NTB Conferences

In the month in which the "I.L. Caragiale" National Theatre from Bucharest marks 170 years since its founding, originally known as "The Great Theatre", in the year in which the 170th anniversary of Ion Luca Caragiale's birth and the 110th anniversary of his death were celebrated, on Sunday December 18, 2022, at noon, a conference will be held by the writer, critic and literary historian, professor at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest, Ion Bogdan Lefter, entitled Caragiale in theatre and everywhere. Now, as always since he wrote his plays and other texts and since they are read and performed by his followers, we have a duty to reinterpret his work and to reflect on his "role" in the "play" in which we all "play", accompanying him in the theatre and everywhere... We invite you to the building where, for almost 50 years, under the hat of Nenea Iancu, on Nicolae Bălcescu Boulevard, number 2, the spectators are attracted by a high class theatre, and the plays of the famous playwright are interpreted by some of the most renowned actors of the Romanian theatre under the most prestigious directorial signatures. We are waiting for you on Sunday morning at the conference, in the foyer on the 1st floor of the "Ion Caramitru" Hall.  Admission is free.   Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu 

Maia Morgenstern, Medeea Marinescu, Emilia Popescu, Florin Piersic, George Mihăiţă, Alexandru Repan, Marius Manole, Ştefan Bănică, Demeter András,  Pavel Bartoş, are the actors who have joined or are returning in 2022 in the project A Hand for the Poet. The new module, a production of The Culture Club Cultural Association, in partnership with Pro Contemporania, with the support of JTI, will be officially launched on September 27, 2022, at 12.00 pm, at the National Theatre from Bucharest, in the presence of some of the most important actors in the cast of the new season A Hand for the Poet is a unique project to promote Romanian classical and modern poetry for local and international audiences and can be accessed online at aplauzepentrupoet.thecultureclub.ro or ahandforthepoet.thecultureclub.ro. Launched in 2021, it consists of a series of video acting recitals that highlight poetic milestones in the Romanian culture. This year, pages dedicated to the poets Miron Radu Paraschivescu, recited by Ștefan Banică, Nina Cassian - poems read by Medeea Marinescu, Benjamin Fondane and Paul Celan, verses interpreted by Maia Morgenstern, Emil Brumaru, in very different versions, signed by Medeea Marinescu and Marius Manole, Gellu Naum, translated by Marius Manole or Traian Demetrescu, revealed by Pavel Bartoș. Among the new releases, a special position is occupied by Florin Piersic's recital, which adds to the existing pages with poems by Coșbuc and Minulescu, but also opens new pages with verses by Adrian Păunescu, Leonida Lari, Costache Ioanid, Dominic Stanca. The lyric poetry of Ion Minulescu, George Topârceanu, Tudor Arghezi, Lucian Blaga, Marin Sorescu or Mihai Eminescu enjoys new interpretative approaches, adding other poems from their volumes. Other novel elements are moments of Romanian poetry translated into French - performed by Emilia Popescu - or into Hungarian - performed by Demeter András. Together with the English versions already available on the portal, they broaden the international scope of the project. The recitals, filmed during 2021 and 2022, are prefaced by a brief written introduction for each poet and illustrated with archival photographs, manuscript excerpts and bilingual commentary on their poetic art. It should be recalled that the actors Ion Caramitru, Mircea Rusu, Emilia Popescu, Andras Istvan Demeter, Mihaela Rădescu, Alex Ștefănescu, Cătălin Frăsinescu, and in a second stage Victor Rebengiuc, Mariana Mihuț, Rodica Mandache, Mihai Mălaimare, Constantin Chiriac, Cristian Șofron participated in the filming in 2021, some of the poems being presented in English, read by Michael Pennington and Anamaria Marinca. The initiative is both an act of restitution and an approach to support a cultural field marginalized in contemporary times, enhancing poetry through the art of acting, speaking, image. A Hand for the Poet will be continued with other big names, aiming to contribute to a better knowledge of the most important classical and modern Romanian poets, in their original form, but also through established translations in English and French, all in a manner accessible to today's audience, for whom the main cultural vehicle is the internet. The project was produced by a team coordinated by Ovidiu Miculescu - general producer and Oltea Șerban-Pârâu - executive producer. The filming of the 2022 session took place within the ArCuB and CreART halls, the productions being signed by Virgil Oprina - director of photography / editing, Attila Vizauer - artistic director. Producer: The Culture Club With the support of: JTI Main partner: Pro Contemporania Cultural partnerships: University of Bucharest, National Museum of Romanian Literature, Romanian Cultural Institute, National Theatre of Bucharest, ArCuB - Cultural Projects Centre of the Municipality of Bucharest, CREART - Centre for Creation, Art and Tradition of the Municipality of Bucharest, University of Bucharest, National Museum of Romanian Literature, Romanian Cultural Institute.   Media partners: Radio România Cultural, Radio România Regional, România TV, Liternet, Agentiadecarte, Mediatrust, Webcultura aplauzepentrupoet.thecultureclub.ro ahandforthepoet.thecultureclub.ro 2022 presentation spot https://youtu.be/KuPDQ8OWE5M   JTI is among the first multinational companies to invest locally since 1993, being recognized for supporting the most important cultural events in Romania: FITS, TIFF, SoNoRo, Fairytale Tours - classical music in small towns. JTI is also the official sponsor of Gigi Căciuleanu Romania Dance Company.  The JTI meetings, which have become a national cultural brand for contemporary dance, reached this year their 23rd edition "giving consistency to our artistic life". In the inclusion efforts of the last period, JTI supports the projects COOLsound.ro - online about the Romanian independent scene and A Hand for the Poet. Special thanks to: Mrs. Gilda Lazăr, Head of Corporate Affairs & Communications, JTI Romania, Moldova & BulgariaProfessor Dr. Liviu Papadima, Prorector of the University of BucharestMr. Ioan Cristescu, Director al Muzeului Naţional al Literaturii RomâneMrs. Mihaela Păun, Director ArCuB – Cultural Projects Centre of the Municipality of BucharestMrs. Claudia Popa, Director CREART – Centre for Creation, Art and Tradition of the Municipality of BucharestMr. Mircea Rusu, acting General Director of the National Theatre Bucharest   Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu 

