The building site containers were set up around Bucharest’s National Theatre. According to a project delayed for a couple of years, the theatre is supposed to be reinforced and modernized in the next three years starting from this autumn. The process will involve the dismantling the arcaded façade ordered by Ceausescu in the 1980s; the initial façade will be put in place along with the cantilevered roof, which means that the original project designed by Horia Maicu, Nicolae Cucu, and Romeo Belea will be followed in its outlines. Undoubtedly, the old functionalist project was thousand times better than the pompous totalitarian intervention.
However, this deletion (quite debatable, in my opinion) of a historic period (why didn’t they launch a competition for a modern rehabilitation able to consider all building layers?) leads to the disappearance of thousands of square meters used as prestigious cultural spaces such as the ¾ Floor Gallery of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, “Laptaria la Enache” (At Enache’s Dairy) coffee shop, “Motoare” (At Engines) terrace placed on the theatre roof, and as I have already mentioned, one of Romania’s most radical institutions – the National Centre for Dance.
Having declared their intention to change Bucharest’s National Theatre into a sort of Barbican, the project is being executed. Meanwhile the institutions housed within the theatre building have been offered temporary spaces to pursue their activities. Among others, a studio in the precincts of Palace Hall and some poorly maintained offices proposed to the Centre, which enraged the members of this institution and the world of Romanian art.
Starting with March 21, the National Centre for Dance declared itself “occupied”. The access to the theatre building was no longer free, because the area had been surrounded by the building site. To gain access in the former space of the centre, we had to follow the instructions of those inside the building. Sometimes we had to go through the gate at Studio Hall, while in other cases, we had to follow the classic route, around the lifts. The protest and the occupation of the headquarters of dance invited art lovers to support contemporary art and the door it opened through their performances. True to their spirit, the members of the National Centre for Dance invited people to besiege the two studios and the media centre. From 21 March to 10 April, those sharing the experimental spirit cultivated by the National Centre for Dance started to carry out their activities there. You could cook, sleep, and do whatever more or less domestic activity within the space where visual artists, choreographers, musicians, dancers, architects, economists, philosophers, anthropologists, or any sort of informal groups were asked to organize their workshops, events, debates, jam sessions, carry out their activities or just hang around. Briefly, just like in any kind of ‘okupa’ event, quite usual in Europe and, particularly, on the underground stage from cities like Barcelona or Berlin, a (theoretically) public space belonging to a state institution was turned into a public platform (this time in practical terms) for almost a month, 24/24. On the one hand, they expressed their disapproval as to lack of support for contemporary art, and on the other hand, an effective experimentation of a public place. By ‘squatting’ the Centre, artists, spectators, visionaries, priers and meddlers interacted and experimented both the physical public space and that of share ideas scribbled on the walls of the centre to be commented. In a corner they sent e-mails, in another corner someone cooked, some would take showers in the bathroom, while in one of the studios films were shown; within the round hall debates were held on the place of contemporary art in Romanian society.
Maybe, in the Romanian spirit of unexpected events, it is not by chance that this indoor event of public space that has never been practised on a regular basis took place close to a space standing for the real seed of true public space in Bucharest. The heart of the city around the National Theatre, where you can see the steps to the subway, those of the theatre, the terrace on the top and the esplanade on which a “statuary group” stands, has developed into an informal, spontaneous meeting place though it has never been arranged for this purpose. Thus, in the absence of an appropriate outdoor space, obvious manifestations of an indoor public space took place until April 10 at the National Centre for Dance. Around torn gypsum cardboard walls, mineral cotton hanging bleakly, much dust, mattresses on which the centre population would sleep in-between tables and near dancers who practised for their performance to come, everyone ready to take part into the centre life was invited to bring in the tools of his/her work and appropriate the space, feel free to join the newly-formed community of “occupants” that shared variations on similar dreams or ideas.
The key ingredients that led to this successful public space have been on the one hand its transparency and openness to the unknown: the 2 studios, the round hall, the media center and adjoining spaces offered space for the outsider who could readily integrate, to the passive user who won his rights step by step, to the resident who modeled the appropriated space, making them all get some self-respect and a feeling of belonging to the urban community. On the other hand, the fact that guaranteed its intensity was the diversity of users who favored the multifunctionality, the true manifestation underlying a development potential.
During the last weekend of public life of the centre, after two days of cultural activities (architects proposed one-day projects providing solutions for the future space of the centre and artists performed continually), the demolition started and people realized little by little that this place was vanishing; so, some of the occupants felt like taking a piece of it literally.
However, I haven’t heard how the lift woman from “Motoare” terrace is keeping …
