Bucharest Impressions
We didn’t know what to expect. We even had trouble finding a decent guide. But we’ll be back to have a closer look. This city is amazing!
Initially we wanted to discover Istanbul. But then we changed our plans – based on some articles: art had portrayed the Romanian art scene on the occasion of the Bucharest Biennale. Sleek lately introduced five artists based in the schizophrenic city of Bucharest.
To be honest, we did not even make it to half of the venues recommended. The cityscape was so fascinating: We contented ourselfes walking though the streets for hours, entering numerous churches, marveling at communist architecture. Countless weird buildings proliferate everywhere while old structures slowly rot.
We had a look at »Rien na va plus - Architecture in times of crisis« at Pavilion Unicredit. The art space is afiliated with Pavilion Magazine and the Bucharest Biennale. They sent us to Tago Mago where we attended a lecture on Northkorean architecture. The slide-show was, mh, interesting. So thought the other two auditors. We then skipped OTA (Number 26 Dr. Staicovici Street), some semi-official venue where one is supposed to meet artsy youngsters, and had some local beer instead.
Museum-wise we went to see the shows at the National Museum for Contemporary Art in the Ceauscescu palace. Although the exhibitions are not worth talking about, the venue is impressive. (It took us twenty minutes to reach the backside.) We left the National Museum of Art of Romania after three hours, exhausted but a littler wiser. And we visited the fabulous peasants museum Muzeul Taranului Roman with its greatly displayed collections.
We neither made it to galleries and art spaces nor to the botanical garden. But the day we left, the New York Times blogged some recommendations for Bucharest – and we were quite relieved to read that so far we had done everything right, even food- and drinkwise!