Online video     Sunday, April 21, at 11.00, at the NTB's Small Hall, Mr. State Secretary Bogdan Aurescu will hold a conference on National interest and the actuality of sovereignty. Romania's foreign policy and the paradigm of the winner. Ticket price: 16 lei. About the conference Is the concept of national interest still current in a world which is profoundly globalized and acutely interdependent? What is national interest? Is the state sovereignty still necessary and, if so, how does it look like nowadays? What is national interest for Romania in terms of foreign policy? What are the means by which Romania's national interest, from the point of view of foreign policy, can be done better, more efficiently? Can we use the lessons learned so far from major foreign policy files that Romania has done well? Can we talk about - or build - a "paradigm of the winner" in Romania's foreign policy? The conference on National interest and the actuality of sovereignty. Romania's foreign policy and the paradigm of the winner will try to answer, with arguments, these questions. Bogdan Aurescu About Bogdan Aurescu With a career in diplomacy, Bogdan Aurescu works in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1996, starting his work in the Legal and Treaties Division, as a diplomatic relations referent. Between 1998 and 2003 he was successively Minister Counsellor in the Cabinet, Deputy Director of Legal and Treaties, Director of Cabinet, Director of Legal and Treaties / International Law and Treaties, General Director of the General Directorate of Legal Affairs. During 2003-2004 he held in the Foreign Ministry, the office of Secretary of State - Government Agent for the European Court of Human Rights, and between 2004-2005, the office of Secretary of State for European Affairs. Starting in September 2004, Bogdan Aurescu was Romania's Agent for the International Court of Justice, coordinating - throughout the proceedings - the activity of the team representing Romania in the trial with Ukraine at the International Court of Justice, concerning the Maritime Delimitation in the Black Sea, finalized on February 3, 2009. Bogdan Aurescu was appointed Secretary of State for Strategic Affairs in the Foreign Ministry on February 4, 2009. During august 2010 - February 2012 he was the Secretary of State for European Affairs, coordinating also the Security Policy Department. In the period March-June 2012 he was the Secretary of State for Global Affairs. Since June 2012, he is the Secretary of State for Strategic Affairs. He currently has the diplomatic rank of minister-plenipotentiary. He is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration from The Hague, substitute member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) of the Council of Europe, substitute representative of Romania in the Danube Commission and Referee appointed by Romania in accordance with Article 2 of Annex VII at the ONU Convention on the Law of the Sea. He is president of the International Law Association's Section of International Law and International Relations of the Romanian Branch of the "International Law Association" (London), editor of the magazine Revista Română de Drept Internaţional and member of the Editorial Board of the magazine Curierul Judiciar. Bogdan Aurescu is, since 2012, an associate professor in the Faculty of Law, at the University of Bucharest (where he taught and teaches Public International Law, Diplomatic and Consular Law, Organizations and International Relations, International Jurisdictions, Law of Treaties and International Law and Practice of Negotiations for the Protection of Minorities). He debuted in teaching in 1998 (assistant professor 2002-2004, lecturer 2004-2012). He taught and still teaches Public International Law and the Law of Treaties and in other academic institutions such as the Diplomatic Academy / Romanian Diplomatic Institute, the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, respectively, from 2004, the course on International Jurisdictions at the Masters Program of International and European Law at the University "Nicolae Titulescu" from Bucharest. In July 2006 he was visiting professor at the Faculty of Law, from the University of Hamburg, in the ERASMUS Teaching Staff Mobility. Bogdan Aurescu has received the title of Doctor of Laws, specializing in law, with the score "very good" and the distinction "summa cum laude", for the thesis the Concept of Sovereignty and the Supremacy of International Law (2003). He graduated from the National College "St. Sava" (1992), the Faculty of Law (1996, Diploma of Merit) and History (1998) of the University of Bucharest, the Franco-Romanian Institute of Business Law and International Cooperation "Nicolae Titulescu - Henri Capitant" (1996) and the National Defence College from Bucharest (2000). In 2002 he received the MFA's "Certificate of Merit for outstanding contribution to Romania's diplomatic activity." He was awarded the National Order of Faithful Service in the rank of Knight (2002), the Order of Diplomatic Merit in the rank of Knight (2007), the National Order Star of Romania in the rank of Knight (2009), the Commander Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2009) and the National Order of the Star of Romania in the rank of Officer (2013). He is the author, co-author or coordinator of a total of 13 volumes in international law, 26 chapters and studies published in books and volumes of specialized international conferences and over 80 articles, studies, commentaries, reviews published in Romanian and foreign magazines, such as Revista Română de Drept Internaţional, Analele Universităţii din Bucureşti-Seria Drept, Curierul Judiciar, Annuaire Français de Droit International, The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, Helsinki Monitor, Security and Human Rights, European Yearbook of Minority Issues, Revue Hellenique de Droit International, Chinese Journal of International Law. As a substitute member (independent expert) of the Venice Commission, he was a reporter or co-reporter for 20 reports, opinions or studies of this institution.   Translated by: Izabella Feher   Buy Tickets Online

