DIPLOMA 2019 registered over 10,000 unique visitors

29.10.2019

DIPLOMA, the national festival for young artists, a project initiated by The Institute and inspired by UniCredit Bank, registered more than 10,000 unique visitors at this year's edition, which took place from October 11-20 in the historic monument building at 3 Str. C.A. Rosetti.

The DIPLOMA Festival presented to the general public the best graduation works of the next generation of artists and creatives, such as fine arts, decorative arts, architecture and design, before their authors become famous.

The exhibition brought together more than 120 works by young artists graduating from creative-vocational faculties across the country, with the selection of projects made by a creative board that this year consisted of more than 40 seniors in the creative fields: architects, designers, gallery owners, cultural managers, urban planners, photographers, stylists, editors, copywriters, entrepreneurs, graphic artists, active professionals dedicated to their field.

This year's exhibition design is again by Attila KIM Architects.

In addition, to mark the strategic partnerships with leading Romanian universities, DIPLOMA 2019 included three capsule exhibitions dedicated to the West University of Timisoara, the National University of Arts Bucharest, and the University of Arts and Design of Cluj Napoca.

The festival also featured a series of Diploma Talks, which brought the success stories of experienced entrepreneurs and creatives to the participants: Anatomy of a Creative Business, The Romanian Art Market and How to Practice the Profession of Architect.

The festival program also included a linocut printed stickers workshop with Maria Bălan, by feeder.ro x DIPLOMA. The workshop aimed to explore art as a means of urban regeneration, using street art to mark favorite places in Bucharest, the city becoming a collective canvas.

During the 10-day festival, visitors to the exhibition had access to part of the first specialized library of the Design Department of the Faculty of Decorative Arts and Design at the National University of Arts in Bucharest, acquired with the help of UniCredit Bank, as well as Doina Popescu, Valerie Răcilă van Groningen, Ștefan Iordache and Mihai Păunescu. Visitors even had the opportunity to donate books on design, art, architecture and communication directly to the festival for young students. Igloo media, Zeppelin Magazine, Roxana Gamarț and the Center for Documentary Photography joined the initiative.

The end of the festival was marked by a Closing Party DIPLOMA x feeder.ro, an event organized in the central space, with DJ set prepared by Piktor and Eirwud Mudwasser and live painting by Irina Mocanu.

In the context of the festival, a series of related events were also organized to bring the young artists' creations, works and concepts closer to as many people as possible.

Until the start of the national festival of young artists, DIPLOMA 2019, a small selection of the works included in the central exhibition could be admired on the fence of the National Art Museum of Romania, in a photo exhibition entitled About the Future.

At the same time, this year's DIPLOMA exhibition hosted a work included in the third edition of the ARTA at the Entrance project - Buzu, a mixmedia installation, #Fast food #fast wound. The project, initiated by the Cultural Association Neo Art Romania, in partnership with Galateca Gallery, proposes an innovative alternative, through contemporary art, to familiarize a diverse public with Romanian visual art, bringing the creations of Romanian artists to the border between inside and outside.

Galateca's curatorial team will select some of the works entered in DIPLOMA 2019 to be part of the following editions of the Art Supermarket project, a concept and program initiated by the art gallery. The selection is just the first step in an approach developed by the organizers to create opportunities for young art graduates.

Three young artists from Diploma 2019, Andrei Reg, Andrei Măceșanu and Fernando Diaconu, decorated three bins in their own style as part of the Replastic Art project, signed by The Institute and Lidl Romania, an artistic manifesto to support the separate collection and recycling of plastic waste. DIPLOMA therefore encouraged recycling throughout the event, with special receptacles for all types of waste being made available to visitors in the central area.

In the DIPLOMA X Printoteca Pop-up Shop on Lipscani 3, four young artists from DIPLOMA were selected to transform their works from the exhibition into textile prints - Alisa Maria Matei (Z1/Z7), Bogdan Craiu (Tom in limbo), Mathias-Ovidiu Bar (Société Impromptu) and Miruna Gheordunescu (Poftă de Nimic). The textiles printed with their works were also accessible on the opening night, thanks to the Printoteca van.

The exhibition Bianca before Bianca Mann, a project by The Institute inspired by UniCredit Bank and realized with the support of Mobius Gallery in the context of DIPLOMA, traces the artist's journey from DIPLOMA 2015, when she exhibited her installation PERSONA, to the present, going through the main stages of its development.

This year's DIPLOMA partner universities were: National University of Arts Bucharest | Faculty of Decorative Arts and Design, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Arts and Design Cluj-Napoca | Faculty of Decorative Arts and Design, Faculty of Fine Arts, National University of Arts "George Enescu" Iași | Faculty of Visual Arts and Design, University of Oradea | Faculty of Arts, Facultatea de Construcții și Arhitectură, Universitatea Politehnică Timișoara | Facultatea de Arhitectură și Urbanism, Universitatea de Științe Agronomice și Medicină Veterinară din București | Facultatea De Horticultură, Universitatea Tehnică din Cluj-Napoca | Facultatea de Arhitectură și Urbanism, Universitatea Tehnica "Gh. Asachi" Iași | Faculty of Architecture G. M. Cantacuzino and West University of Timișoara | Faculty of Arts and Design.

DIPLOMA 2019 partners:

A project: The Institute

Inspired by: UniCredit Bank

Co-producer: Bucharest City Hall through Expo Arte Cultural Center

Partners: Absolut, illy, Liliac, San Marco

Cultural partners: Galateca, Mobius Gallery, National Art Museum of Romania

Strategic media partners: Rock FM, Radio Romania Cultural, feeder.ro

Media partners: Arhitext, Designist, Glamour, Igloo, IQads, Modernism, Molecule F, Atelierul magazine, RFI Romania, Șapte seri, V Fair, TPS ENGAGE, Zeppelin, Zile și Nopți.

Exhibition design: Attila Kim Architects

Graphic design: Radu Manelici (Faber Studio)

Communication Concept: Gavrilă & Asociații

Official suppliers: 360Revolution, DjSuperStore, kaustik, ove.ro

Monitoring partner: mediaTRUST Romania

For further information, please contact: Ana Păun, ana.paun@institute.ro,

0723 750 722.