Organizers got the idea from a
\nsummer camp in one of Bucharest’s disadvantaged districts where children
\nplayed, discovered museums and got a glimpse of art and artists in a bid to
\ncreate what they believed to be ‘the perfect world’. Their ideas and creations
\nserved as guidelines for an interactive exhibition. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The UTOPICA#prinarta (UTOPICA
\nthrough Art) a production of the Da’DeCe Association, co-funded by the National
\nAdministration of the Cultural Fund kicked off through a city camp between 8th
\nand 12th July 2019 at the Golescu Grant Mansion, and it was attended
\nby 15 children as part of the Integrated Programme for Education for Diversity.
\nIulia Iordan museum educator with the Da’DeCe Association told us how the
\nartifacts created by these little artists inspired the UTOPICA exhibition. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
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<\/p>\n
Iulia Iordan: Our project is
\ncalled Utopica Through Art and is designed to be the first out of a bigger
\nseries of experimental projects aimed at testing the children’s interest in
\nchanging the society they live in. Our association is specialized in staging
\ncultural projects for children in various museums. This project is a first
\nthough. Last summer we staged an urban camp for children on the premises of
\nGolescu-Grant mansion attended by economically-disadvantaged children from the
\nGiulesti-Sarbi district. We worked together with them and with artists in a bid
\nto probe their interest in culture, in art and an ideal world. The outcome was
\ntransformed into inter-active devices around this exhibition. So you are not
\ngoing to find here exhibits on display like in any exhibition. Visitors are
\ninvited to follow a certain route along the exhibition and are allowed inside
\nafter submitting an application. This is supposed to be an inter-active
\nexhibition and every visitor is invited to reflect on the world we live in, on
\nits problems and try to find solutions to these problems by means of art in the
\nspace we have created here.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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\n
<\/p>\n
Iulia Iordan has further referred
\nto the complaints these children filed during the exhibition.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Iulia Iordan: Children are
\nmainly complaining about school but a great deal of them is referring to
\npollution and waste dumping as well. They are very aware and focused, more than
\nwe expect them to be, when it comes to observing the world we live in. The
\nsolutions they offer are also very interesting as they are very realistic, very
\ndown-to-earth. They also complain about the relationships between people. There
\nwere complaints about lying, the lack of affection and trust. These complaints
\nare varied and what seems to be very important is that this exhibition is no
\nlonger destined for children but also for adults. And I can say that these
\nchildren are very mature and concerned about the big issues just like the
\ngrown-ups.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
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\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Iulia Iordan has also referred to
\nthe differences between disadvantaged children and those from the middle class.
\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Iulia Iordan: There are
\ndifferences, first it’s their life experience. They are less interested in
\nculture being more outdoor with a keen interest in sporting activities. But
\nkids are kids and irrespective of their background our role as educators is to
\nwhet their appetite for these things through the methods that we have. There
\nare some of these children who had never been in an artist’s workshop so the
\nvisit they paid to painter Stefan Caltia’s workshop proved to be a great
\nexperience and a revelation to many of them. They were very open, asked a lot
\nof questions and it eventually was a delight also for us.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In order to maximize the impact of
\nthe aforementioned exhibition, the organizers want to take it to other places
\naround the country. Here is Iulia Iordan at the microphone again. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Iulia Iordan: This is a
\nsmall-size exhibition and we designed it like that on purpose because we want
\nto bring it to schools, which may not have enough room for bigger events of
\nthis kind. We hope to bring it to as many places as possible and make it the
\nobject of further research based on observations we have gleaned from our
\nvisitors. There is a place inside this exhibition where we speak about the
\nperfect house and there are lots of artifacts created by these little artists
\non view but we also have a place where visitors can bring their contributions.
\nThere is also an interactive spot, which we dubbed ‘the School’ and has two
\ncharacters known as ‘Utopian’ and ‘Boredom’, who are tackling school history
\nand the issues school is currently facing nowadays. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The UTOPICA exhibition is
\naddressing children above 7 years who want to make the difference and change
\nthings in our present-day world. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An exhibition to change the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":135964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42520],"tags":[33514,43237,43236],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-135963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inside-romania","tag-art","tag-dadece","tag-utopica"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n