Events of EFUCA
URBAN Folk, images that savage the contemporary
VIRTUAL EXHIBITION 25 / 30 September 2020
URBAN Folk is part of the international Future Folk project initiated by Alumnus Club for UNESCO (2018) in collaboration with the artist Carmen Emanuela Popa and in partnership with the Romanian National Commission for UNESCO, the European Federation of Associations and Clubs for UNESCO, and the French National Commission for UNESCO (2019).
The concept has been presented, so far, in exhibitions in the country, at the Parliament Palace, the National Village Museum – Dimitrie Gusti, Bucharest, UNESCO Cultural Center Ionel Perlea – Slobozia, Paul Constantinescu Philharmonic – Ploiești, Genpact – Bucharest, on the stage of the George Enescu Festival Competition – Romanian Athenaeum and internationally, at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Beijing – SOHO Galaxy, NIO Company in Hefei – China, City Hall 1 in Paris – 4 Place du Louvre.
This year, the Initiating Organization of the project – Alumnus Club for UNESCO, President PhD. Daniela Popescu, celebrates 20 years of activity. On this occasion, the new avant-garde interpretation proposed by the Romanian designer in terms of the aesthetic and experimental evolutionary line of Romanian folklore in contemporary times, is meant to crown the series of projects of the organization dedicated to the event and is included in the Metamorphosis XII program.
The collaboration of the National Commission of Romania for UNESCO with the artist Carmen Emanuela Popa started with the launch of the conceptual collection 56 Route within the international anti-violence project Academy of Young Women. The Fight Against Extremism, Xenophobia and Aggression. Project presented at Art Safari and at the Romanian Cultural Institute, Bucharest (2017).
The concept is a continuation of the one presented in Paris in 2019. The addition, then, as a suggestive accessory to contemporaneity with references to environmental pollution, informational pollution but also psychological and emotional, a stylistic motif, such as the face mask, has meanwhile become a ubiquitous component in today's society to combat epidemiological factors.
Metaphorically or not, the defense of toxicity, in all its forms, is a necessity of the present and transforms the aspect of humanity into appearance and thought.
URBAN Folk propagates an archetypal character that links the origins to the chameleon reality, the dreamlike and mystical worlds, the sacredness of a mother-land to the aesthetics of the dynamics of the present man.
“ This shuttle between the village world and the urban world is practically frequent, it is a journey that enriches my soul with the gems of nature that are later reflected in the assault of images that savage the contemporary and vice versa, images that stylistically upgrade tradition. ” – Carmen Emanuela Popa
The flowers of the field are suggested by abstract paint touches so the concept acquires post-cultural interpretive valences in the context of impermeable materials, taffeta, but also natural fabrics that in turn impose casual lines that reveal through junctions of archaic elements (scarf, white cloth, folk chromatic ) and urban (neon hue, laces, clips, etc.), the subjects of an unconventional aesthetic.
The characters have an attitude of piety but also strength and assumed dignity of a destiny with mystical values.
The collection was worked during the severe measures to prevent the effects of the pandemic - lockdown and the state of emergency imposed in Romania and will be presented online in the contexts of social media, websites and other digital platforms.
Currently, the artist Carmen Emanuela Popa is a PhD student at the National University of Arts, Bucharest, Faculty of Decorative Arts and Design in the field of Visual Arts / Fashion. In period 17 - 22 September 2020 she participated in London Fashion Week. You can find out more about the Romanian designer by visiting: www.carmenemanuelapopa.com
URBAN Folk | Philosophy
With memories from lost paradise the Collection is dedicated to my grandmother Profira Munteanu.
I still remember, with a contemporary heart, the giant pink roses with phosphor green leaves on a turquoise "sky" made by her, which adorned soul habitats and the metaphor always accompanied me in my life as a child thirsty for the miracle of making the image. It follows me as protective artifacts that emerge in various interpretive forms, stylistic, pictorial mixes, always accompanied by nostalgic pleadings in an urban with its beauties and a poetics with "elastic" effect that, no matter how much you pull the means of artistic expression after-culture the sound there, from the white winter days, in which the voice of art came by subconsciously joining the snow with the flowers of the garden, returns perpetually and immobilizes you in a sweet state of refreshment of a language you once spoke and you will know it forever. – Carmen Emanuela Popa
