Exhibition curator: Florence Derieux
Ciprian Mureșan belongs to the generation of the post-Communist regime and is, in a post-conceptual manner, preoccupied with the historical and political fallout for his country, Romania.
Mureșan appropriates historical, social and cultural references (essentially artistic, literary and cinematographic), which he re-contextualizes. He analyses the mechanisms of cultural diffusion; the ambivalent, if not contrary relationships between memories of recent history and those of actual experience, in addition to the relationships between political power, religious power, and civil society. His works allude to iconic works from the history of modernity, while addressing questions ranging from the jolts of contemporary society and the fall of utopias to the impact of new technologies on our visual culture, by way of the fetishization of cartoons and the relationship of civil society to different forms of power. He deals with history, religion and art using simple gestures and methods from popular culture with the same quasi-expiatory manner, while restoring the importance of personal experience and expression.
On the occasion of his very first exhibition in France, Ciprian Mureșan will appropriate the exhibition space of the FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, bringing together the largest selection of works ever shown. Thus, he will introduce an original project that will extend over the ground floor, while the upper level will show works in a plurality both of created forms – film and video, photography, works on paper – and subjects treated by Mureșan.
This exhibition is co-produced by the FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, the Centre d’art contemporain Geneva (Switzerland) and the Contemporary Art Gallery Vancouver (Canada), where it will be presented in 2012.
Born in Dej in 1977, Ciprian Mureșan lives and works in Cluj-Napoca (Romania). His work has recently been exhibited at the Secession in Vienna, the NBK in Berlin, the Wyspa Institute of Art in Gdansk, at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, The Renaissance Society in Chicago, at the Centro Cultural Montehermoso in Vitoria, at Witte de With in Rotterdam and at The New Museum in New York. Ciprian Mure¸san also exhibited in the Romania Pavillon Roumain as part of the 53rd Venice Biennial and participated in the 17th Sydney Biennial. He is represented by Plan B in Cluj and Berlin, Andreiana Mihail Gallery in Bucharest, Nicodim Gallery in Los Angeles, Wilkinson Gallery in London and David Nolan Gallery in New York.