Tell me 3 characteristics that belong only to photography.

The spontaneity of photography – the possibility to obtain a complete work of art in a split second. It is due to this fact that photography has gained its place among the new artistic trends. Photography clearly has a documentary value which is far more superior to painting. Photography can render an image from reality and this can turn into evidence in a trial for instance, whereas the realism in painting cannot render it with such precision. Photography has become extremely accessible and easily obtained because of the development of the digital technology, but this also makes it more commonplace.

Lucian Muntean

Black and white or colour?

I started with black and white but I have also worked in almost all my themes and projects in black and white and in colour (even if I didn’t exhibit the black and white ones so often because of technical reasons; lately, all agencies, newspapers and magazines publish their photographies almost exclusively in colour).

I always take with me a digital camera and also a film, black and white one. I decide which to use depending on the circumstances, some things I observe can be shown better in black and white or have a special graphical aspect, better for the monochromatic approach. Also, the atmosphere of a certain place can sometimes be rendered better in black an white. I “see” some shots directly in black and white, I know for certain that it is the best choice. One can draw the attention on the subject or on some symbolic elements by eliminating a messy chromatic aspect in favour of valuable grayish shades.

Fotografie de Lucian Muntean

However, other times you may come across a rich chromatic atmosphere, brought out by a very good light, which almost “forces” you to use colour. This may also save you when you don’t have an obvious subject. One can appreciate a photography on a chromatic-base only.

You worked on numerous photo-reportages and projects, some of them about real circumstances (traditions such as the pig, the lamb, palinca, etc) cities, but others propose a distance from the real world (the dream, winter, window). Which is harder to render?

I have been working as a photo-reporter since 1997, so I have specialized in documentary photography and I have done many photo-reportages. I have learned that everyone has a story to tell. The challenge is to discover it, to know how to listen and how to render it. I initially  do some documentation work on the theme in question and I try to make some contacts. When I get on the field, the first and most important thing is to mingle with the people there. The secret I guess is to behave naturally. It is of utmost importance to win the trust of the one you have to work with.  It depends only on you whether the man will invite you inside his home or turn his back on you.

When it comes to personal projects I organize myself in such a way so that I have enough time. It is important not to hurry.  As soon as the interlocutor has accepted you , you can work freely and the “subject” can go on with his activity naturally.

I prefer to remain as discreet as possible and I also include in this the cameras I use. It is more comfortable for me to use a small camera that doesn’t arise curiosity.  You shouldn’t get in situations where the photographer is in the centre of the attention.

Fotografie de Lucian Muntean

To digitally manipulate, retouch or not?

As I said, the photo reportage has a documentary characteristic, its job is to tell about what happened in that place. You shouldn’t intervene and manipulate things. Anyway, in a subjective way your own perception also gets transmitted. This is a basic principle for me. This is why I don’t retouch my photographies, I don’t crop them, replace them, I don’t change the light or the colours so that they should render as good as possible the atmosphere of the event.

When I work, I pay attention to the details, the composition, the chromatic aspect, the gestures of the characters. One is forced to pay attention to all these in a very short period of time, then you click, and that is it, anything else is painting. Of course, I also assume the inevitable mistakes.

You work covers many elements in the life of the village. What is it about these photo reportages that you find so appealing?

I prefer the social photo reportage, it is the one I feel most comfortable with. I have been working one  project called “Traditions during Transition” since 2000. Practically, I took the task of documenting the everyday life in a secluded mountain village in Apuseni, on the verge of the Romanian integration in the UE. I made frequent trips to Rogojel , where I made several series of photo reportages about the work in the fields, the distillation of the palinca,  the sacrifice of the Easter lamb or the Christmas pig.

I was interesting to see that in that village, that hadn’t experienced collectivization, they managed to keep unaltered the rhythm of life. But what couldn’t be changed by the war or by the communism is changing due to nowadays globalization. Since  2003 I have worked in team with 2 Frenchmen. Then, in 2007 we  presented the exhibition “Le Mond selon Rogojel” at the Multimedia Festival of Est-Ouest, France. In March 2008 – the exhibition “Traditions during transition at Rogojel” at the Matei Corvin House, Cluj, and  in may -  November 2008 at the Museum of Compared Art of Sangeorz Bai, Bistrita Nasaud.

