Photo: Julia Autz

Cosmos
Explorations in the Republic of Moldova and Transnistria

03.05.2017 –
24.05.2017

Chișinău or Kishinev, a place most people in Western Europe know little about, was the excursion destination in 2016 of a group of photography students from the Faculty of Design at the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences. Along with their lecturers, Andrea Diefenbach and Prof. Roman Bezjak, they spent two weeks exploring Moldova’s capital city and the surrounding region.

 

The exhibition “Cosmos – Explorations in the Republic of Moldova und Transnistria” is the result of the collaboration with local photographers and students at the academy of arts there. Up to the 24th of May the Marta Forum will present around 80 photographs from 16 students and the lecturers, showing the very different ways of exploring foreign places.

The selected photographs span a broad horizon from impressive portraits to expansive landscapes. The photographic view of the architecture also reflects the living conditions there. The Republic of Moldova, a landlocked state on the south-eastern periphery of Europe, enclosed by Romania and Ukraine, is largely a blind spot in the collective consciousness of Western Europe. Some of the students were drawn further afield to the region of Transnistria, which has been demanding independence from the Republic of Moldova since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The exhibition provides multi-layered insights into what life is like at the other end of Europe and attempts to shine a light on the blind spot.

Photographer

Lukas van Bentum, Julia Autz, Julia Gaes, Emilia Hesse, Annie Sprengelmeyer, Jasmin Teutrine, Janosch Boerckel, Tim Dechent, Bettina Ebert, Sally Plöger, Max Thesseling, Merle Burgey, Mats Karlsson, Roman Bezjak, Johannes Eslage, Neele Schedler, Vedad Divovic, Andrea Diefenbach

Thank you

In collaboration with University of Applied Science Bielefeld.

Marta partners
Many thanks to the Marta Herford Corporate Partners and Corporate Premium Partners as well as the Marta Fund for New Art for their ongoing support of our program.