Immersive exhibition 18.10-15.11.2024 @RAM bd. Elisabeta 37 Bucharest
Opening: Friday 18.10.2024, 18:30-23:00 / Finish: Friday 15.11.2024, 18:30-23:00
“People saw her, heard her, many followed her evil trail and wandered for a whole night through ravines, through thorns, coming to their senses only at dawn more dead than alive. some ia pocit (silenced), some ia oglit, with others she had love affairs. To many she appears as a charming woman, with long hair down to the ground and as tall as three fences, sometimes with horse hooves instead of legs and sometimes appears as a white mare. Of course, she can metamorphose at will, turning into a blue flame that covers the whole field or taking the form of the beauties she wants in bed. And the Forest Girl has a garden with all the plants in the world, medicinal plants with magical powers, planted as they fall, in layers, and the whole of Maramureş knows very well where her little garden is, because it has a hidden place at the base of every lower rock (mountain). “
These are living legends, told by people who have heard them in turn, but they are also true stories, testified by others who have experienced them. It seems like a parallel plane of reality influenced by the power of suggestion of collective beliefs and yet the interferences exist, the Forest Girl is a physical presence and the intersection with her leaves traces, visible.
We invite you to an artistic installation that recreates the atmosphere and the perceptual dimension of reality in which the Forest Girl is a living being, immersing you in that state of consciousness characterized by the belief that everything is animated.
Artists:
Ioana Cîrlig – photography
Aural Eye – multimedia installation
Maria Balabaș and Mihai Balabaș – sound installation
BIOMA – botanical illustrations
Tudor Chiliman – organic installation
Ioana Cotulbea and Sanda Veber – video documentary
THE FOREST GIRL. THE MAGIC DIMENSION. V1 is an archival and field research project in Maramureș, of this mythological character and the extended family of supernatural spirits who live between worlds, with one foot on earth and the other in fabulous realms. This is the first episode in a series of projects in which we will probe the magical dimension by documenting manifestations, legends, beliefs, superstitions, which reflect the mysterious component of life, the one we cannot contain in the 4 familiar dimensions.
The entire documentary will take place in the next period on ANTROPOFLORA channels – anthropoflora.com / FB / Instagram / YouTube – the monograph of the Forest Girl, the monographs of three types of ferns, part of the magical thinking research, articles, documentary films made in the field research in seven villages from Maramureș and interviews with ethnologists.
Research of books and archives: Ilinca Micu, Oana Cristina Verdier (Of Rites and Plants), Gina Săndulescu, Ioana Gabriela Cherciu.
Field research: Ioana Cotulbea – video documentation, Sanda Veber – editing
Project team: Ioana Cotulbea – coordinator/curator, Aural Eye – visual identity, Claudia Falutoiu – financial manager, Maria Mora – project manager, Cosmin Tănase – web developer, Mihai Barabancea – video art clip.
Poster Artwork Aural Eye / Photo Ioana Cîrlig / Model Georgiana Zamfir
THE FOREST GIRL. THE MAGIC DIMENSION. V1 is a cultural project co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund.
Partners: ASTRA Museum, National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, Romanian Art Movement, Popular Museum of Ethnography and Folk Art Maramureș, Moisei City Hall, Radio Romania Cultural, ISCOADA, Scena9, IQads, Balkan Art Scene, Macaia Association, Plastic Art Performance Collective, Association Developing Art, Urban Lab, FOC Association, Minimorum Association, Rites and Plants
Thanks: Pamfil Bilțiu, Elena Drăgan, Pepe Budai, Associația Montană Moisei, Cabana Țapului Groșii Țibleșului, Adrian Marandici, Romelia Călin, Vlad Mihăescu, Alexandru Sîrghi, Mirela Cotulbea, Gigi Cotulbea, Mercedesa, Păpușa, Denis Alain Zaharia.
The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.
Project developed by ANTHROPOFLORA – platform for research and documentation of the human-nature relationship from an anthropological perspective, addressing its cultural manifestation through legends, myths, rituals, customs.
Source: www.iqads.ro
