Bucharest. Matter and History. The public monument and its dystopias

13 public monuments in Bucharest, some disappeared, others still existing on their original site or moved, are the subject of a book and a remarkable audio-guide, initiated by the artist Anca Benera's study polarized by the exceptional state of the public monument.

The volume is based on a sum of cards turned into case studies. For each of the 13 public monuments, they note: the author, location, inauguration, monument typology, commission and choice of artist, person and constituent elements of the monument, dimensions, materials, inscriptions.

The audio guide offers a virtual tour through Bucharest at the 13 monuments: the Statue of Liberty/Romania Delivered, the Statue of Pake Protopopescu, the Statue of Ion C. Brătianu, the Statue of Lascăr Catargiu, the Statue of Eugeniu Carada, the Monument of the Heroes of the Teaching Corps, the Statue of Take Ionescu, the Monument of the Infantry, the Statue of King Ferdinand I, the Statue of I. V. Stalin and the Statue of Petru Groza.

The work is prefaced by an introductory word and two essays. The foreword, signed by Alina Șerban*, is convincingly entitled "Monuments and Moments". The essays address the innovation of the audio-guide format with a virtual tour and the semantics of public sculpture. The commentary entitled "Almost Utopia. How storytelling can create an alternative memory of public space. On Ana Benera's audio work" is written by Ellen Blumenstein*. The text, as the author states, is an incursion into the afterlife of the monuments of the public forum in Bucharest. A revisiting of the role of storytelling.

The second essay is written by Ioana Beldiman*. "Public Sculpture. Art and Destiny" starts from the seriousness of some anti-cultural gestures, which occur almost cyclically and consist in the destruction of public sculptures in Bucharest. Ioana Beldiman makes a subtle comment, pointing out that, along with the works of art, the demolition also destroys the aura they convey to the city.

* Anca Benera is a visual artist. She graduated from the National University of Arts, Bucharest. In 2002 she carried out a training internship at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. Co-founder of the Center for Visual Introspection, where he initiated the projects Publications of Independence in the Time of Repression and Freedom of Expression (2011), Making of (2011). He co-authored the public art project Ars Telefonica (2008)

* Alina Șerban. Art historian and curator. She graduated from the Faculty of Art History and Theory at the National University of Arts in Bucharest and Master in Visual Arts at the same university. She is a co-founding member of the Center for Visual Introspection in Bucharest.

* Ellen Blumenstein. Independent curator and co-founding member of the curatorial collective THE OFFICE. Area of specialization in the social functions of contemporary art.

* Ioana Beldiman. Lecturer at the National University of Arts, Bucharest, PhD in Visual Arts. Area of specialization in the history of Romanian museology, Romanian art of the 19th century and its interference with French art.