Ideal

2007
installation
textile, 3x 135x90cm each

[In 1956 during the Hungarian Revolution the communist symbols were torn out of the flags leaving a hole in the middle. The same liberating gesture was repeated in 1989 first in Germany, then again in Hungary and later in Romania. For a few days, in each of these countries the national flag was not only without an emblem but with a hole in the middle. To me this is a symbol of pure freedom, something that could only happen in times of such strong spiritual engagement and idealistic vows. By putting the three flags together I am aiming to realize a spiritual union over-passing time, history and borders. The three countries (and their flags) are connected by the emptiness of the middle of the flag, a union of genuine revolutionary freedom, where no symbols are spoiling the essence of those days of liberty.]

I love shopping!

2007
b&w photographs
31,5 x 21 cm

"In Vlad Nanca’s work, I love shopping!, different temporalities and realities are being conflated. The long hours of queuing up in front of supply stores represented a harsh aspect of daily life during the socialist era. By presenting two small black and white photographs that show him entering and getting out of a supermarket, the artist confronts yesterday’s food shortage with today’s ever-expanding consumerism. But the economic transformation brought about by the capitalist system is nonetheless dominated by a feeling of angst (which is also the name of the supermarket chain)."

Magda Radu

If you give it to me I'll give it to you

2007
installation, photography
dimensions variable

"Nanca regularly resorts to working with Revolution symbols and the communist era. In his work If you give it to me I'll give it to you designed for the Art for Fun exhibition he is ironic about the rapid transformation of communist symbols after the fall of the regime. Over the last few years these symbols have gone on from being untouchable to icons of pop culture which have been repeatedly printed on t-shirts, caps and mugs. Nanca combines physics and two symbols in his installation: the hammer and sickle and the Frisbee, - an American leisure symbol-. Several red Frisbees with a hammer and a sickle in relief are at public's disposal to be used in the exhibition room."

David Arlandis and Javier Marroqui

Happy Sunday

at MNAC



2007
installation, performance
dimensions variable


[This performance / installation was work of the month (May 2007) at the Contemporary Art Museum in Bucharest. The performance consisted in me laying down under a car for two hours as an homage to those repairing their personal automobiles in public space during weekends in Bucharest. The car was placed in such a way that it was making the access difficult as in the Dream Of Bucharest installation. The performance was on the corridor connecting the external lifts to the museum, thus not exactly inside or outside it.]

Photography: Tudor Borduz

Fixing cars

2007
photography

I <3 manele

2007
stencil

2007

b&w poster
50 x 70 cm


[My poster for the 3500cm2 project (curator Lorenzo Benedetti)]

cars

2005-2007
marker, chalk, dust graffiti and stencil

[As the Romanian economy is growing, signs of prosperity are appearing all over the place. In Bucharest that is translated to an enormous, ever growing number of cars occupying the streets and the entire public space in the city. In a town that was never designed to have so many cars, the quality of life is decreasing strangely enough because of its prosperity. To underline this situation I started to draw simple car shapes in as many places as possible. I though that the graffitied cars, something generally seen as a violent, vandalizing form of expression, would bring attention to the real problem of the city which is the car pollution.

The simple car shape is an inspiration from the basic Dacia car design which was also the subject of a previous work of mine. It also emphasizes the fact that I cannot draw as my previous training to art was maths and physics.

The dot to dot stencil graffiti is an encouragement for the people to start drawing the car shapes.

The graffiti car shapes are also the staring point of a more complex installation I did in January 2007 at Akademie Schloss Solitude. ]

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

2007
vinyl banner
1.3 x 27 m


[This is my work for TVR - Romanian State Television's 50th Anniversary when several artists were commissioned to do a work which would be kept on the television premises for a year. I am using Gil Scott Heron’s famous words as a comment on the authenticity of the Romanian Revolution of 1989, supposedly the first revolution ever to be transmitted live on television.]