This project is part of a broader research focused on sculptures and monuments in public space and on the shifting roles they assume within society. It observes situations in which monuments and artworks become, often unintentionally, sites of dialogue through critique, poetic gestures, collective appropriation, or acts of shared reflection. From this perspective rather than being approached as stable objects, monuments are understood as processes whose meanings are continuously reshaped by political change, public intervention, and everyday use. During the residency period, a new chapter of this ongoing research will be developed. Through observation, archival and contextual research, and encounters with people and sites across the city, the project will explore how public sculptures and monuments in Bucharest relate to its contemporary urban life.

Giorgia Piffaretti is a multimedia artist based in Mendrisio and Amsterdam. Through video, installation, and lecture performance, her research-based practice explores how systemic oppression surfaces in everyday images, gestures, and public spaces. Drawing on queer-feminist methodologies of listening, slowness, and trust-based encounters, she weaves observations, conversations, and anecdotes into playful, speculative docu-fictions that question dominant narratives and open up space for collective discussion.

Her work has been presented internationally across the fields of visual art and film, including at Fondazione Bally (CH), Kunsthaus Biel/Bienne (CH), and the Cultural Centre of Belgrade (RS), as well as at festivals such as Ecrã Festival de Experiências Audiovisuais (BR) and Dokumenter Film Festival (ID). She has also participated in several international artist residencies, including Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris and Atelje Beograd in Belgrade.

Portrait photo by Nicolle Bussien