Language courses, exhibition of designer clothes, jewelry and furniture, music and film were the main ingredients of a carefully crafted mix offered by the Romanian Cultural Institute for the annual sleepless Open Night held on Friday, 14, to Saturday, June 15.Having reached its seventh edition, the Open Night of the Institutes 2013 is one of the most important cultural events in Bucharest. As in previous years, thousands of visitors walked through the open doors of the city’s EUNIC cultural institutes and their partners’ to taste the diversity of European cultures.
This year’s edition was organised by 12 cultural centers and institutes, members of the EUNIC in Romania cluster - British Council, Czech Centre, "Yunus Emre" Turkish Cultural Centre, Délégation Wallonie-Bruxelles, Austrian Cultural Forum, Goethe-Institut, Balassi Institute - Hungarian Institute of Bucharest, Polish Institute, Cervantes Institute, the French Institute, “Vito Grasso” Italian Cultural Institute and the Romanian Cultural Institute - joined in 2013 by the European Commission Representation in Romania and the European Parliament Information Office in Romania. The coordinator of 2013 edition was the Polish Institute.
To increase urban mobility, Green Revolution Associaltion was kind enough to lend 50 bicycles from its Herăstrău Park rental center, free of charge for this event.
Evens at the Romanian Cultural Institute (38, Aleea Alexandru)
18:30 - Romanian language class for foreigners, beginners demonstration – in the gardenHow hard is it to learn Romanian? With a rich tradition in organising Romanian language courses for foreigners, ICR invited beginners to attend a lesson in its garden at no. 38 Aleea Alexandru
19.30 - Made in RO visiting ICR – Clothing, jewelry and object design exhibition, coupled by traditional Romanian blouses Lately, the traditional Romanian blouse is more and more present: conventional, ethnic or reinvented by young designers, worn in a festive manner, casual or glam, displayed in museums, in magazines or on social media. Traditional costumes are a personal choice and probably every such blouse has a nice story - real or imagined - that we want to bring out. To this purpose, we organised a literary contest in partnership with Revista de Povestiri, and the best stories received prizes from Bitdefender, Romanian Label, HeartMatesStudio and ICR Publishing House.
In addition, we invited everyone to a design exhibition, Made in RO visiting ICR, developed together with Designist, which reconvened artists like ArhiDot Design, The Awesome Project, Lightsquare, Cai verzi pe pereți, Una ca Luna, 11am Architects, Mihaela Ivana, Ciprian Vrabie, Semne Cusute and Mândra Chic, Thecraft LAB, Alina Turdean, Culture Soup and Iutta. All items were created at Designist’s challenge for the second edition of the annual Made in RO fair, on „Traditional motifs in contemporary design“, held on 25-26 of May. ICR also hosted an exhibition of traditional costumes brought by the manufacturer Simona Antohi (Breaza, Prahova county) and Romanian Label. All items were available for purchase.
21.00 - Piano recital: Teo Milea visiting ICR on white... and black keys – ICR Main HallTeo Milea has begun his musical activity 25 years ago. He gradually transitioned from improvisation to composition, and in July 2012 released his first album with original work On white ... and black keys. The album includes seven tracks and was developed with Andrei Kerestely.
“This disc introduces me to the public through the 7 tracks as a pianist and composer belonging to two worlds: classical and new XXI century” says Teo Milea on his first album.
“My audience doesn’t need college to understand my compositions… or a musical lexicon. The public understands my message accurately and in real time, doesn’t later seek to decipher what I wanted to convey in an one hour recital. My music oriented, with an immediate effect” adds the musician.
“What more is there to say about me? When not playing the piano or composing, I cook or ride my bike. But I can write music then, too.”
22.30-01.00 - The latest Romanian short films, which premiered at Cannes: Romanian Short Waves 2013
Since 2004, Cannes Film Festival includes a Short Film Corner, a space where filmmakers meet and present their films. This year too, Romanian short films reunited under the title Romanian Short Waves 2013 were screened with the support of the Secvențe Association.
The program included:
In the Fishbowl, directed by Cristian Tudor Jurgiu, 3rd Prize of Cinéfondation section, Cannes 2013
Ovo, directed by Eva Pervolovici
Red code, directed by Hanno Höfer
Picurar, directed by Nap Toader
The Finnish Cow, directed by Gheorghe Preda
Colecția de arome, directed by Igor Cobileanski
Wonderland, directed by Peter Kerek
De azi înainte, directed by Dorian Boguţă
Ana, directed by Radu Mirona
Bad Penny, directed by Andrei Creţulescu
Sistemul respirator la păsări, directed by Alina Manolache
Hahol, directed by Goran Mihailov
My Baby, directed by Luiza Pārvu
Plimbare, directed by Mihaela Popescu
Waste, directed by Anton Groves
Thirty, directed by Victor Dragomir
Between already and not yet, directed by Ioana Mischie
Boxed in, directed by Ilinca Neagu
Partners: Radio Romania Cultural, Modernism.ro
For the Open Night of the Institutes, city transport operator RATB set up a line running between cultural institutes, with the following designated stops:
1. Romanian Cultural Institute and Italian Cultural Institute – 38, Aleea Alexandru
2. Hungarian Institute – Orlando - Lascăr Catargiu Boulevard
3. British Council and French Institute – Virgil Madgearu High School - Dacia Boulevard
4. Bucharest National Theatre – Carol I Boulevard
5. European Public Space – 31,Vasile Lascăr Street
6. Turkish Cultural Center – 86, Vasile Lascăr Street
