Conversation/debate, Art performance
Book launch / Zona Festival at Norma T
Presentation and talk with Ileana Pintilie, Corina Oprea, Manuel Pelmus and Anton Skaaning Thomsen.
Zona Festival edited by Ileana Pintilie, with essays by Ileana Pintilie, László Beke, Vladimir Bulat, Robert Fleck, Alexandra Titu, Berislav Valušek, and artists' texts by Alexandru Antik, Matei Bejenaru, Ștefan Bertalan, Geta Brătescu, Oskar Dawicki, Ion Grigorescu, H.arta Group, Karen Kipphoff, Liliana Mericioiu, Dan Perjovschi, Lia Perjovschi, Sorin Vreme. Published by PUNCH.
Participants
Ileana Pintilie, Corina Oprea, Manuel Pelmus, Anton Skaaning Thomsen
Performance by Manuel Pelmuș and Anton Skaaning Thomsen
The Zona Festival, held between 1993-2002 în Timișoara, marks a peak moment in Romania's performance festival scene, alongside the AnnArt Festival near Lake Sfânta Ana and Periferic Festival in Iași (later transformed into the Periferic Biennial). The Zona Festival, conceived and organized by curator and art historian Ileana Pintilie, gained momentum during the years of freedom following the political regime change in 1989. It also revealed the disillusionments brought by the new democracy forming in a social and political space marked by numerous conflicts and a rapid reconfiguration of the categories of winners and losers in the early days of "transition." Despite often relying on a deficient infrastructure, the festival energetically mobilized artists from diverse generations, activating various unconventional spaces (including public spaces). The Zona Festival made Timișoara a dynamic center of contemporary art, gaining recognition beyond Romania's borders.
For ZONA &, curated by Corina Oprea and Magda Radu, Manuel Pelmuș presented a new work made in collaboration with performer and choreographer Anton Skaaning Thomsen, starting from the archive of installations and performances related to Pământul[The Earth] (1992) and Zona 1 (1993). Interested to explore the notion of the transmissibility of memory, to question the possibility of transnational and trans-cultural sharing of knowledge regarding events which took place thirty years ago, Pelmuș brings into the present, with acuity and empathy, a series of arguments about regionality, identity and corporeality. The performance set-up was made by artist Adrian Ganea, who build for this occasion a podium made up of recycled materials (leftovers and other fragments or unused elements) which resulted from the production of exhibitions organised in the context of Timișoara Capital of Culture 2023.