Such a Lucky Day!, Bogdan Matei

Bogdan Matei's project starts from the idea of contacting by email the most important museums and galleries in the world to propose a personal exhibition without sending a portfolio of works. Apart from the name, the message does not provide any information about the sender. His action parodies situations in which strategies are more important than art production. He imagines the absurd possibility in which by short-cutting an artist would have a real chance to arouse the interest of the top galleries. Who wouldn't want to exhibit at MoMA or Tate Modern? Bogdan Matei has found the solution and he is generous, he shares it with all his colleagues. Anyone attending the event can reiterate his performance, changing in the text of the email only the name.

The condition of the emerging artist is a theme approached by Bogdan Matei with lucidity and irony. There are zero expectations, but the seduction of chance is strong enough to trigger the actions that defy the rules of the game. "Such a Lucky Day!" it is an innocent and undermining project at the same time. It reflects with amusement and relaxation a not at all amusing reality: the state of confusion and the contradictory experiences of the graduates in relation to the system of contemporary art. What kind of turmoils involve the desire and the need to integrate into a world that does not belong to you? How does one deal with this complicated and non-transparent network at the beginning of the road?

The artist raises these question marks using as means of expression the object and the participative action in which the internet has a important role. The object, a large banner with the text of the email written on it is made from a recovered bed sheet. Thus reference is made to the private sphere, to the domestic dimension of existence. The road from "From mama to MOMA" (the title given by Bogdan Matei to his bachelor degree) can be providentially marked by a click.

*Bogdan Matei is in his second year of master studies at the Faculty of Arts and Design from Timișoara. Starting with 2016 he had a constant exhibition activity. His most important participations include: ,,The Room" installation, Triade Foundation Timișoara, collateral project of Art Encouters Bienial, 2017; "Working Title 2", group show, MAGMA Contemporary Art Space, Sfântu Gheorghe, 2018; "Seeing Time", group show, Kunsthalle Bega, Timișoara, 2019. Also, in 2019 he was selected by the Faculty of Arts to take part in the Mulhouse Contemporary Art Biennale.

Curator: Maria Orosan-Telea