Such a Lucky Day! | Bogdan Matei

Bogdan Matei's project is based on 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. Aside from the name, the message provides no information about the sender. His action parodies situations in which strategies are more important than art production. He imagines the absurd possibility that, by taking a shortcut, an artist might 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 by changing only the name in the email text.

The condition of the emerging artist is one of the themes he addresses 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!" is at once an innocent and subversive project. It reflects, with irony and detachment, a reality that is far from amusing: the state of confusion and the contradictory experiences of the graduates in relation to the system of contemporary art. What kinds of turmoil accompany 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 an important role. The object, a large banner with the email's text written on it, is made from a repurposed bedsheet. Thus, reference is made to the private sphere, to the domestic dimension of existence. The journey from "From Mama to MoMA" (the title of his bachelor's project) may, providentially, be marked by a single click.

*Bogdan Matei is in his second year of master's studies at the Faculty of Arts and Design from Timișoara. Starting in 2016, he maintained a constant exhibition activity. His most important participations include: ,,The Room" installation, Triade Foundation Timișoara, collateral project of Art Encounters Biennial, 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