How are places remembered and interpreted? How can we open up a dialogue between past and present, between individual experiences and collective memories? I investigate the relationship between space and memory in cities affected by totalitarian interventions. Do official political narratives of a place reflect or contradict its collective and individual histories? How do artists interpret these histories and what is specific about their role?

I take as main case-study the central area of my hometown Bucharest, erased in the 1980s by the political regime of Ceausescu to build a new centre of power. Through interviews, writing and site-specific works I try to bring back forgotten memories to erased sites. I interpret memory drawings and use various mapping techniques to imagine a lost territory. I explore the relationship between image, space and voice through large-scale projections and live-readings.

Supervisors

Primary supervisors: Hayley Newman, Sharon Morris
Secondary supervisors: Ger Duijzings (University of Regensburg)