Hello, modernism!
I am beyond excited to share the dream project we are embarking on this year! I’ve hinted about it before, but it is finally official!
The Resilience of the Forgotten Fairy Tale: A Journey into Modernism Through Play
George’s film photograph of our character at Maison La Roche, Paris
Last year, in September and October, we embarked on a self-funded pilot journey through France. Our goal was to understand brutalism and modernism at the scale of our characters. We wandered, we observed, and we played. That seed of an idea has now grown into something much bigger: our new project, "Reziliența Basmului Uitat: Modernismul” (The Resilience of the Forgotten Fairy Tale: Modernismul): 15 characters, maaany photographs, an album with photographs and artist games, an exhibition and a workshop!
How do we understand modernism today?
What do simple lines, the discovery of the basis of visual language, or social utopias mean today? And how can we explore them through play?
Last September at Le Corbusier’s Firminy-Vert ansamble
We create mediator characters so that we can take a critical look at the modernist heritage of Romania and France. Through play, we aim to engage young (and young at heart!) audiences in a critical and poetic understanding of the space around us.
For this journey, organized by the Laborator Artistic Association, we are creating 15 mediator characters. We will base them on research into figures who played a role in modernist architecture in Romania and France. They are playful objects meant for a poetical exploration of the built environment, space, and scale. We want these characters help us take a critical look at the modernist heritage of Romania and France.
Photo on the halls at Unité d'Habitation Marseille
We couldn't do this alone, and we are thrilled to have incredible partners helping us bridge these connections. Institutul Francez (The French Institute of Romania) is supporting our mission to foster a deep cultural dialogue between Romania and France, helping us explore and highlight our shared modernist heritage across borders. Furthermore, because we believe in passing this knowledge to younger generations, we are partnering with the De-a Arhitectura Association. Together, we will host a dedicated workshop for teenagers, using our final project album as a playful and educational tool to help them understand architecture, space, and scale.
George uses analog photography to document this exploration. Together, we will travel to 10 cities in Romania and France, capturing moments on film where the dolls blend or clash into/with their architectural surroundings, allowing us to poetically reinterpret the spaces we find. This journey will eventually lead to an album and a participatory exhibition where the characters, alongside the photographs, will be on display at the MNAC - National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest.
These past months we already started research. Here’s an image in front of Ion Miclescu Villa in Bucharest.
It Takes a Village
Exploring such a theme requires a multidisciplinary approach. I love to work alongside a phenomenal team to bring this vision to life:
Maria Mandea (me!) as the Play Designer, crafting characters and games.
George Marian Preduț, our Photographer, using patient, analog photography to capture the soul of our surroundings and the characters.
Dana Pârvulescu, our Manager, who gracefully keeps our artistic chaos organized and moving forward.
Alexandra Moț, our Curator, who will shape how this story is eventually experienced by the public.
Ruxandra Antal, our Architect, grounding our playful explorations in profound spatial and architectural reality.
I invite you to follow our creative process right here on the blog, and as always, you can explore our universe at www.miculhaos.com to bring a piece of our world into yours. Let’s reconnect with the spaces we inhabit and, most importantly, with each other.
The cultural project "The Resilience of the Forgotten Fairy Tale: Modernism" is co-funded by the National Cultural Fund Administration.
The project does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Cultural Fund Administration. The National Cultural Fund Administration is not responsible for the content of the project or for how the project’s results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the grant recipient.
Rezumat în limba română:
Sunt extrem de entuziasmată să vă anunț cel mai nou proiect al nostru: „Reziliența basmului uitat: modernismul”, organizat de Asociația Laborator Artistic. Prin intermediul jocului, ne propunem să facem arhitectura mai accesibilă. Vom crea 15 păpuși-mediator pornind de la documentarea unor personalități din arhitectura modernistă din România şi Franţa, vom călători în 10 orașe din România și Frnța în căutarea patrimoniului modernist, vom realiza fotografii pe peliculă, un album, un workshop și o expoziție participativă. Această călătorie este posibilă datorită unei echipe multidisciplinare minunate: Maria Mandea (Designer), George Marian Preduț (Fotograf), Dana Pârvulescu (Manager), Alexandra Moț (Curatoare) și Ruxandra Antal (Arhitectă).
Ne bucurăm să avem alături de noi parteneri de încredere: Institutul Francez, care susține dialogul cultural româno-francez, asociația De-a Arhitectura, alături de care vom organiza un workshop pentru adolescenți și MNAC (Muzeul Național de Artă Contemporană), unde proiectul va putea fi experimentat printr-o expoziție participativă.
Proiectul cultural Reziliența Basmului Uitat: Modernismul este co-finanțat de Administrația Fondului Cultural Național.
Proiectul nu reprezintă în mod necesar poziţia Administrației Fondului Cultural Național. AFCN nu este responsabilă de conținutul proiectului sau de modul în care rezultatele proiectului pot fi folosite. Acestea sunt în întregime responsabilitatea beneficiarului finanțării.
Another detail of Miclescu Villa