Reflections on Romania after revolt

Videography by Rachel Glass

“’Few were happy with their condition’ — it’s a mood, right?” said curator Olga Stefan to explain the title of her exhibition of videos, films and photographs by 17 contemporary Romanian artists.

On view through March 12 at Gallery 400, “Few Were Happy with Their Condition” portrays Romania since the 1989 fall of communism there and in several other Warsaw Pact countries.

Romania was the last of those countries to revolt, and the only one to violently overthrow the government and execute its leader. Today, Stefan said, the transition continues as citizens cope with freedom, economic instability and continued corruption. In particular, artists carve a space for critical analysis in the gap between the communist past and Western-style capitalism.

The exhibiting artists are Dan Acostioaei, József Bartha, Irina Botea, Razvan Botis, Claudiu Cobilanschi, Ștefan Constantinescu, Alexandra Croitoru, Cristina David, Bogdan Gîrbovan, Alex Mirutziu, Ciprian Mureșan, Vlad Nancă, Mircea Nicolae, Cristi Pogăcean, Ștefan Sava, and Mona Vatamanu with Florin Tudor.

Gallery 400 will present a new commissioned performance work by Rozalinda Borcilă, an artist, writer and activist born in Romania and now based in Chicago, at 6 p.m. March 2.

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts provided support for the exhibit.