The theme about the Christmas pig later evolved in a new project, “Long Live the Pig”, on which I worked together with the artists Maxim Dumitras and Cosmin Nasui. This project was exhibited in december 2008 at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest, and we were invited by  ICR Venice to exhibit it during the Vencie Bienale, in nov. 2009.

After the first month of your project “12 o’clock”, what did you feel when you saw all the photographies together, a small calendar of your own life?

I realized it was only the beginning… since I’ve decided to shoot one photo at the same time, daily, during a year. I think it is also an exercise of perseverance. It is right, I did have the real feeling of a personal calendar. I remembered many details, apart from that specific image of the day. It is interesting that I could be always in a different place, meeting different people.

Do you like other art forms besides photography? Digital art?

I am a conservative fellow. During 1994-1995 I worked as a ceramist painter at the Porcelain fabric of Sighisoara. During that time I also had a painting studio and I have always been attracted by drawing and painting. But once I started my studies at the University of Cluj-.Napoca, I started with photography. After more than 10 years I began to paint again. I find inspiration in Chinese Calligraphy and in Japanese painting. The simplicity and spontaneity of these techniques resemble photography and somehow, the circle is closed.

You haven’t approach eroticism in your work. Do you think it is all said about it in photography?

Yes, you are right, I haven´t touched this theme. We all know eroticism catches the eye, draws attention, but there is also the risk that the viewer may admire exclusively the subject and completely  forget about the photography and the photographer. I guess I am selfish about this, but that’s what I think.

Lucian Muntean Website: http://www.lucianmuntean.ro/

Born on 1974, in Sighisoara, Romania, Lucian Muntean graduated the Faculty of Geology in 2001. Starting with 1997, he worked for local and national newspapers like Ziua, Ziarul de Cluj, Dilema Veche, Pro Sport, Gazeta Sporturilor and with press agencies Rompres, Mediafax, Hepta from Bucharest.

Since 2006, he has been working for ADEVARUL national newspaper from Bucharest.

His passion for photography expressed itself in many personal exhibitions, showing images from Romania and countries such as France, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Holland, Austria, Czech Republic, Spain, Greece, Tunisia and Zambia.

Interview published in the Cultural Magazine TIMPUL; Iasi, Nr 10 / 2009

You can read the entire magazine in PDF:  www.timpul.ro

I will be brief. Your noble son is mad.
Mad call I it, for, to define true madness,
What is’t but to be nothing else but mad?
But let that go.

(William Shakespeare: Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark; Act 2, Scene 2)

Interview with Martin Cid by Eva Defeses, photo. by Roxana Ghita, TIMPUL

 

Martín Cid -  portrait by Roxana Ghita

Interview with Martin Cid by Eva Defeses, TIMPUL

E.D. Sufăr şi eu de boala naţională  ale cărei simptome includ, pe lângă adorare, credinţa fermă că Eminescu nu poate fi înţeles pe deplin de către un cititor străin, oricât de fidelă ar fi traducerea, oricăt de profund şi intuitiv ar fi cititorul. Am început cu reticenţă lectura ultimului dvs. roman, „Eminescu şi cele 7 păcate capitale”, dar, la sfârşit, m-am întrebat despre adevărul acestei teorii. Dvs.  arătaţi nu doar o bună cunoaştere a operei  poetului dar şi a vieţii sale şi a multor altor realităţi româneşti, cititorul descoperind, cu mirare, în dvs., un spirit de intuiţie orientală. Cum a început călătoria Dvs. prin universul eminescian?

