Romania should concern itself with protecting and capitalising on its cultural heritage, Chairman of the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) Radu Boroianu told an international conference on Tuesday on the importance of contemporary arts in advancing Romania's immobile cultural heritage, hosted by ICR and organised by the Association for Cultural Advancement and Civic Responsibility in partnership with ICR.
"The entire Romania is crying! It is wailing! The unknown archaeological heritage, still buried underground, is crying as well. As if somebody were keeping us from understanding its value when unearthed. (...) With all its obtuseness and mind set on money, the Romanian administration should nonetheless be convinced that investing in a big archaeological site, for instance in Orastie Mts., say one hundred plus million US dollars, would generate huge profits for Romania," said Boroianu.
He said the relationship between contemporary arts and historic structures is wrongly construed, because joys like contemporary art works are housed by historic structure that are about to collapse.
"Starting from the example of Stirbei Palace on Victoriei Road, I can tell you that my stomach churns when I witness the number of exhibitions mounted there - fashion, design and many other shows. It even hosted once a contemporary arts biennale. Because, apparent, there is a trend in the world that these unconventional spaces better showcase contemporary demarches, to the detriment of the structures' safety. That is not so! By contemporary standards, derelict streets are showcased so that they may garner attention sometime," said Boroianu.
He called terrible deception his failure as a high-ranking official with the Culture Ministry to protect Assan's Mill in central Bucharest City, arguing that under the legislation defending ownership and property "we only paved a large way toward horrifying abuses by all sorts of individuals of dubious origins (...) who think of themselves as entitled to demolish structures that mean something to the community and the city."
"I mentioned the Assan's Mill because there has been crusade going on for years for the Assan's Mill that led nowhere. You still cannot enter the place because abusive owners apparently defend their property, and the government seems paralysed, at a loss for methods, although even with a precarious law back then something could have been done, had there been more courage and determination," said Boroianu.
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