"Birds" modeling and drawing competition

28.11.2024

At the beginning of last year my colleagues and I from SALVARTE Association were confronted with the loss of our local identity without being able to understand or assimilate it as a community. This situation motivated us to initiate a collaboration with the "Mihai Eminescu" Secondary School in Costinești to guide the children to know more than we did last winter.

We felt necessary to think of an initiative to cultivate awareness and love for the place. Thus, through a series of activities we were able to find the implementation of a practice of implementing values related to a specific theme and applied to the elements of the children's immediate universe. These programs felt the need to wed these programs with an event on the subject of our main concern, the statuary ensemble of Costinești.

We found suitable as a propagator of our enthusiasm and intentions to the community a competition of scale models and drawing on the theme of statues.

Thanks to a fortunate overlap between the history classes that dealt with socialism in Romania in the 8th grade, we also had a favorable climate for contextualizing our space in time. In the happy context in which a contest would come as an interactive complement to traditional education on a topic that is becoming topical in the community, we managed to involve several local stakeholders and had the pleasure of working with them in organizing the event.

The event aimed to have a general impact on stakeholders of all kinds by involving them in the organization of the event and by participating in activities in order to broaden the horizon and develop a better understanding of the real potential for sustainable development.

Points proposed through activities:

• Modeling and drawing competition involving representation following contemplation and documentary study of the works;
• Practical demonstrations of 3D printing organized by school children to promote them in the local community;
• Democratization of the arts through public cultural events in the form of a public opera concert by Flavius Cărlănaru, a guided tour and to elucidate the local context through discussions with our guests on the theme of belonging to the place from as different perspectives as possible;
• Explaining directly, our intentions and the importance of the ensemble, as well as instilling values for a sustainable development of the cultivation of the place where we carry out our work and daily life.
• The discussions of the guests with the audience had a special touch, it succeeded in demonstrating how Costinești does not exist only in summer and remains alive through the people who shape through its prism.

This personal dimension is due to the personal interactions had by all those present with the resort at key moments in their existence and in the resort's development, episodic or permanent. ARCHÉ represented by dr. arh. Anca Majaru who made an imaginative exercise with the theme "Costineștiul ca joc video" and "How can we show our visitors the valuable face of the resort" and dr. prof. univ. Alina Chiciudean who helped the children to get closer to the children's affective mind and to understand the attachment they have to their native place. Emil Cristian Ghiță, cultural manager and president of the Visual Arts Forum association spoke about the importance of artist communities. Dr. Radu Fulga, the writer of the booklet "Signals on the Shore" and of several articles, all concerned with the state of the artistic ensemble of Costinești, put into context the development of the resort during the socialist period and managed to formally underline the importance of the ensemble. Feihong Pascu, captivated the audience with his exhortation to think critically about the built and social environment.

The events that we hold in this place have the ultimate goal of diminishing the need to escape from a space that seems alien, emphasizing local values and infusing the inhabitants with a love of place. Costinești is a rich community with a lot of potential, with numerous and varied social actors and economic agents, but it has gone through extensive changes and has a complex social morphology in the context of the summer season that changes the paradigm of community dynamics and creates experiences that may seem uncapturable. In the hope that perhaps, one day, initiatives of this kind that seem foreign will be replaced by a sustainable development, a sustainable community.

Author: Andrei Piciu

November 7, 2024

We are expecting you at the first public event of the partnership between SALVARTE and "Mihai Eminescu" Secondary School on November 13, 2024 between 10:00 and 16:00

Admission is free for everyone!

We expect you to:

• Active participation in the jury;
• Insights from our guests;
• An opera recital;
• Informative exhibition;
• The guided tour in Costinești resort.

The model and drawing contest "Birds" is organized by SALVARTE and "Mihai Eminescu" Gymnasium School. SALVARTE Association carries out research, conservation and promotion of the cultural heritage of Costinești.

Partners: ARCHÉ, Architectura Magazine, Psychologist Elena Vranciu, "Mihai Eminescu" Gymnasium School.

Special thanks to the members of the communities of Costinești and Schitu who support this event and to our guests who have shown a real interest in the Costinești artistic ensemble.

We are looking forward to your participation in our activities and to clarifying together the dynamics of the phenomenon that made Costinești to be designated as a youth resort.

With friendship,
Mihai Eminescu Secondary School and SALVARTE