M.C. Mi-am luat profesia de scriitor în serios încă de la începuturi, nu am dorit niciodată să transform literatura într-un hobby sau în ceva asemănător. Astfel, în anii studenţiei, am citit clasicii într-un mod compulsiv, un autor mă trimitea către următorul, la fel de uşor ca schimbatul unui costum.  L-am cunoscut pe Eminescu prin referinţe, ştiam despre inclinaţia către Schopenhauer în poeziile mai târzii (cele denumite filosofice), despre influenţa romantismului. Simt o inclinaţie specială pentru Schopenhauer (şi, bineînţeles, pentru Eminescu); deşi este un filosof mai puţin cunoscut, a avut o mare influenţă în sistemele de gândire posterioare.

Acum un an, un prieten român mi-a oferit o carte despre Eminescu. L-am recitit, astfel, pe Eminescu şi am înţeles mai bine universalitatea cuvintelor sale şi profunzimea versurilor. Mi-am dat seama imediat că ar fi un excelent protagonist al unui roman (poeţii sunt, de obicei, mai buni protagonişti de romane decât romancierii) şi proiectul, încetul cu încetul, a luat formă. Eminescu, dincolo de a fi marele poet al sufletului românesc, este un poet universal al sufletului omenesc, de o mare profunzime şi cu un simţ poetic (ceea ce mulţi uită) ieşit din comun.

Apoi, avem şi tema biografică, la fel de atrăgătoare ca şi însăşi opera sa…mai este şi misterul morţii sale. Putem cere un subiect mai bun? Am rescris de mai multe ori cartea până la a alege forma definitivă, care sper că va plăcea publicului român.

E.D.  Dvs. sunteţi organizatorul mai multor evenimente culturale la Espacio Niram din Madrid, care şi-au propus să dezbată într-un mod original, în paralel, ca într-o oglindă, opera unor personalităţi româneşti şi străine, ca de exemplu: „Brancuşi versus Picasso”, „Grigorescu versus Renoir”, avangarda româneasca şi cea europeană, etc. Care ar fi poetul spaniol similar lui Eminescu, reflexia sa într-o oglindă spaniolă?

M.C. Este o întrebare dificilă, deoarece nu cred foarte mult în categoriile artistice. Spunem că Eminescu este un poet post-romantic, însă, totuşi, opera sa conţine elemente evidente din tendinţe posterioare. Aşa se întâmplă mereu şi este foarte greu să găsim un autor care să aparţină într-un mod pur unei mişcări (de multe ori, nici măcar proprii creatori nu o fac). Putem să găsim mai multe astfel de oglinzi pentru Eminescu în literatura spaniolă şi, totuşi, să nu existe nici una. În Spania (şi sper să nu mă spânzure nimeni pentru această afirmaţie), nu există un poet atât de  spaniol, sau care să reunească circumstanţele şi caracteristicile care fac din el poetul român prin excelenţă. Poate ca Lorca este poetul spaniol cel mai omagiat, Quevedo este  clasicul între poeţi. Dar dacă este vorba de o oglindă, atunci aş alege Larra, în ciuda diferenţelor evidente dintre cei doi poeţi. Sau poate Bécquer, cu care împarte accentele melancolice ale versurilor. Îmi vine foarte greu să găsesc o reflexie în oglindă pentru Eminescu, dar…oglinzile mele întotdeauna s-au spart.

(…)

Read more : Timpul

Roxana Ghita – Midnight Erotica, The Survival of the myths

The Survival of the Myths is a photography and digital art project by the photographer Roxana Ghita in collaboration with Sara Lavan.

Entitled The Survival of the Myths, the works are based on Romanian Erotic myths. Life and death, love, creation, religion and rebirth, the myth of the Vampire or of the phantoms are set in a surreal atmosphere of a cosmic new age.

Will eroticism with all its romantic imaginary and myths survive in the distant future, in the year 80.174, lets say? What will we, as humans, be able to still take with us in our voyage to cosmic infinity and, maybe, eternity? Will religion survive? Will love survive? Will sex survive? What will remain of our stories and books? How will man and woman behave towards each other once they have conquered space?

The Project Midnight Erotica was initialised by the photographer Bogdan Ater. It involves several artists, each from another country, portraying the same theme according to their own national identity.

