Colivia 75

ARTIVISM #1: Haz de necaz

Participants:  Almanahe.mic, Dume de Mestecat, Wanda Hutira, Andreea Mihaiu, Vlad Petri, Potop, Paula Rusu, Ramon Sadic, Rezistența Urbană + many more

You can see the Romanian creating art as casually as he breathes out air while walking down the street. The Romanian shot his dictator on Christmas Day, who would have thought such a thing would happen? You have plenty of subjects to discuss with the Romanian, so it's a lucky thing that he feels that his stories are unspoken. Actually, the very existance of the romanian is an artistic statement in itself. The Romanian is the one who raised hustling (as a life strategy) to the ranks of an art form, as you will often hear in phrases such as: „merge și-așa” (let it be, whatever) and „asta e” (c'est la vie!). The Romanian was a stand-up comedian way before stand-up comedy even existed, laughing his way out of his daily troubles with grace (schadenfreude), on the spot. Improvisation requires imagination, and, truth be told, the Romanian has enough muses in this crazy country where crazyness equals creative force. But for how long is it acceptable to grin and bear it instead of trying to solve the issues? The hardest part is starting, so just change that damned switch and let thy troubles flow on a different road, send them to your neighbours (like the Romanian saying „capra vecinului” - minding your neighbour's business more than your own). Save the funny side but discard the troubles, or at least start trimming it down because it's becoming a considerable burden and it ceased being a funny ha-ha long time ago :) Just like the joke with the balls - "one stopped working and I've lost the other one", the Romanian will surprise you, given the right amount of time. In the end, who the heck is this Romanian anyway and especially why? What does he aim for, in life?

Funky Citizens are a bunch of people fed up with the Romanian status quo. Funky will represent your interests in the game against the authorities, fighting against corruption and campaigning for smart laws and budgets, created for the citizens' benefit, not the politicians'. This is the way we chose to live our lives, and we like it here; it is here that we have development opportunities which we can't find in the West anymore. We chose to stay in Romania and grow the quality of life, of the act of governance, alas, we're trying to push things forward, towards the long awaited progress. We will achieve this without being nationalists, we'll just love the Romanian spirit in all its glory. Sometimes we're trapped inside our own democracy like a canary inside its cage. An open house suitable for cosy events, Coliva (literally, "the cage") is a sample of our soul. This living space is challenging the norms of social cohabitation in a way so natural that your innate curiosity will draw towards Colivia again and again. It is experimental, as is our playful personality. The sitting room regularly hosts acoustic concerts, theatre plays and anything culturally that fits. We believe in the „mi casa es su casa” saying, so we want to take advantage of the Galleries' Night to invite you over to our place so you can tell what ideas you might have for this place: we want to turn this underground house a cultural hub, a center for the community of people who are interested in everything beautiful and fair (especially a well governed country).

ARTIVISM #1 is about the perspective in which the pettifogging and forever dissatisfied Romanian gets to work. It's about the purpose of our life, as Funky citizens, in Romania. The junction of arts with civic activism is not that crowded, yet. We want to see more street art, activist art, art for good causes, not just for the sake of art. Scream when you can't take it anymore, but let that scream be stylish, soprano-like, i.e. of an undeniable artistic value. Funky connects the citizen with the authorities in a similar way in which art is an interface, a message carrier spreading the need for change near&far, translating our concepts so that everyone can understand them. Long live the artistic spirit! Come join us so we can grow together organically, grassroots. Come and learn how to stay civically fit in order to revive your senses and find your meaning! Come because spring is in the air and the streets you will roam on to reach us are so bohemian. Come offline to sync your frequencies with those of people as funky as yourself. 

Schedule

19:00 - activist stencil exhibit + live painting on the outer wall

20:00 - screening of the „București, unde ești?” documentary (r. Vlad Petri, 80’)

21:30 - freestyle drawing with five illustrators on the subject of „corruption”

21:30 - 04:00 - chilling with our summer wine and turntable music (bring your own disc to be played)

19:00-04:00 - exhibit:

Clicktivism & Campaigns session

Lansare www.maricorupți.ro - Dan Achim, Alina Calistru, Cosmin Pojoranu

Almanahe.mic cu selecția de lucrări civico-politice

verbal remixes via Dume de Mestecat 

Uniți Salvăm, the goold old days - grassroots works

advertising posters for causes via Headvertising

„Mazăre Fashion Show” by Rezistența Urbană

Paula Rusu, and her illustrations for Monica Macovei presidential bid (2014)

Potop

Reality bites section

„Aprinde Imaginația” - visual identitties for the Romanian civic activism 

„Constituția Revizuită Grafic” by Andreea Mihaiu - on sale and on exhibit

Big corrupt politicians illustrated by Wanda Hutira - collectible prototypes

Ramon Sadic