In the 55th episode of Kitchen Conversations, the listeners are treated to a journey through the work of Șerban Savu who is representing Romania at this year’s Venice Biennale.
The exhibition What Work Is in the Romanian Pavilion, explores the imagery of labour, drawing inspiration from historical realism and the propaganda art from the Eastern Bloc. Instead of directly challenging these discourses Șavu challenges them by rearranging their tropes. His goal is to capture and depict moments of pause and inactivity, where the line between work and leisure blurs, reflecting broader societal changes or crises. The pavilion is curated by the artist Ciprian Mureșan, who, interestingly enough, showed his work in the Romanian Pavilion in 2017, and is a good friend of the artist.
In the podcast, Șavu talks about his 20-year artistic journey, influenced by thorough research into the Romanian working class during the challenging transition from one political system to another. In line with Adriano Pedrosa’s curatorial theme for this year’s Biennale, ‘Foreigners Everywhere’, Șavu talks about the characters of his paintings and installations as those lost in limbo, between systems and lives. In their newly independent Romania, they are outsiders, attempting to go about their daily routines, yet frequently pausing to rest.
The 60th La Biennale di Venezia opened on the 20th of April and will continue until the 24th of November 2024.
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