Lucian Sandu-Milea: Palimpsest: Rewriting City
6. 9. − 15. 11. 2023
curator: Lenka Sýkorová
photo: Markéta Bendová
video: Tereza Havlínková
The city is a constantly rewriting public space that we create and share. It provides visible and invisible faces and includes historical artefacts together with visions of the future. Romanian visual artist Lucian Sandu-Milea sees the city as a dynamic inspiration and challenge. Lucian was inspired for the current exhibition in Altán Klamovka by the original Palimpsest, so a manuscript that is reused after the original text was erased. Lucian sees the very process of the transformation of the city as a palimpsest or a Möbius strip, demonstrating the concept of continuity, transformation and interplay between the past, present and future. What creates a typology of cities? Just how they overlay historical layers, to regenerate and to create an environment for the continuous cycle of life.
We can understand the Möbius strip as an endless loop that symbolizes the rewriting of the city and the process of urban transformation. Similarly, a palimpsest captures layers of history, memory, and cultural imprints and is open to new inscriptions. In the context of a site-specific drawing installation created directly for Altán Klamovka, Lucian creates an environment of rewriting the city as a process of urban transformation. The interactive installation invites viewers to reinterpret hidden layers, rewrite and engage with the history, culture and social dynamics of the city. Visitors are encouraged to get involved with the UV light in uncovering the city's stories. By illuminating the canvas, they reveal new dimensions and perceptions of urbanism. At the same time, they can create ephemeral drawings with light on the phosphorescent drawn surfaces of the canvas and thus actively become part of the artistic process.
Lucian Sandu-Milea's handwriting develops from an ongoing process of influences from philosophy, psychology and street art with a strong background in architecture. Lucian graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at UAUIM in Bucharest, but he has been active in the field of visual arts since the beginning. He expresses his creativity in many fields, using different techniques and forms, including architecture, mural painting, graphics/painting, 3D graphics/digital art, illustration and street art. He is also the initiator and organizer of events and cultural venues such as Carol53, Noaptea Caselor and ETAJ in Bucharest. The last time he exhibited with the ETAJ collective at the Durden and Ray Gallery in Los Angeles was in August.
Lenka Sýkorová