A Small Insignificant Love (exhibition)

Curated by Anja Lückenkemper
Tête Berlin
1-28 August 2018

With the exhibition “A Small, Insignificant Love” Larisa Crunțeanu delves into the emotional universe of the Romanian reality-telenovela Forbidden Love. Spanning over 8 years of weekly releases, the show presented cases of socially unacceptable romance, crossing boundaries of inter-generational romance, beauty and economic status. In 2016 Crunțeanu auditioned for the show and won the part of Petronela, a spoilt 30 year old struggling to accept her lover repeatedly leaving her for much older women.

Two years later Crunțeanu seeks out her former castmates to re-visit the experienced and performed drama of emotions, trying to negotiate the blurred line between real and fictitious emotions. Not unlike a therapeutic exercise, Crunțeanu develops forms of family constellations through interviews, re-enactments and the production of additional scenes, in order to find a form of closure for the characters and their actors likewise.

At tête Larisa Crunțeanu presents a first spatial visualisation of this complex of artistic works. In the exhibition space we encounter large portraits of the four main characters printed on vertical blinds: “The Cheated Lover”, “The Cheating Lover”, “The Cheating Father”, and “The Mistress of Both Father and Lover”. These portraits stage a re-appropriation and re-interpretation of the characters by the former cast. The characters reappear in a schmaltzy music video for a tear-jerker song mimicking the dramatic language of the original series. Here, Crunțeanu uses these emotion-triggering effects to capture and transport the viewer into the tragic world of Petronela’s insignificant love story.

“A Small Insignificant Love“ is a multidimensional project, including a feature length film still to be released.  (text by Anja Lückenkemper)

Crew:
Raya al Souliman – art director
Horațiu Șovăială – photography & camera
Iulian Stanciu – camera
Laurențiu Coțac – editing
Electric Brother – music producer
Alexandra Ungureanu – production manager

Project realised by the Copia Originala Association, and co-funded by AFCN (Administration of the National Cultural Fund).