Short abstract:

What is considered a ‘trace’ of the communist past is a domain of negotiation. In this desire to identify what was left from communism, there is a blurred boundary between things, people, rhythms of work and values attached to labour, as well as practices.  In this presentation, based on one of the chapters of the recently published book, The Porous Museum: The Politics of Art, Rupture and Recycling in Modern Romania, I talk about 1. political contestation manifested towards communism as a whole; 2. care, or standardised organization and 3. playfulness and creativity. These three perspectives un-package communism as singularity and show the use of heritage as political participation. The museum can be seen as a representative post-socialist institution, a microcosm of the wider nation state and the ways in which the past is remembered, partially integrated, staged or rejected has to do with the interdependency of politics, ethics and aesthetics that I call ‘porosity.’ The Porous Museum considers questions of recycling and rupture, with some exhibits and practices carried over from one regime to another, whilst others have been discarded in favour of the completely new.

Short bio:

Gabriela Nicolescu is a visual anthropologist, curator and writer with research interests in ageing and care, migration, museum anthropology and exhibition making. Gabriela gained her PhD in Visual Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and then worked on several projects as a curator and postdoctoral researcher at Goldsmiths, University College Cork (Ireland) and University of Oxford. She curated exhibitions in Austria, Hong Kong, Hungary, Republic of Moldova, Romania, United Kingdom and the Philippines and published in several journals, including Critique of Anthropology, the Journal of Design History, Journal of Material Culture, World Art and Anthropology and Aging. Currently Gabriela works for the National Library of Romania.

For links to pre-peer reviewed versions of articles, podcasts, selected exhibitions and research visit gabrielanicolescu.com/ and www.disobedientbuildings.com or write to gabriela.nicolescu@bibnat.ro

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This event is organized within The Group for Anthropological Research and Debates (GARD) hosted by New Europe College.