Full Circle, Half Circle
September 4, 2026 – November 4, 2026
, Stefan Ungureanu,
, Schugar Rotariu
"In the year 2000, when we are no longer children, we will make a reality of what we once envisioned; we will turn all our bold dreams into reality."
This was the chorus of a communist propaganda song that promised a bright future full of glorious deeds. This future was to be realized by the generation born in the 1970s and 1980s. Communism promised a new kind of human being, complete emancipation, and a paradise to be established on earth.
After the 1989 revolution, the outlook for the future remained optimistic—but now liberation was to take place on both the political and technological fronts. Ștefan Ungureanu belongs to a generation whose youth was shaped by a political optimism fueled by the exercise of newly won liberal democracy. At the same time, the new digital world was emerging and functioned equally on the basis of a positivist conception of progress driven by computer technology. Video games became the new narratives that gave rise to collective daydreams and fantasies in the imaginations of young people.
Gradually, however, with the dawn of the new millennium, optimism gave way to concern. Paradise showed the first signs of decay, and the worm of doubt began to undermine hopes for a wonderful future. The works in this exhibition are Ștefan Ungureanu’s attempts to reassemble the dream of a radiant future, while at the same time acknowledging the melancholic realization that there is always a hidden shadow within this idyllic image.