Roxana Ghita is the first artist to have answered the call with the Romanian Mythology series. She found inspiration in the popular myths of Master Manole, of the Flyer and also in the literary erotic stories and poetry of Mihai Eminescu (Mortua Est, Strigoii, Calin File din Poveste, Luceafarul, Cezara), Mircea Eliade (Dra. Christina, Sarpele), and Lucian Blaga (Mesterul Manole).

The second series of the project is Jewish Midnight Erotica by the Israeli photographer Sara Lavan, portraying in a futuristic style the erotic stories of the Bible.

Greek mythology, Eros versus Thanatos, will be rendered by the photographer Bogdan Ater.

At the end of the whole project, there will be published an album with the best photographies and the critical texts they inspired.

All photographers will be able to exhibit their works at Espacio Niram, Madrid.

http://retratoliterario.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/“evadare-din-spatiul-virtual”-by-george-roca-niram-event/

It was a real pleasure for me to have had the opportunity to meet George Roca. We launched his book Evadare din spatiul virtual in Madrid (Spain) at Espacio Niram on Saturday, the 26th. The book is divided into seven parts and George Roca read his poems one by one during the event, while Fabianni Belemuski translated them directly to the Spanish audience. Indeed, the night before the event, Mr. Roca and I could exchange views, having a very pleasant talk about different things like the difficulty that exists to learn other languages in countries like Spain or the impossibility to translate poetic words when the author is the only person who knows the authentic meaning, the real feeling of the poem. Why did we talk about this? Because I knew then that today I would be writing about him and his poems and I would come across these two problems that I mentioned a couple of lines above. Anyway, the same night, we talked about poetry, too. Mihai Eminescu was an important point in our conversation, but at the same time the philosophy of Emil M. Cioran or Mircea Eliade and Brancusi’s works were an important part of our reflections. Why? Firstly, because George Roca was born in Romania and currently lives in Australia, but he carries in his heart the homeland in which he saw the daylight for the first time. Secondly, Eminescu is a very important poet in Romania and the three other personalities mentioned above have gained international relevance together with Eugene Ionesco or Tristan Tzara.

In fact, Eminescu and several other big names in sports, music, art, which Romania gave to the world, all have a dedicated poem in the fourth part of book entitled Amintiri. The poem is called Eminescu, and George Roca is singing to a new dawn of Romania in it. This new dawn is because of the fact that…:

Într-o dimineaţa
Dumnezeu
s-a sculat vesel şi binedispus!
A închis vântul în cămară,
a alungat norii
a scos din priză fulgerele,
a oprit cutremurele şi valurile
şi a stins focul su cazanele vulcanilor!.

(One morning,/God woke up happy and good-humoured/He locked the wind up in the storeroom,/chased away the clouds,/unplugged the lightnings,/put a stop to the earthquakes and the waves/And he put out the fire of the volcanic caldrons!)

G. Roca

Romania is present across all the pages and the verses from Evadare din spatiul virtual , but it has a reserved space in the second part of book called Antipoziwhose content has strong feelings of nostalgia.

George Roca considers himself a journalist rather than a poet. But on Saturday, we enjoyed his facet as a poet, a very chromatic and vital poet with a great sense of humour and great sensitivity. It’s possible to see this colourful vision in the third part of the book calledCromatică australiană and in poems like Galben, which was born as a result of Roca’s son challenging him to write about a yellow cat. Other verses are crossed by the green, red, but especially blue, colours. The blue colour is very significant: it refers, for example, to the depth of the oceans, to the sky above us, or to the special blue similar to Lapiz Lazuli which only exists in a Monastery of Moldavia. This colour connects us with an infinite thought. For this reason, it is not by accident that the stars and the universe appear in other lines, like an elevation path from the sky to the outer space. When can we see the stars? At night. When can we imagine the Universe? At night, too. The night and the sky become magical and special: the diurnal blue sky demonstrates to us that we are alive and we should be happy about it, as in Mă bucur, in the fourth part of book:

În fiecare dimineată
când mă trezesc, mă bucur
mă bucur că e soare
mă bucur că e înnorat
mă bucur că trăiesc

(Every morning/When I wake up, I’m happy!/I’m happy that it’s sunny,/I’m happy that it’s cloudy,/I’m happy that I’m alive!)

