During the autumn of 2006, my former World Literature teacher invited me to teach a class of creative writing at the George Cosbuc high school. At one point I tried to become a writer, but I was always stumbling because of my high expectations and because of my critical view of myself. After a few lines I would start to delete some of the words, the quality of my writing would become depressing and I would get to this dead end where I could no longer write anything.
I wanted to protect the high school students from this battle with their own expectations regarding the text they were going to write. Thus, I proposed that they would write the works of an imaginary author. I asked the three girls who participated in the class to write on a piece of paper the names of three Romanian writers they liked. We placed the pieces of paper in a hat and took out two of them. Nicolae Labis, a poet, and Mircea Eliade, or Cartarescu, came up. We cut off the family names and this is how Mircea Nicolae was born. After my class was over, I used the name of the imaginary author.
98. a fungus
Four years ago I got a skin disease from the girl I loved. After she left, out of negligence and nostalgia, I refused to go to the doctor to get rid of it. In time, the fungus grew. Last year some spots appeared on my chest.
Because it started to itch and also because I did not intend to let it cover my whole body, in December 2008 I went to the doctor for treatment. After three months of medication the fungus had completely disappeared from my skin.
97. street sign
I wrote 'De unul singur' (All by myself) in Romanian, on the empty space of a street sign between Fondamente dela Misericordia and Campo S. Marziale in the Cannaregio neighborhood from Venice, Italy, with the typeface that is commonly used for street names and bridges.
96. salt
Each day, from June to November 2009, I threw one teaspoon of salt in the canal seawater in front of the Romanian Cultural Institute, before opening the gallery on the ground floor.
95. young romanian art
For five months I presented the works of 33 young Romanian artists in the New Gallery of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Venice, Italy, during the Art Biennial 2009. A number of 14 exhibitions were organized, each of them lasting for one week. More here.
94. contemporary art class
Between December 4 / 2008 and March 16 / 2009 I taught a class of contemporary art at the George Cosbuc highshcool in Bucharest. During the meetings, besides presenting some important artists, I set out to build small models of famous pieces with the pupils. At the end of each of the lessons the models were arranged in a small scale exhibition space.
At the end of the course I exhibited the resulting objects in my home gallery, and offered all of them to the public through a raffle or tombola process. More here.
93. home gallery
I built a home gallery in the living room of the apartment where i live with my mother and my sister. It took a whole month to throw away the useless furniture, to install the light system and to shape three Styrofoam furniture tops for the three pieces of furniture, thus changing the look of the room.
At the end of each of the openings, all the exhibits were given to te public through a raffle or tombola procedure.
The gallery was open for a year, between August 9 / 2008 and June 12 / 2009. Ten exhibitions took place, presenting the work of eleven young Romanian artists. In total, the openings had a public of 200 people. The events were publicly advertised on incepem and on feeder.ro. Access was invitation based only, as the public received the exact address of the gallery via email. More here.
92. best artist - 2008
The Romanian Businessmen Club assigned me with the mission to award three medals to the representatives of the Brasov School, a group of four Romanian artists. The medals were intended to bear the 'Best artist - 2008' distinction, and to be handed over at the opening of the 'We have fed the bears' exhibition from the New Paradis Garaj. All the Photos from the event were taken by Tudor Borduz. More images here.
91. disco
Saint Mina Church on Coposu Boulevard and Saint Nicholas Church on Academiei Street, Gigi Becali's residence on Aviatorilor Boulevard in Bucharest, filmed at night, while the electric installations changed the colors of the lights projected on the facades and on the Christian symbols.
Filmed by Michele Bressan. Please click on HD for better viewing quality. More images and a statement here.
90. ego
Carried a placard on which I wrote 'ego' through a wild area of Pantelimon Park in Bucharest. At the end I placed the placard near a tree and left it there. I was filmed by Larisa Sitar. More here.
89. a gift
A girl stole a strawberry from a supermarket, put it in a zip lock bag and gave it to me as a present.
88. a word
Printed the word 'love' (written in Romanian, times new roman, size 12) on a piece of paper and then let it fall out of my hand somewhere inside Gara de Nord, the biggest train station in the city.
87. barbie
With the help of Republika Banana I succeeded in completing some unfinished work. This way, number 57/2 became number 87.
86 / 1 - optical cable
Hid 40 meters of internet cable in the bushes within the wildest area of Pantelimon Park, by covering it with dry leaves. At first, the cable was hanging from a lamp post at the crossroads of Vergului and Bodesti streets. I went there with a pair of pliers and cut it off. More here.
85. parking lot
A fictional registration number and a fictional authorization number - B 03 MNE / aut. 2440 - white paint on asphalt, a white line that marks the parking space for one car. My neighbors started to claim the parking spaces for themselves two weeks ago, by painting the numbers of their cars on the spaces they chose.
Thus, using primitive means - some paint and a brush - they gained possession of those spaces. I decided to do the same, reserving a free place for my imaginary car. For four days the other car owners respected my rights of property. Then they started to park on the space I had chosen for myself. More images here.
84 / 1 - calan
The model of a factory built out of the bricks of a foundry amongst the ruins of the Victoria Calan Siderurgical Plant, County of Hunedoara. More here.
83. laser
A hundred meters of red laser beam turned on for half an hour during the night, between a light post and a house on the main road in Dealu Frumos, Sibiu county, Romania. The laser was then taken away and turned off by one of the passers-by. More here.
82 / 1 - possible interventions - broken tail lamp
I could have arranged the broken pieces of the tail lamp from a Dacia car in two concentric circles, of different colors - a red one and a orange one. Found near the police office for accident registration in the city of Pitesti, Romania.
81 / 1 collaborations - flower bridge
The flag of the European Union, the flag of the Republic of Moldova, two wooden poles 3,20 m x 8 cm, set up and abandoned on the banks of the small river that flows through the middle of the dry lake from the Valea Morilor Park, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. The lake was emptied of water approximately two years ago, and it is said that it will be the place where a future residential complex will be built.
The members of the local Comsomol (the youth organization of the Communist Party from the Soviet Union) built this lake at the request of Leonid Brezhnev. Nowadays the lake is a wasteland, full of bushes and small trees, a landscape out of use and in a way, out of history. Authors: Nicoleta Esinencu, Vlad Nanca, Mircea Nicolae. Within Interventii3, a project for art in public space, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. More here.