Participants: Alexandra Croitoru, Magda Radu, Ștefan Sava (Salonul de proiecte), Adriana Dumitran (historian of photography), Alina Popescu (art historian, The Prints Cabinet of the Romanian Academy Library)
Monday, November 11, 2024, 18.00
Roundtable within the event Audiovisual Archives: Common Interrogations
UNATC, Sala Albastră, 3rd floor
Str. Matei Voievod 77, Bucharest
The project “Rural/urban: the photographic image and the contradictions of modernization in Romania” continues the conceptualization and digitization process of the Mihai Oroveanu Image Collection, as well as its placement in a public circuit aimed at enhancing its patrimonial value. The effort to valorize this impressive collection, comprising tens of thousands of photographs, was started in 2018 by the team of Salonul de proiecte, with the support of Prof. Anca Oroveanu. The Oroveanu collection covers a historical span of almost 150 years, providing an incredible study base for a vast range of socio-political and cultural phenomena that can be analyzed from various angles. Through its power of representation, photography is a witness to social transformations and an invaluable tool for anthropological analysis. Access to various types of funding has so far led to the cataloging of approximately 7400 images, which are available online, accompanied by a series of essential information (date, location, subject and technique), indispensable for the browsing of the archive by the general public and specialists alike.
In the opening presentation about the Mihai Oroveanu Image Collection, Alexandra Croitoru, Magda Radu and Ștefan Sava will talk about the methodology used for the study and valorization of this collection, a type of approach modeled by the manner in which Salonul de proiecte operates, as an entity that situates itself within the contemporary art sphere, focusing on multidisciplinarity, education and research. The current project continues the work of indexing and cataloging the Oroveanu Collection, benefiting from the involvement of Adriana Dumitran, a renowned specialist in the history of photography, who knows its content very well. In this context, she will talk about how the subject of modernization can be traced in a series of images relevant to this theme, which highlight some of the most representative categories in the Oroveanu Collection: rural life, urbanization, industrialization, documentation of the labor process.
Bringing these categories together sheds light on the contradictions of modernization, both in the urban and rural environment, as well as on the role of photography in shaping a nuanced perspective on the social disparities and multiple temporalities that have left their mark on the evolution of society to this day. From the perspective of the public institution, Alina Popescu (The Romanian Academy Library) will highlight a corpus of photographs from the Prints Cabinet collection, containing some of the most iconic images of the 1920-40s in Romania, emblematic both for their potential to generate countless narratives and critical commentaries on modernization and for the evolution of the photographic medium itself.
This event is organised by the Salonul de proiecte Association as a part of the project Rural/urban: the photographic image and the contradictions of modernization in Romania.
Cultural project co-funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund
The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. The AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or the manner in which the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding recipient.
Partners: Romanian Academy Library, Photo-Video Department / UNArte Bucharest, Ion Dumitriu Foundation, Master of Audiovisual Archives / UNATC Bucharest