Syndicate: Documentary Project Romania

[agdlc@westminster.ac.uk (Sonja Klug)]

I am presently planning on doing a photo documentary project in Romania. I
am contacting

ROMANIAN WRITERS, STUDENTS, ARTITS OR ANYBODY ELSE WHO IS INTERESTED IN
WRITING ABOUT ROMANIA

in order to ask to write about the situation of their country and how they
feel about it. Taking their written work as a script I want to interpret it
with photographic images of Romania.

I want to produce a piece of work in close collaboration with people from
Romania. I would like as many people as possible to participate.

I am interested in how people experience the present situation in Romania,
particularly how the political interacts with and influences the private.
The texts could be personal or political, general or specific, it could be
a story or facts, in prose or poetry, a few lines or a few pages.
I don't mind whether it is written in Romainian, English or German language.

Furthermore I would be most grateful if you could put me in contact with
anybody else who might be interested in this project, or anybody who could
provide me with further contacts, or information.

I include the proposal with more detailed information of this project.
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon, (the sooner the better,
because I will be travelling to Romania already in late March, so I would
need the material very soon)

Just send me an e-mail, or fax me on the fax-number below.


Yours sincerely,

                        Sonja Klug




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Sonja Klug

7 Beverley Gardens
Wembley
HA9 9RD Middx

Tel: 0044-181-357-8945
Fax: 0044-171-911-5952

e-mail: agdlc@westminster.ac.uk




Romania (working title)




Context and Content


        Nearly ten years ago the news about the cracks and the fall of the
iron curtain swept the world. Now, a decade later, I want to explore how
the political moves effect and have effected the people and how their lives
have changed. I am particular interested in Romania due to its spirited
people, its interesting and varied history and its rich and colourful
tradition.

        For this project I will produce a piece of cross-cultural work,
done in collaboration with young writers from Romania. I am contacting
writers, students, journalists, poets, philosophers, teachers and artists
from Romania, asking them to write (prose or poetry) about how they see the
present situation of their country, how they feel about it, in which light
they view the changes and where they place themselves in the history of
events of their country.

        In the beginning of April I will travel to Bucharest in Romania for
approximately four weeks, and "translate" their written work into images,
illustrating and interpreting their work with photographs. I want to work
closely together with the authors in order to get feedback about the photos
I take.




Aims and Objectives


        The emphasis in this project is not only on the meaningful changes
in this fascinating country, but also on the collaboration between
countries and artists. It is about exploring the approaches and ways of
expression of young artists from a different cultural background and how
they engage with their present situation. I am convinced it will be a very
inspiring and stimulating experience.

        With this project I want to promote cross-cultural understanding
and collaboration and, more than anything else, communication. I want to
explore photography in its possibilities and limitations as a means of
communication. With this juxtaposition of photography and literature I want
to show, question and challenge the potential, interaction and differences
of these two mediums. I believe that they can complement each other, and,
together represent a more complete and fulfilled picture.




Audience


        Primarily the work will be produced for an exhibition in Romania,
in London and possibly in other places in Europe. The work is aimed at
anybody curious about different cultures in general and Romania in
particular, or anybody with an interest in photography and literature. I
hope produce work that a very broad audience will find inspiring, with the
emphasis and context being  documentary, rather than fine art. However this
obviously also depends to a large extent on the material I obtain.




Exhibition and Presentation


      This depends largely on the material I will obtain. The photos will
be shot on 35mm colour negative film, probably printed on A4 glossy paper
and displayed behind glass.




Schedule


        Between now and late March I will be establishing contacts with
Romania via letters and the internet. The internet seems to offer superb
possibilities of communication across Europe, and I will try to incorporate
this new medium in my project (by documenting the correspondence via the
internet, getting feedback about the editing, and finally making the
exhibition available on the internet). But ultimately this depends on
whether the authors I will be working with, have access to the internet and
the necessary software.

        Looking at the research I have done so far I got the impression
that the people of Romania have a strong cultural and artistic interest,
and are very keen on inter-cultural exchange. I am confident that I will
have established a network by the end of March. I plan to travel to
Bucharest end of March and stay there for about four weeks, which should
give me time to meet the artists, shoot, discuss my work with them, and
reshoot. The following six weeks remain for the planning of the exhibition,
printing, editing, and framing.


        I am sure that it will be an interesting, inspiring and stimulating
experience and I am very much looking forward to it.