With the nocturnal black sky we understand that we are part of a larger whole, or that we can dream. But, where can we find the stars? Not in the sky, but in the grass, George Roca answers in one of my favourite poems called Micul Univers:

Seara
căutam prin iarbă
stele căzătoare!

(At night,/we searched the grass/for falling stars!)

The stars fall down from the Universe into our human world and into our quotidian lives. In Micul Univers we discover kids playing football with planets as a ball, or riding comets, because George Roca is inviting us to remember our childhood Universe using surrealistic elements.

The sense of humour appears in various poems –especially in the last part of book entitled Fabule şi parodii-, but I like one poem in particular, called Poemul. Poetry is defined as an unfaithful wife who comes to us when we are sleeping, or, if we are awake, when we don’t have pen and paper at her arrival. Poetry is viewed as a woman playing with us as if we were lovers. Thus, poetry is described in terms of an unexpected difficult love, which is not controlled by us because we are its tools.

The previous paragraph helps me point out that there is another important theme within the book: the theme of love, above all in one poem, Sărutul, in which I found a personal symbol which impressed me a lot. Please, read it:

Când am început să te sărut
gura ta avea gustul fructului pasiunii
Totul era atât de activ şi real
De parcă doi îngeri
făceau dragoste pe limba mea.

(When I began to kiss you/your mouth tastes like the fruits of passion./Everything was so lively, so real,/as if two angels/were making love on my tongue.)

After reading it, I would want to feel these “two angels making love on my tongue”. It’s not the feeling of a kiss; it’s the feeling of a kiss of love given by a man who is in love. There are many differences between these two kinds of kiss and I think that only a great poet, like George Roca, can express the differences of intensity with these few poetic words.

George Roca’s poetry shows a positive message: we must live in harmony with ourselves and everything around us, in order to get to know who we are and to win the fight against the irreversible time in which we live and to love each other. He is proposing us to escape and to live, to be free from the chains that we have created for ourselves. I have not seen poetry like this in years, encouraging us to discover life as a gift and not as an obligation and a punishment.

Héctor Martínez

Texto revisado y corregido: Eva Defeses

Posted in Espacio Niram Events, Literature ]]> http://niramartmagazine.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/hector-martinez-on-the-poetry-of-george-roca-espacio-niram-event/feed/ 0 niramart george-roca http://niramartmagazine.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/355/ http://niramartmagazine.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/355/#comments Sun, 27 Sep 2009 17:46:32 +0000 niramart http://niramartmagazine.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/355/ ]]>

Friday, September 25^th 2009, the Cultural and Artistic Association New Vision from Tel Aviv, organized the debate Art and Physics, presenting the works of several artists who found in science the greatest source of inspiration, among them Romeo Niram and his series of paintings Brancusi E-mc2. The  works of Romeo Niram were presented by the journalist Eva Defeses.  The motto of the debate was “Revolutionary art anticipates visionary physics” , from the famous book “Art and Physics” by Leonard Shlain.

Romeo Niram - Art Physics in Tel Aviv

Romanian – Australian poet George Roca (living in Sydney) launches his latest book of poems  “Escape from the virtual World” at Espacio Niram, Madrid. Participants: Horia Barna, dir. of ICR Madrid and writer Martin Cid, the director of Yareah Magazine.

George Roca - Book Launch at Espacio Niram, Madrid

Saturday, Sept. 26th, 8 p.m

Espacio Niram Madrid

www.espacioniram.com

Opening: Friday, August 14th 2009, 8 p.m.

Recited by: Isabel del Río & Yulia Martínez
8 August 2009,  20 H

Espacio Niram Cultural Café: Cioran

Presentation by: Héctor Martínez Sanz, Spanish Philosopher
8 August, 21.30H
Organised by:  Espacio Niram & Niram Art Magazine

Bogdan Ater Galleries organise the exhibition  “La Blouse Roumaine” by Elena Serb.

Presentations by: Isabel del Río, Horia Barna.

7 august 2009, 20 H