\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Disco
\nBTT – Discos of Communist Romania is an exhibition that was staged for the
\nfirst time a year ago in Bucharest with support from the Cultural-National Fund
\nAdministration (AFCN). The exhibition proved to be a great success with 5,000
\nvisitors on the premises of the Stirbei Palace, which was housing the event
\nlast autumn. The event got the AFCN award for good results in its attempt to
\npreserve the immaterial cultural patrimony. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The concept of the DISCO BTT exhibition belongs to
\nfilm director Iulia Rugina, known for her productions, Breaking News, Love Building
\nand Stuck on Christmas. Here she is
\nat the microphone with more on this idea. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I got the idea a couple
\nof years ago while I was doing research for a fiction film. I am a film
\ndirector and the film I was working on was about a guy who used to be a DJ back
\nin the 80s. While doing my research I met Sorin Lupascu who was a DJ in
\ncommunist Romania and I got really captivated by this idea of introducing
\npeople to a period that was quite unknown to many as palpable evidence is still
\nscarce. Of course there were stories from this period but no one was able to
\nput these stories together. So we thought we should be trying to take steps in
\nthis direction. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
DISCO
\nBTT is an original artistic creation inspired from that period, which is taking
\nthe visitor through various unconventional spaces mounted in six rooms. No
\ngroups are formed and that enables visitors to stay and admire the exhibits as
\nlong as they want. Here is Iulia Rugina with details.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We started the project
\nas an original artistic creation. The exhibition is displayed in several rooms,
\neach room presenting an aspect of that time. Visitors are thus introduced to
\nthe places where music was being played at a time when communist censorship was
\nat its highest. People got access to music only by means of these DJ or music
\npresenters as they were called back in the day. I am convinced those places
\nwere quite known to the older generations. I talked to a lot of people who saw
\nthose places first hand and gleaned stories about them. I also got posters,
\ndevices and even music from that time on tapes, records and cassette tapes. All
\nthese are on view in the exhibition, which makes for a rather sensorial
\nexperience.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nsuccess of the aforementioned project happened to exceed the organizers’
\nexpectations. Here is Iulia Rugina back at the microphone.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I personally didn’t
\nexpect the exhibition to enjoy such a tremendous success in Bucharest last year
\nbut it did. The explanation was that we had been visited by a varied public
\nconsisting of those who were young at that time and saw these things first
\nhand. They later brought their children or grandchildren along. We also had a
\ngood number of young visitors, mainly people interested in this cultural area
\nwho later introduced the exhibition to their older relatives. This exhibition
\nis a very warm place, which brings a lot of emotion into visitors’ hearts,
\nwhether they lived through those times or not. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Visiting
\nhours are more or less as opening hours used to be for discotheques in the
\ncommunist times. There are also many surprise elements, which visitors are
\ninvited to discover while taking a tour of the exhibition. Entrance is free of
\ncharge. Iulia Rugina told us what visitors are to discover this time:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The exhibition almost fully recreates
\nthat atmosphere back then in Bucharest. The changes it suffered were due to the
\nspace, which is slightly different. But it is divided into six rooms, and each
\nroom is dedicated to one element from that period, with lots of music, photos,
\narchive materials. What is very nice, and was quite spectacular about the first
\nedition, is that it’s an exhibition that takes you in, because in one of the
\nrooms people start dancing: they come as visitors and they end up as
\nparticipants, exhibits even, because they get to dance in the last room of the
\nexhibition, which is in fact a 1980s discotheque, recreated as they used to be
\nback then. The opening will be accompanied by lots of music, we have as guests
\nthe disco team and Florin Lupascu, who is the one who also provided the
\nconsulting part for the exhibition. What I think is interesting about this
\nproject is the fact that it takes you back in time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The one who provided specialist advice for the
\nexhibition was Sorin Lupascu, who used to be one of the best DJs back then. The
\nstage design was signed by Andreea Popa, whose record includes some 20 feature
\nfilms and collaborations with directors such as Claude Lelouche, Joel
\nSchumacher, Cristi Puiu, Cristian Nemescu or Nae Caranfil. The light design
\nconcept is signed by Alin Popa. And, another piece of good news: the organizers
\nwant to bring the exhibition to as many cities across Romania as possible. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The story of an exhibition that will take you back in time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":135415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42520],"tags":[42541,42535,43137,43138,29213],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-135414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inside-romania","tag-censorship","tag-communist-romania","tag-discot-btt","tag-iulia-rugina","tag-music"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n