things—they could be the fires in the French banlieues in recent years, the perpetually deported and repatriated Roma people through out Europe, anti-war protesters against the invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan around the globe, or this year’s uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East—all of which point to the hope of a more equal world. (Mona Vătămanu & Florin Tudor)
      4. MONA VĂTĂMANU (born 1968) and FLORIN TUDOR (born 1974) are artists who have worked together since 2000. Using various media such as film, installation, photography, painting, performance, and site-specific projects, their works critically reflect the socio-political conditions of contemporary society. Recent exhibitions include: There Will Be Hope, D+T Project, Brussels, 2011; Land Distribution, Lombard-Freid Projects, New York, 2011; Shockworkers of the mobile image, 1st Ural Industrial Biennial, Ekaterinburg, 2010; Over the Counter, Műcsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest, 2010; All Power to the Imagination!, Secession, Vienna, 2009; and Surplus Value, BAK basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2009. The first monographic book on their work was published by BAK, basis voor actuele kunst in 2009. Vătămanu and Tudor live and work in Bucharest.

        www.monavatamanuflorintudor.ro


     

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