EUNIC Romania

Open Night of the Institutes, one of the most popular cultural events in Bucharest, has reached its sixth edition on June 22, 2012. Since 2007, in June, we have been celebrating the cultural institutes in Bucharest, that on this occasion open their doors wider than they usually do, offering to culture lover audiences a sleepless night full of carefully prepared events and surprises. Since 2009, the Open Night of the Institutes has been placed under the EUNIC umbrella, currently being one of the most successful projects organised by the EUNIC in Romania cluster.

During the Open Night of the Institutes 2012, for more than 16 hours, the public enjoyed an extensive programme of  unique cultural events: film screenings, photo exhibitions, concerts for all tastes (guitar, piano and jazz, as well as fado, flamenco, electro and pop culture infusion), different workshops (calligraphy, glass modeling and origami), board games and sports (basketball, hockey, archery, cultural triathlon), dance, book launches and, of course, delicious gastronomic surprises from different countries.

This year’s edition was organised by 14 cultural centres and institutes members of EUNIC in Romania cluster: British Council, Czech Centre, Balassi Institute – Hungarian Cultural Centre, Wallonie-Bruxelles Delegation, Austrian Cultural Forum, Camões Institute /Embassy of Portugal in Romania, Cervantes Institute, Romanian Cultural Institute, Goethe-Institut, French Institute – the coordinator of this year’s edition, “Vito Grasso” Italian Cultural Institute, Polish Institute, Cultural and Information Centre of Ukraine and “Yunus Emre” Turkish Cultural Center – participating for the first time at this EUNIC event.

The Open Night of the Institutes has grown with every passing edition, including each year more events, visitors and co-organisers, being one of the most popular and best known events in Bucharest.

Photo gallery to be found here. Full programme in the brochure.

A unique European-Armenian fashion design exhibition was hosted in Bucharest from 7 to 14 June, 2012 in the National Library of Romania. The  exhibition showcased the collaboration between five European designers and five Armenian designers participating in the “Fashion Road: Dialogue across the Borders” project.

The opening of the exhibition took place on June 7th, at 19.00, with the participation of the fashion designers Andra Cliţan (Romania) and Aram Nikolyan (Armenia), the curator Tony Charalambous (Great Britain), Tania Radu, vice-president of the Romanian Cultural Institute, Arevik Saribekyan, director of British Council Armenia.

The exhibition will be opened until June 24th, from Monday to Friday, from 9.00 to 19.00. Free access to the exhibition.
Friday, June 8th, from 10.00, the young fashion designers had the opportunity to learn new things about how to include traditional elements in contemporary fashion design in a master class held by the designers Andra Cliţan and Aram Nikolyan, Ioana Avram (National University of Arts Bucharest), coordinator of the creative activity of the two designers during their residency in Romania (July 2011) and curator Tony Charalambous.

Fashion Road is a unique expression of intercultural dialogue and collaboration, made possible by ten gifted fashion designers: five from Armenia and one from each of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Romania and the United Kingdom. The project celebrates the diversity and harmony of cultures, contextualised in the garments of the designers, and beautifully visualised through textile, colour, cultural elements and the styles of the different countries. (Tony Charalambous, curator)

The „Fashion Road: Dialogue across Borders” collection, including elements of the cultural heritage of Armenia and the European countries, was presented for the first time in Armenia (Yerevan and the other three regions, from February to April 2012), and by the end of 2012 the exhibition will be presented in Germany (July), Denmark (August), UK (September) and the Czech Republic (October).
Launched in 2010, „Fashion Road: Dialogue across Borders” brought together 10 fashion designers from Europe and Armenia:  Andra Cliţan (Romania) – Aram Nikolyan (Armenia),  Pavel Ivancic (Czech Republic) – Kristine Avetisyan (Armenia),  Geannine Pollazzon (United Kingdom) – Lusine Kostanyan  (Armenia),  Melanie Freier (Germany) – Gayane Soghomonyan (Armenia), Ida Gro Christiansen (Denmark) – Ani Iskandaryan (Armenia), which worked in pairs for developing the project collection.

Coordinated locally by the Romanian Cultural Institute, „Fashion Road: Dialogue across Borders” is a EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture) project organised by British Council, the Czech Centres, Goethe-Institut, the Danish Cultural Institute and RCI, in partnership with the Armenian Fashion Council. The project received the support of the European Union through the Culture Programme
(2007-2013).

Fifth edition and 50 events stretching over 14 hours for the 2011 Night of the Cultural Institutes in eight different locations in Bucharest, on Friday 24 June. Czech hockey and social advertising for the Czech Centre, fashion, jazz, digital film and silent disco for the joint venture between the Hungarian Cultural Centre and the Polish Institute, short and experimental films for the Austrian Cultural Forum, oriental cuisine and music at the Romanian Cultural Institute, Cioran in books and film at the French Institute, interactive theatre at the Italian Cultural Institute: the menu is gargantuesque.
A special free night shuttle by the city public transportation service will be available from 11 pm to 4 am, as well as 60 bikes from Green Revolution.

International comics invest the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest with the exhibition Comics Museum (16 June – 16 October 2011). Curated by Romanian artist Alexandru Ciubotariu, the Comics Museum will have two exhibition spaces, a media library (library of magazines and books, and a place for film screenings), one area for creative workshops and one for conferences.
The Museum hosts a permanent exhibition (“the treasury”), with original comic strip drawings depicting the history of Romanian comics, and four temporary exhibitions with contemporary works. The programme of the Comics Museum also features series of conferences on areas related to comics (cartoons, animation, book illustration), debates with comic book artists and publishers, workshops, live drawing sessions, book launches, film screenings and concerts. After the close, a special publication will be launched in late October.

The project aims to present the great diversity and wealth of comic strip art and to highlight the creativity of established and young comic artists, exploring at the same time the possibility of making this kind of museum permanent.
All along the three months, visitors will have access to an international library. Full programme will be available at www.muzeulbd.ro. EUNIC in Romania will propose film screenings and an exhibition of Portuguese artist Eugenio Silva.

Comics Museum follows the European Comics Festival, a project organised in 2010 by EUNIC in Romania, and precedes the second edition of this festival, that will be held during October-November 2011. Comics Museum is, at the same time, a natural continuation of The History of Romanian Comics – exhibition and book by Alexandru Ciubotariu and Dodo Niţă launched in autumn 2010 at the European Comics Festival.

The project, initiated by the Romanian Cultural Institute and the National Museum of Contemporary Art, is supported by the Association of Comics Fans in Romania, the Belgian Comic Strip Center and the German Book Office.