The launch of the “after SCULPTURE / SCULPTURE after” album, which took place at the Cărturești Verona Bookshop in Bucharest, served as a reflection on the namesake project and its profound significance, held in 2023 at Cazarma U in Timișoara, as part of Romania’s most extensive cultural program in recent years: “Timisoara – the European Capital of Culture 2023”.
The album is a valuable testimony to the exhibitions of contemporary sculpture organized over seven months, a project supported by Catena and Fildas Art Foundation.
In the album, Anca Vlad, founder of Fildas-Catena, talks movingly about her deep connection with art, a passion instilled since childhood by her parents and strengthened through remarkable encounters and memorable experiences. From the age of 12, the first art albums she received opened up a fascinating world—one that was later enriched by a dedicated teacher who guided her through museums and memorial houses.
Her words emphasize the role of art as a universal link between souls and the importance of supporting the promotion of Romanian cultural heritage: “My passion for art was inspired by my parents, who have given me art albums since I was twelve. In later years, a passionate teacher nurtured our relationship with beauty by organizing class visits to museums and memorial houses. During my student years, I started working so I could afford to buy artworks from the exhibitions of the Fondul Plastic galleries. This is how I came to meet artists, eventually becoming friends with Margareta Sterian – painter, ceramicist, translator, essayist, poet, and writer… This encounter left its mark on my life, enriching it and redirecting my aspirations towards a complex existence in which my profession was forever intertwined with the joy of the arts.
“after SCULPTURE / SCULPTURE after”, held at Cazarma U, remains one of the milestones of the ambitious program Timisoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture that Catena proudly sponsored, through the Catena for the Arts program, run by Fildas Art Foundation.
Art is more than an expression of creativity. It is a way of discovering the world and ourselves, of understanding the beauty around us, but also within ourselves. Art challenges us, it makes us rediscover ourselves, open our minds and hearts, to see further than our eyes physically allow. In the hectic world we live in today, we need art more than we might think. Through art, we find our balance, we can stop time, we can create bridges between cultures and generations. Art helps us rediscover essential things, like simple joy, a love of beauty and the need to share it all with others. Art is the only universal language that can be understood by everyone’s heart.
Supporting Romanian art is not only a joy for me, but also a fulfillment. The publication of this catalog represents a new opportunity to relive the excitement and charm of an emblematic event not only for Timisoara, but for Romania.”
At the launch event, in the presence of artists, critics and art lovers, the editorial team – Sorina Jecza and Ana Toma, together with art critic Daria Ghiu – spoke about the importance of this album and the major significance of the event held in Timisoara in the art world.
The art critic Daria Ghiu described the project as a “celebration of an essential artistic medium” for the Romanian art scene. Sorina Jecza, project coordinator and president of the Interart Triade Foundation, emphasized that the exhibition was designed to explore the continuity of contemporary sculpture. “Because if something comes before and something comes after, it’s a journey you take. This is the journey sculpture has followed, from the model adopted by late modernity to the major modernism, which for us, for Romanian sculpture, was clearly the model of Brâncuși, which we embraced as a partner in dialogue, especially since, nearby, at the Art Museum in Timișoara, the Brâncuși exhibition took place. In relation to this exhibition and this model, the exhibition in the Cazarma spoke about what came after the sculpture. And it spoke with so much weight and with so much justification, that we basically created a validation of contemporary sculpture in relation to the models from which he started. That was what the exhibition was all about,” said Sorina Jecza.
The album’s technical editor, Ana Toma, explained that it was conceived as an “object-book” and an “exhibition journey,” a miniature representation of the exhibition for those who were unable to visit.
The album includes over 100 works and detailed presentations of each participating artist, providing an exciting connection between the works and the exhibition spaces.
The album can be purchased at the Cărturești bookshops.
