I first heard about Cluj, a small city in the province of Transylvania, and its artists whilst covering the 2005 Prague Biennial. I was writing a city column for Art Review and was impressed by the Romanian artist, Victor Man's work in the 'Expanded Painting' section. There was a dinner during my stay and I was on the adjacent table to Man and his friend, fellow Romanian, Adrian Ghenie.
Ghenie introduced himself as 'someone who does the make-up for dead bodies before they are laid out' - which was clearly a bit of a tall story, but a good ice-breaker. As the evening panned out, it became apparent that, like Man, Ghenie too was an artist (besides his gift for being an extremely entertaining raconteur).
Neither Ghenie nor Man had seen the sites of Prague before, so we walked around the city till 4am doing the 'tourist trail' by night and talking about our respective backgrounds and plans for the future. Ghenie hoped to set up an artist-run space with artist-curator Mihai Pop, and Man talked about past and prospective shows. By the end of the night, we all had a much clearer idea of where we were coming from and a better knowledge of each other's worlds. Man and Ghenie invited me to visit Cluj, which I did in September 2005 to coincide with Man's solo show 'A Perfect Crime', the inaugural exhibition at Plan B, the artist-run space which Ghenie and Pop had realised together.
Throughout the past year and a half I have come to know the art scene in Romania, and particularly Cluj, very well, and I've been corresponding regularly with its artists - especially Ghenie, Savu and Man. I wrote the first international review of Plan B's inaugural show for Art in America, and the first feature article on Victor Man for Art Review in May 2006 to coincide with Man's first London solo show at Timothy Taylor Gallery.
An opportunity came up with Haunch of Venison to curate a show in their Zurich space and so I proposed an exhibition of the following artists from Cluj: Mircea Cantor, Adrian Ghenie, Victor Man, Ciprian Muresan, Cristi Pogacean, Serban Savu and Gabriela Vanga.
From their cvs, the most obvious connection between the artists is that they all trained at Cluj's Art Academy, but this is deceptive. In fact, they all feel strongly that it wasn't the school that forged a connection between them, but the common desire to flee the institution, and to negotiate a position in relation to the world following childhoods rooted in communism and adolescences spent witnessing its disintegration.
Despite the artists' shared eagerness to travel, all seem to feel the need to keep returning to Cluj, and most are now based there. The city is comparatively small as European cities go and is almost unknown outside Romania, yet its situation at the crossroads of some of Europe's most historically important thoroughfares means it has quietly witnessed the arrival and departure of the Roman, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires, and communism, as well as being the focal point of a persistent tension between the Hungarians (to whom Transylvania used to belong) and the Romanians.
Given all these factors it's probably unsurprising that Cluj's artists make work that demonstrates a removed, often voyeuristic or sideways glance at the ideologies, political systems and expectations that constrain the individual and effect change in our world.
Yet, though there is consistency in terms of an angle of observation, the explicitness of the artists' engagement with the subject matter varies greatly, as does the formal nature of their work. Cantor, Muresan, Vanga and Pogacean's practice isn't confined to a specific medium and elides any one, simplistic over-arching definition. Cantor is probably best known for his videos, but he also creates installations and has worked with objects in fragile materials such as crystal. Muresan's work includes videos, drawings - sometimes in preparation for his surreal animations - and installations. Vanga's often subtle approach has led to her painting a wall with a liquid that can only be seen when 'activated' by touch, and Pogacean's work has taken the disparate forms of video, jewellery, carpets and flags. Ghenie and Savu are committed to the activity of figurative painting. Man is also principally a painter, although his practice incorporates wall drawings, photographs and found objects to form assemblages.
I'm delighted to have the opportunity of working with all the artists in this show. Generationally we grew up together, so despite our differences, we can 'touch base' in many areas, and though I have no familial connection to Cluj or Romania, my work over the past year has led to me forging strong bonds with its artists and to becoming a passionate advocate for its developing art scene. The special fascination Cluj holds for me is not borne out of a sense of the exotic or an intrigue for otherness, but because its artists are making work which I think is really quite special. I realise that for the majority of people the forthcoming exhibition at Haunch of Venison in Zurich will be their first introduction to what is happening in Cluj - but I hope it is just the beginning of a long acquaintance with its remarkable artists.
Jane Neal
Cluj Connection: an exhibition of young artists from Cluj in Transylvania, Romania
24 November 2006 - 20 January 2007
Haunch of Venison Zurich
Tel: 41 43 422 8888
Mircea Cantor, Deeparture, 2005.
Courtesy Mircea Cantor and Yvon Lambert Paris, New York
Victor Man, Untitled (black canopies), 2006
Gabriela Vanga, Keep it unreal, installation, Miss China Beauty Room Hiver 2 Paris, 2004
Cristi Pogacean, Caranime, 2002, video on DVD. Courtesy Essl Collection
Adrian Ghenie, If You Open It You'll Get Dirty, 2006
Ciprian Mursean, Communism Never Happened, 2006
Serban Savu, End of Summer, 2006
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