Text: Ștefan Ghenciulescu
Photo: Irina Pata
It is quite difficult to write an editorial about architecture and the city after the tragedy from Club Colectiv. The number of victims is growing, and among them there is a large number of architects and urban planners.
We at Zeppelin worked together with Cătălina Ioniţă and helped each other organize events and cultural projects, and we were just talking about promoting the architecture film festival “Urban Eye”. Rarely have I met a more gentle, more sincere and enthusiastic person. Her boyfriend, Mihai Alexandru, I knew less – we are many teachers at Mincu University. I knew he was a committed and responsible person; had I known that he was also playing in a rock band, I think I would have looked more intensely for him.
There is much more to be said about dear colleagues and students, but I do not intend this text to become an obituary. The disaster and its chain reactions have been covered so much already, I do not know what can be added. The revolt and sadness that pushed us out in the streets have had immediate repercussions and, it seems, they have a good chance to change things on the long term. I won’t talk about agitation, multiple voices, governments, political unrest and the like, we shall see what will be left, what will be really fertile, what is going to be diverted and used, what will really change. Much less visible, but perhaps more important, are grassroots movements and groups, who assume the change of specific things. Speaking of our profession, I have high expectations from the civic groups of professionals that are now trying to change the rules (and not just in fire protection), to help and not just throw a stone, to have a different kind of attitude. It’s a good moment, energies are growing, and volunteers with a vision are more necessary than ever. Perhaps the outrage can trigger responsibility, cohesion and long-term action. I do not cherish the illusion that the local administration, for example, and all public institutions will actually go through a truly moral crisis and will generate their own change. But, instead of complaining all the time under our breath, we can keep pushing and come up with proposals and positive actions.
And there is something else. Multi-leveled irresponsibility caused the tragedy. But already among the first reactions, I saw extremely aggressive messages to the independent culture in general, to the initiatives that are carrying on down to the last penny. They are being pushed by accusations next to the shady or oblivious club owners. Just as the earthquakes have served as an excuse for Ceauşescu to tear down Bucharest, today there is a temptation to mistake the compliance of rules – that should have been imposed a long time ago – for revenge on all the old buildings, on the people who are trying to save them or an entire cultural movement. Laws should be strictly obeyed – this is an absolute principle.Yet we must not allow the enemies of independent culture culture and the cultural heritage to use this incident for their own agenda.
