Fifty embassies, cultural institutes and international organizations will participate September 1 through 5 in the “Open Your Culture” Embassies’ Festival aimed at promoting cultural diversity and the art of the countries with diplomatic missions in Romania.
According to a Monday release by the ESCU Association, an NGO dedicated to improving cultural and educational development of the Romanian civil society, the official opening of the festival’s international exhibitions takes place on Tuesday, as of 6pm, in the central atrium of the National Library of Romania, with Secretary of State with the Culture Ministry Bogdan Stanoevici, president of the Romanian Cultural Institute Radu Boroianu, Virgil Stefan Nitulescu of the Romanian Peasant’s Museum and Romeo Dumitrescu – president of the “Cucuteni for the Third Millennium” Foundation, as well as heads of foreign diplomatic missions accredited to Romania in attendance.
For five days, four venues in Bucharest: the National Library of Romania, the Youth Park – Children’s World, the Studio Movie Theatre and the Galateca Gallery will host cultural and artistic activities, as well as exhibitions themed to international visual arts, demonstrations and tasting of traditional culinary products, music, dance performances, handicrafts and traditions from around the world, moments for children and captivating cultural diplomacy activities.
The series of events begins on Tuesday at the National Library of Romania with the exhibition “A Journey Around the World,” that pools together, apart from the Romanian Cultural Institute, 19 embassies – South Africa, Armenia, China, El Salvador, the United Arab Emirates, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan (that will be present with cultural ceremonies), Malaysia, the British Council – UK, Morocco, Mexico, Russia, Syria, the U.S., Turkmenistan, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Romania will be present in the exhibition with a ceramic pot of the Cucuteni culture dating from the Neolithic, as well as with three massive bronze works inspired from Cucuteni artefacts, by artist Giulian Dumitriu, called Twins Reality M, Twins Reality F and The Vessel.
“The exhibition is designed according to an artistic concept that will help visitors journey from one meridian to another passing by a variety of installations, handicraft items, traditional costumes, photos, statues, musical instruments, paintings and cultural habits,” the source added.
On September 3, the National Library of Romania will see the official launch of the engineering invention “VisionBot” (a machine helping makers turn their electronic prototypes into products by assembling surface mount devices on printed circuit boards) by Ionut Budisteanu, one of the most acclaimed young Romanian inventors, known for the important results obtained in international science and engineering competitions.
Under the festival’s umbrella, ICR will organise at the National Library of Romania the exhibition “Great Romanian Innovators,” which will open the series of events in the institute’s namesake program.
Displayed on 15 boards with text and graphics will be short biographies and key achievements of important Romanian innovators: Petrache Poenaru, Anghel Saligny, Victor Babes, Grigore Antipa, Emil Racovita, Aurel Vlaicu, Henri Coanda, Traian Vuia, George Emil Palade, Ion Cantacuzino, Ana Aslan, Georghe Titeica, Nicolae Constantin Paulescu, Spiru Haret and Gheorghe Marinescu.
According to the event’s Facebook page, the Galateca Gallery will host between September 1 and 6 the exhibition “Hands of Korea” that was varnished on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Romania – Korea diplomatic relations.
Organized by the Embassy of Korea in Bucharest, in collaboration with the Bajaghi Forum in Korea, the exhibition brings together three specific, unique and exquisite crafts of Korean culture: Bojagi patchwork, Joomchi paper-making and Hanbok outfit art, that withstood the passage of time. The works capture the intrinsic concepts and techniques of the three crafts and are either heritage items from Korean or international museum collections, or challenging contemporary interpretations by 30 Korean artists and designers.
The festival also has a cinema dimension: the Studio Movie Theatre will host screenings of artistic movies and documentaries, proposed by 14 embassies and organizations. Some of the cinematographic productions will be screened in a first in Romania and even in Europe on this occasion, and access is free, reads the release.
On September 4 – 5 the Youth Park – Children’s World in Bucharest District 4 will accommodate stands of all the 50 embassies, cultural institutes and international organizations, displaying to the public various exhibits, habits and traditions from all corners of the world, culinary tasting moments, handicraft shows and interactive workshops. A spot will be laid out in the park called “The Children’s Embassy,” where foreign language, theater, cultural workshops, educational games and craft shows will be held.
“The stage mounted at this site will see performances by artists from four continents, on Friday, September 4, and Saturday, September 5, between 5pm and 10pm. Singers, dancers and instrumentalists from Russia, South Africa, the UK, Japan, Peru, Ireland, Cuba, Greece, Indonesia, China, Argentina, Venezuela and India will present several original moments,” the organizers said.
The festival is an event produced by the ESCU Association, under the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the National Library of Romania and other institutions.
