extramuros program
Semantics of the Shell
SEP.09. – OCT.14.2023
WITH WORKS BY Andrei Mateescu, Ioana Marinescu and Mihai Șovăială
CURATED BY Laura Bivolaru in conversation with The Balcony
OPENING
Sat.09.09.23 - 19:00-23:00
Semantics of the Shell brings together three Romanian artists – Andrei Mateescu, Ioana Marinescu, and Mihai Șovăială, whose practices tackle different aspects of space, construction, and boundaries. The common thread running through the works is the envelopment of the inside – both of our built spaces, with a focus on homes, and of our bodies.
We never get to see the inside; the artists only hint at it. Firstly, in Mateescu’s photographs, the apartments stacked in blocks of flats are warmly lit, implying the human presence and its night-time rituals. Secondly, Marinescu’s more or less ambiguous casts of various parts of the body draw from the medical practice of covering a broken member with plaster and bandage to encourage its healing. And thirdly, Șovăială brings fragments of construction debris inside the artist’s photographic studio; collected directly from construction sites, these are the very units which we use to separate inside and outside. Behind concrete, plaster, foam, there is life.
The exhibition is part of The Balcony’s extramuros program, in which collaborations take place across Europe’s vast network of artist-run & presentation spaces. Occurring each year in September to inaugurate the new cultural season under the sign of collaboration and exchange, The Balcony has this year teamed up with a group of artists and curators originally from Bucharest, and Centrul Artelor Vizuale Multimedia (CAV).
In 2021 and 2022 the extramuros program included “Portals” in collaboration with Copenhagen-based collective Salon75, and SEA Foundation in Tilburg.
The exhibition is curated by Laura Bivolaru and supported by The Balcony.
The Balcony
Nieuwe Molstraat 14-A2
The Hague, NL
Centrul Artelor Vizuale Multimedi (CAV)
Strada Biserica Enei nr. 16
Bucharest, Roumania