The event “Every death brings it” will take place at the Multicultural Center of Transilvania University
The last few years, marked by the pandemic, have left many families in mourning. The encounter with death upsets the inner order of any person, but also the order of a community. Rituals have the role of helping people regain their lost balance after a death. The pandemic forced us to rewrite these rituals, to impoverish them. Travel restrictions prevented those who were far away from attending the funerals of relatives or friends, vigils and vigils moved to social media, and people mourned their dead how and where they could.
Starting from her own experience of losing loved ones during the pandemic, the artist and anthropologist Rucsandra Pop, originally from Braşov, invites the local community to take part in a collective ritual of mourning and acceptance of death. The performative installation built around the idea that “Every death brings it” is also an invitation to look for the meaning of life in death. Unlike traditional rituals, the one proposed within the performative installation is open, without fixed rules, being mediated by art, and each participant can personalize it. Built in layers, the installation uses photography, collages, text, sound, textiles and tastes, but also practices that activate the senses and emotions. Death is not a rite of passage only for the one who goes, but also for those who remain and whom this event fundamentally transforms, but also offers them the chance to rediscover and reinvent themselves.
“Every death brings it: the resonance box” proposes 8 meetings with a limited number of 25 participants/representation, which will take place daily, between May 13 – May 19, 2024, at the Transilvania University Multicultural Center in Braşov.
The performative installation will have two separate areas: one for death – that is, honoring those who are no longer among us – and one for life and the future. Participants will be invited to bring an object that reminds them of a loved one who is no longer with us. These objects can become part of the installation. Psychologists will be present at each performance.
Also, the participants will receive as a gift the book-object “Orice moarte eo porta”, which contains images and texts from performances signed by the artist Rucsandra Pop, the curator Iuliana Dumitru and the poets Alina Purcaru, Cristina A. Bejan, Elena Vlădăreanu, Ştefania Mihalache, Andrei Dósa, George Ştefan and Răzvan Ţupa.
On Friday, May 17, there will also be a thematic workshop dedicated to artists, anthropologists and psychologists from the communities around Brasov (Făgăraș, Sinaia, Predeal, Sfântu Gheorghe and others), in which the methodology and impact in the community of such a performative approach, with the aim of being taken over in one’s own artistic practice. More details about the project can be accessed on the Fragile Society website or Facebook page.
The artist Rucsandra Pop is very connected to the Brasov community, where she grew up and studied. She is passionate about how dialogue and creativity can bring more trust between people, about how cities or neighborhoods can be transformed into communities, i.e. into a better home. Rucsandra is a graduate of the Andrei Şaguna National College and the Faculty of Letters of Transilvania University and is a founding member of the Fragile Society Association. The Fragile Society association was founded in 2021 out of the belief that the artistic act can create social change. It is an organization that aims to create meeting and reflection areas where women – and not only them – can identify, document and explore their vulnerabilities, limitations and strengths, using artistic tools and practices.
