17 September 2018 – 15 December 2018
It’s true, there are no proper exhibition spaces in Sibiu besides the Brukenthal Museum galleries and the Union of Artists. But with a little bit of patience, a whole lot of networking and a handful of compromises, you can exhibit your art in public institutions or in coffeehouses/ bookshops/ restaurants.
The team of wonderful people at the German Cultural Center in Sibiu (located on Poștei street, no. 2, in the same building with the National Bank) invited me to exhibit in their contemporary art event, brut'18. I was extremely excited to explore the idea of an exhibition in that space in which German language classes are being held on weekdays and which also has a impressive library that is often visited by primary school kids, high school teenagers and others.
It looks like exhibiting in places that focus on the presence of books and that promote reading has become a recurrent theme for me (my first exhibition was organized at the recently-closed down Habitus Bookshop). Hooray for that! Maybe ASTRA Public Library will be next?
This time, I opted for a unifying concept and exhibition format. The space at the German Cultural Center in Sibiu is a long hallway, with white walls and no natural light, similar to the crypt at the Habitus Bookstore, where I had my first solo exhibition, “Bestiary” in 2016. Apart from the selection of recent artworks, I knew that I wanted to try something new so I turned to prints.
So I decided not to exhibit the artworks in their original form but printed on lightweight, polystyrene foam-board (used in commercial advertising) that required no frame or glass. I knew that my decision would be less popular with the crowd, but the unwavering support of the team at the German Cultural Center in Sibiu gave me a lot of confidence to just go ahead and print the artworks (Alexandra Muntean and Elisabeth Köber were open to any proposal I had and trusted me in the organization of the exhibition).
These were some of the reasons why I chose to exhibit prints:
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the contact with the audience is extremely direct, there are no obstacles (frame, glass etc.) between the artwork and the observer
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the artwork is not treated as a fragile object, art without glass does not adhere to the classical, museum-style principles of exhibiting
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the original artworks were scanned, enlarged and printed with the intention of emphasizing the working process (including the mistakes that are part of every artist’s work)
The artworks were divided into 4 sections: Abstractions, Spaces, Human Portraits and Animal Portraits.
A lot of the works that were part of the exhibition have been donated to the German Cultural Center, the Children’s Palace and through a Facebook contest.
The central piece, Moonchild, and Queen-sized Girl, were sold.
The originals are in the TOM archive and they can be purchased. If you want to buy one of them, drop me an email at info@sorinatomuletiu.ro. Would love to hear from you!
Thank you to the German Cultural Center in Sibiu for the invitation to exhibit during the contemporary art event, brut'18, and PrintAtu for printing my artworks.
Organized by: German Cultural Center in Sibiu, TOM
Institutional Partners: Goethe Institute in Bucharest, Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany in Sibiu
Media Partner: Hermannstädter Zeitung
Collaborators: PrintAtu.ro, Nartea & Partners
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