@Romanian Creative Week (2026)
“RO EXIT = NO
EXIT(S)” proposes a speculative modification of Romania’s geographic map. In the
work, the Carpathian Mountains are repositioned along the country’s
western border, forming a continuous barrier facing Europe. The gesture is
deliberately ironic, imagining the mountain range as a defensive wall meant to
protect the nation from a supposedly “decadent” West, echoing
contemporary separatist and isolationist rhetoric.
A 3D
rendering develops this scenario further. At sunset, the light coming from
the West is blocked by the artificial mountain wall, casting an extended shadow
over the entire territory and leaving the country in darkness.
The image
recalls not only the political and economic isolation of the communist period,
but also the material constraints that accompanied it, including curfews,
shortages, and restricted access to resources.
A second,
smaller-scale version extends the intervention through both the
transposition and vertical amplification of the mountain range. In this
iteration, the Carpathians are not only relocated but also dramatically scaled
along the height axis, becoming an exaggerated topographic barrier whose
disproportionate dimensions further emphasize the absurdity of the defensive
fantasy it embodies.
The project
also exists as a larger-scale sculptural version, measuring
approximately 175 cm in width, conceived specifically for outdoor
display. Installed with its orientation aligned to the actual cardinal
directions, the work is intended to be exhibited with its western edge
facing West. Under these conditions, the setting sun gradually casts the
shadow of the artificially relocated mountain range across the map, reproducing
in real space the scenario imagined in the digital rendering. As daylight
recedes, the territory is progressively covered by shadow, transforming a
speculative geopolitical gesture into a temporal and site-responsive event. Through a
minimal geographic displacement, the work turns national space into an experimental
model of political fantasy: a fabricated sense of threat justifies the
construction of a barrier that ultimately isolates the country from the very
space that contributed decisively to the development of its contemporary
infrastructure, institutions, and systems through European integration.