2013, A CARDINAL YEAR

2013 was both a retrospective year, a year of artistic acknowledgements, as well as a year of constants or even spectacular leaps in the careers of artist and curators, but not one of new beginnings or great discoveries, as 2010, 2011 or 2012 were; at least locally speaking.

Internationally, 2013 was the year in which Victor Man was designated “The Artist of The Year 2014” by Deutsche Bank, and the Romanian Pavilion had an unprecedented success at the Venice Biennale. In Paris, Scènes Roumaines were displayed at the Louis Vuitton Foundation, a Romanian exhibition/selection, which presents itself as relevant but also exclusive given the current situation of contemporary art in Romania.

Geta Brătescu, Ștefan Bertalan and Andra Ursuța were selected for the thematic exhibition of the Venice Biennial, “Il Palazzo Encicopledico” curated by Massimiliano Gioni. Adrian Ghenie set a personal record sales at the Sotheby’s auction from February 12th, 2013 with the piece “Dr. Mengele 2”, while, the Romanian artists Diet Sayler and Romul Nuțiu got impressive results at Christie’s London, in the auction from the 24th of September 2013.

Socially speaking, the second half of the year was dominated by the protests of the civil society against the Roșia Montană Gold Corporation and the exploitation of schist gases at Pungești, Vaslui, by Chevron. The socially engaged artists or those concerned with ecology were among the protesters devoted body and soul to these causes, both through physical presence as well as through powerful messages on social networks. Dan Perjovschi was again the most fervent supporter of these voices and performed a memorable visual demonstration, through his drawings full of significance and bitter irony, which were circulated on the social media channels of all the supporters of a clean environment and transparent and democratic policies.

Read more in The Art od Living printed edition