My approach is focussed on the creation of urban ‘situations’ and the role of architect in processes of co-production of space and urban resilience. This approach is enhanced by my urban activism engagement in community activation projects using cultural means, participatory methods of co-designing public spaces and campaigns for a resilient and nature-friendly city.
I have done academic and practice-based research starting with my thesis which is a PhD based on my own work. In my thesis I re-evaluate the concepts of Situationist International movement using my practice as study case. During my education, I was active in Architectural Students’ Association - A.St.A Cluj, co-organizing, curating and coordinating in 2007 and 2009, ‘The Days of Architecture’ Biennale.
Starting from 2009 I worked as an architect and independent researcher in European funded projects.
Books
Forma urmeaza situatiei
RO:
Volumul pune în discuție teoriile grupării de avangardă Internaționala Situaționistă și analiza unor proiecte experimentale de intervenție în spațiul public din Cluj-Napoca, concepute și analizate prin prisma acestor teorii. Cartea are ca bază cercetarea autorului elaborată în perioada 2013-2017 în cadrul studiilor doctorale, intenția studiului fiind aceea de a trata în paralel cercetarea teoretică și analiza unor acțiuni directe, în teren.
Cercetarea analizează relevanța teoriilor situaționiste pentru fenomenele și practicile contemporane experimentate de grupurile de inițiativă urbană din Cluj-Napoca – autorul fiind unul dintre promotorii acestor grupuri –, felul în care pot fi privite aceste experimente folosind perspectiva situaționistă și aportul acestei poziții de lecturare la descifrarea acțiunilor urbane propuse de grupurile de inițiativă neguvernamentale. Concluziile studiului urmăresc raportarea experimentelor urbane contemporane la utopia situaționistă și modul în care inițiatorii acestora văd implicarea lor directă în intervenții în cadrul urban, inspirate de teoriile situaționiste.
Proiectele prezentate și analizate ca studii de caz sunt:
• „La Terenuri. Spațiu comun în Mănăștur” • un proiect de activare urbană a unui spațiu verde neglijat de autorități, situat în Mănăștur, cel mai mare cartier clujean.
• „Parcul Est” • intervenție care pornește de la un parc proiectat în anii ’80 pentru zona de est a Clujului, care este în pericol să ajungă imposibil de implementat din cauza presiunii intereselor imobiliare private. Prin acest proiect, inițiatorii atrag atenția asupra nevoii acute de spații verzi în cartierele Clujului;
• acțiuni pe Someș • o serie de proiecte care propun activități pe malurile râului Someș, râu ce traversează centrul orașului Cluj-Napoca și a cărui prezență a fost multă vreme ignorată în viața orașului. Inițiatorii proiectului militează pentru colonizarea malurilor și integrarea cursului de apă în viața urbană.
Cartea a fost publicată cu sprijinul Ordinului Arhitecților din România din timbrul arhitecturii.
ENG:
This paper is based on the research undertaken between 2014-2017 as part of doctoral studies at the Cluj-Napoca Technical University School of Architecture and Urban Planning, supervised by Architect Dana Vais, PhD. We aimed to produce a paper that draws on both theoretical research and activity in the field. The topic on the table is a discussion of the theories put forth by the Situationist International avant-garde movement, analyzing three experimental projects for intervening in the public space in Cluj through the prism of this theory. The questions the paper is based on are: what is the relevance of situationist theories for these contemporary phenomena and practices; how can these experiments be seen using the situationist perspective; what does this reading bring in addition?
The book has 344 pages, 255 illustrations, 16 diagrams, 2 blueprints and an abstract in English.
cARTier. Peripheral Interventions
Is it (still) possible for art to change society? And if yes, what ethics and methodologies are required for this? These are some of the problems and questions that we had to deal with in the four years since Colectiv A coordinates the “La Terenuri [At the Playgrounds] – Common Space in Mănăştur” initiative. To some we managed to answer by testing them on the ground, to others there are answers from other urban actors, who already went through what will be coming for us as well. We consider this publication as a comparison and a dialogue between methodologies applied in the Mănăştur neighborhood and other similar cases in Romania and Europe. We created a collection of critical texts on these alternative practices and processes, which proved themselves to be effective at the periphery, that is, outside of the city center full of festivals and beyond the arts placed either in a white or in a black box. We are interested in how art could activate communities and urban spaces, how it could contribute to the real modeling of the physical and the social space of the city.
BOOK CHAPTERS AND ARTICLES
PRACTICE BASED RESEARCH
2017 - 2018 coordinator of ‘OUR STREAM’ FROM LA TERENURI [AT THE PLAYGROUNDS] – COMMON SPACE IN MĂNĂȘTUR DISTRICT – participatory project based on socio-anthropological analysis of an area from Mănăștur district and interventions using means of street art, architecture and landscape architecture design and build workshops and public debates. Coordinators: Initiative Group of Citizens for Mănăștur District, Colectiv A Association / Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Funded by Cluj Cultural Centre (CCC).
2012 - 2018 coordinator of LA TERENURI [AT THE PLAYGROUNDS] – COMMON SPACE IN MĂNĂȘTUR – interdisciplinary project that integrates public art, landscape architecture, gardening, performing art and socio-anthropological analysis in the biggest neighbourhood in Cluj. Coordinators: Landscape Choreography, Colectiv A Association / Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Co-funded by EU Culture, Romanian Ministry of Culture, Administration of Romanian National Cultural Fund (2012-2014), Municipality of Cluj-Napoca (2014-2016) and Cluj Community Foundation (2015).
2015 - 2017 coordinator of CINEMA DACIA – MĂNĂȘTUR CENTRAL - participatory project working on building up a cultural programming for a cultural centre by integrating residents’ productions in an old refurbished communist cinema in Mănăștur neighbourhood, part of Actors of Urban Change Network/ Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Co-funded by Robert Bosch Foundation and the Municipality of Cluj-Napoca.
2017 - 2018 coordinator of CULT.TRUST – urban and social change through art - project working on the role of art practice in the mass housing neighbourhoods Măraști and Mănăștur in Cluj. Project managed by Colectiv A Association Cluj. Funded by Administration of Romanian National Cultural Fund.
2014 - 2015 coordinator of CLOSE TO SOMEȘ - socio-cultural activation of the Someș River / Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Funded by Propaganda Creative Services.