Notes for a People's Atlas

Chisinau, Moldova
Pop. 664,700Chisinau is the capital city and economic and cultural center of Moldova. The city name refers to a spring around which it was built. Chisinau’s growth in the 20th Century was slowed by large scale destruction occurring in World War II, during which it was occupied by the USSR and then the Nazis, and a devastating earthquake in 1940. After WWII, Moldova was part of the USSR until independence in 1991, after which the city faced a turnover in national identity, as seen through the renaming of localities and street names. The city received international attention as the site of the May 2009 “Twitter Revolution” which indicated large scale discontent between generations and over the tension between national alegence to both Russia and Romania (representing a desire to one day join the European Union).

• Project Dates: April – December, 2010
• Project: CHIOSC
• Collaborating Partners: Oberliht Association, Vladimir Us, Nataša Bodrožić, Vadim Tîganas, ksa:k
• Notes: When members of Oberliht (aka Moldovan Young Artists Association) came to Chicago, they were looking for ideas about how to encourage large numbers of people to think about and collectively engage in research about public space in their city. They were interested in incorporating Notes for a People’s Atlas into CHIOSC, a series of events and activities dealing with the theme of public space and centered around a semi-permanent installation and public stage called the Flat Space designed by local artist and curator Stefan Rusu. They began to adapt NPA, calling it “Notes for a People’s Atlas of Public Space in Chisinau” and included the blank maps in PLIC (their monthly literary and art magazine) and handed them out at events taking place around the Flat Space. The organizers invited Dave Pabellon and Daniel Tucker from AREA to come to Moldova and lead some workshops and curate a video series about the ideas behind NPA so that the project would make a deeper impact. Over the course of that visit a fold-out poster with essays about NPA and the CHIOSC initiatives was produced and disseminated again through PLIC magazine. Oberliht members continue to produce NPA maps and develop their own projects stemming from these themes.

See the project page at http://atlasofchisinau.wordpress.com/