Contrasens Cultural Association presents a new project with a social stake, entitled On Her Side and curated by Dana Sarmeș and Simona Constantin. The project is an interdisciplinary approach that deals with issues such as violence, aggression and women abuse, having several components: artistic research and production, an exhibition, and education through an extensive programme of mediation and documentation.
On Her Side speaks about the intersectionality of violence revealed in the exposure of women’s experiences and their needs, also referring to a subjective context in which race, ethnicity, class, culture and nationality play a crucial role in the support that authorities provide to women in distress. We can talk about violence as a tool for exercising power, coercion and repression in the current social and political context influenced by the desire for power, territorial expansion and monopoly. Consequently, violence cannot be controlled by rules, laws, social conduct or humanist ideals. It insinuates itself passively and cruelly into a world tainted by trauma and dehumanization. Violence can take various forms: physical, verbal, social, religious, political, invisible and visible, the body being the barometer we use to measure its manifestations.
The exploration of the human body and matter comes from the artists’ quest for knowledge and self-knowledge. The body is the intermediary between our self and the world, it helps us to perceive society, which shapes and defines it in its turn. It is also considered to be one of the most impactful and powerful tools of expression in the visual arts, a key point in all artistic movements throughout the history of art. In contemporary art, the human body is perceived as an entity, the point of convergence for several factors such as rationalism, natural functionality, mental disorders and cultural desires, all shaped by society. Therefore, we can say that it is visible through cultural, affective, social and intellectual perception. The human body, the primary material to which man continuously relates in the immediate reality, undergoes changes in perception and function, becoming an essential instrument for shaping man’s attitude towards his own existence.
The body that mirrors violence is the research and development basis of the On Her Side project. It is the starting point of an artistic discussion about violence and women’s status in society and history, an interdisciplinary project with a social stake against young girl and women abuse.
The exhibiting artists are Liliana Basarab, Irina Botea Bucan, Ciprian Chirileanu, Claudiu Cobilanschi, Suzana Dan, Jon Dean, Simona Homorodean, Pusha Petrov, Lea Rasovszky, Renée Renard, Ioana Stanca and Iulia Toma. The Contrasens Cultural Association project also has an activist graphics section. More than 30 posters about violence against women will be displayed in the public space.
On Her Side approaches and debates major issues of our contemporary society. It is a cultural event that connects distinct artistic visions for the purpose of heightening awareness of the fragile relationship between vulnerability and power.
