ICR Romanian Cultural Institute London

Attic Arts

Launched in November 2006, Attic Arts is a residency programme based at the Romanian Cultural Institute in London. It is open to Romanian professionals who develop projects in fields of visual art, architecture, design, literature, ethnography, journalism, cultural management, music, film, theatre, contemporary dance and new media.

The programme offers up to two months residence in the bohemian attic of the Institute at 1 Belgrave Square. Ensconced in a room with a view to Buckingham Palace, the Royal Albert Hall and the Serpentine Gallery, resident artists develop projects which are subsequently presented in the exhibition spaces of the Institute or on external venues throughout the UK.

During their residency, artists also have the opportunity to 'immerse' themselves in London's rich cultural life of exhibitions, festivals and concerts, meet fellow artists and make new friends.

Resident artists so far include:

Tudor Andrei, young violin student at the Royal Academy of Music, was the 'pilot' project of the Attic Arts programme. During his stay at the Institute, apart from intense rehearsals, he did exciting recitals at St. Martin-in-the-Fields and in a capsule of the British Airways London Eye to celebrate Europe Day.

He was followed by Andreea Valean, playwright and manager dramAcum. She worked with the Royal Court Theatre and the Writernet Association to develop contemporary dramaturgy projects in London and Bucharest.

The Liste Noir Group (Ioana Nemes and Maria Farcas) came up with a new interior design for the Institute, including exuberant contemporary interventions and inspired reconversions aimed to challenge the rather sedate and elegant Edwardian look of this 19th century building.

Dragos Olea (cultural manager, founder and president of the ADD Association), organised The Invisible Transfer of Signals, an energetic cocktail of British and Romanian artists, with explosive ideas on astrophysics, pulp fiction, film noir, criminology and other mishappenings.

Visual artist Matei Bejenaru brought Together over 200 Romanians in front of the Tate Modern Gallery for a video portrait shown at the Level 2 Gallery. The show went on with the artist's taking part in the group exhibition The Irresistible Force, at the same gallery.

Aneli Munteanu (visual artist) worked on a multimedia project about Fear, trauma and privacy, to be shown at Seven Seven Gallery in London, 5-21 June 2008.

Aura Balanescu (visual artist) created an incendiary installation, appropriately called WARMING!, at the Gallery of the European Commission in the UK. Prompted to action, firemen were surprised to fight… art.

Ramona Poenaru (visual artist) explored human interaction in public space to develop a new choreography of the everyday life based on Rudolf Laban's studies on movement. She shared her work at the Enescu Society concert by Ensemble Raro.

The next artist-in-residence is Peter Szabo. Starting in May, Peter will work on a collaborative project called What I Mostly Hate About Art together with the London City Mission.

We have a strong group of applicants in 2008 as well: many thanks for the sustained interest in this project. Given further refurbishment plans of the building, Attic Arts is currently on hold, expected to resume in June 2008. Watch this space!

Read more about the application details.