focAR

focAR
Romanian artists collective

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biography
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Interview: 10 questions

1. Tell me something about your life and the educational background?

The idea of starting a group has arisen from our strong will to express and share around an artistic gesture in the Urban and Rural space.
Our projects are designed and structured around the identity of the individual chased by the consumarism and society, bringing in the spotlight the principles that keep this society going.
The group was founded in 2006 and consists of Alina Tudor and Razvan Neagoe.
I (Alina Tudor) was born in 1980 in Constantza, Romania. I graduated from Constantza High School of Arts in 1998. In between 1998 – 2002 I studied and graduated from National University of Art from Bucharest, Faculty of Applied Arts and Design, Ceramics Department. My Master Degree is in Visual Arts having been done in 2004 at the same University with the title “Identity”.
In between 1995-1996 I took part in the Monument “Bridge over Time” from Constantza (Author Wilhelm Demeter) and in 2006 I worked at “Memorial to Renascence, Monumental Ensemble dedicated to the memory of the 1989 Revolution and Its Heroes” from Bucharest (author Alexandru Ghildus).
During the period 2006-2009 I was an active member in Public and Comunitary Art Programme called “I love Bucharest”. I was involved in many projects, “Houses for Angels” that was directly coordinated by me. This mural painting is exhibited now at St Macrina Foundation in Bucharest.
Since 2002 I have been a member of Professional Visual Artists Union from Romania. I have been in London, UK since 2009 continuing my activity individually or as a part of our group using not only photography but also filming performance and installation, video art and ceramics.
I (Razvan Neagoe) was born in 1974 in Bucharest, Romania. I graduated from “Luceafarul” Arts Academy, Faculty of Painting in 2002. I successfully attended Post-Graduated Studies in National Art University, 2003. In between 2006-2009 I was an active member in “I love Bucharest” Programme. One of the most important project in which I took part was decorating the Bucharest North Tube Station.
I have been a member of Professional Visual Artists Union from Romania since 2002. Lately I have been in London, UK continuing working individually or in group in the fields of photography, performance, installation, video art and painting. I have appealed to many methods including the newest one, “work-in-progress” so much used nowadays.

2. When, how and why started you filming?

Starting from the moment our group was founded we felt that any activity (performance or idea) we got had to be filmed or taken photo of. Our projects usually have a documentary structure touching a cultural, social and political-economic side which requires lots of time. Filming or taking photos gets coherence. Our first project filmed and made in photos was in 2006 in an international symposium. At that time we wanted to develop the idea of the lost identity and the individual return into nature. Our wish was to combine the filmed performance with art installation.

3. What kind of subjects has your films?

Our projects are based on the individual identity chased by the consumption society bringing into discussion the working principles of this.

4. How do you develop your films, do you follow certain principles, styles etc?

Our projects direct us to choosing the style. The structure of each project directs us to a certain experimental approach. Among those who influenced us are Fluxus Group, Laurie Anderson and Geta Bratescu from Romania.

5. Tell me something about the technical equipment you use.

We usually use a Canon for taking photos and a Sony for filming.

6. What are the chances of new media for the genre film/video in general
and you personally?

There are many opportunities for promoting a movie nowadays. Ten or fifteen years ago the technology was not so advanced so the curators, the galleries and the museums weren’t as interested as they are now. We believe that new media is expected to increase thanks to improving technologies while visual experiments will be mostly work in progress.
We thoroughly prepare our projects. At present we experience everything that develops our capacity necessary to discover ourselves. We are very interested in film and video for what it offers us visually aesthetically.

7. How do you finance your films?

For the time being we have made only experimental films or simple video-performance using our finances. Depending on the projects we find sometimes sponsors.

8. Do you work individually as a video artist/film maker or do you work in a team? if you have experience in both, what is the difference, what do you prefer?

Starting from 2006 we had in view working together experimentally or individually with video films. We consider that working in a group artists might be constrained by the limits of the project, while individually the freedom of expression is obviously at everyone’s disposal. Anyway both methods are of great help in artist’s development making them more disciplined and more prepared for the future projects be they individual or group ones.

9. Who or what has a lasting influence on your film/video making?

We believe that it is difficult to identify a certain influence on us coming from different artistic movement or types of artists. Let’s not forget we come from Eastern European that laid a strong mark on us, we mean everything that happened there twenty years ago when we were children or young people: COMUNISM.

10. What are your future plans or dreams as a film/video maker?

At present we are developing a project wich we started in 2007, MOnuMENTS. We want the project to be a connection between Romania’s monuments and UK’s, a dialogue between rural and urban spaces, between different mentalities of different cultures and differents. The project resorts to periods, concepts like Urban, Rural, Urbanism, Comunism, Democracy, high proportions like stone, bronze, moulding history.

Can works of yours viewed online besides on VideoChannel? Where?
List some links & resources
Website: http://focar.artforclick.com/
Channel youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/focAR12
Channel vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/user3350815/videos