Sunday, December 16, at 11.00, at the NTB's Small Hall, Paul Cozighian will hold a conference about The Unseen Face of the Romanian Revolution (... behind the cameras, the telephones with wires and the closed doors). Ticket price: 16 lei. About the conference With the help of his camera, Paul Cozighian, at that time a student of film directing, was one of the privileged witnesses of the first hours of the Revolution. On the evening of December 21, 1989, he filmed the clashes between the people of Bucharest and the army, which took place near the Intercontinental Hotel. One day later he entered together with the demonstrators in the building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, where he filmed the events which occurred after Ceaușescu and his wife fled. This was just the beginning, because through the actions taken in the coming days, Paul Cozighian was in the middle of the most important debates (which are still open for discussion) linked to the Romanian Revolution "was it one or was it not .. . ? " About Paul Cozighian   Director and freelance journalist, Paul Cozighian was born in 1962 in Romania, but lives since 1990 in Paris, where he earned a master's degree in broadcasting at the Sorbonne. For more than thirty years, working in film, television and radio, he was, one after the other, a TVR correspondent in Paris, then a wartime correspondent in Belgrade for France Télévisions, Radio France and TVR, the author of documentary films and, since 2000, a consultant in communication for large industrial groups from France. Currently, Paul Cozighian is the correspondent in Bucharest for France TV and, since 2009, the founder and promoter of the project 2112. This project commemorates at the end of each year the memory of the martyrs from the Intercontinental Barricade from December 21, 1989, where 49 Romanians lost their lives.   Translated by: Izabella Feher  

The exposé is based on the conference held in 1992 in the House of Commons in London and was designed to express the respect and gratitude for the families of those who fell in the Revolution and the revolutionaries. The conference retains the structure of the one from the beginning of the last decade, but it is updated, compared to nowadays and emphasizing the idea that nothing has changed since then and until now. "If I look and remember my existence since I opened my eyes to life, more logically, more concretely - I have been in an eternal expectation. I was expecting something that, most of the time, was not being fulfilled, or was being fulfilled with shortcomings, or was leading to a horizon of more and more dramatic expectations. I waited when I was 7 years old - two days for my sister to return from a militia search, I waited two months for my mother to return after she was arrested with my father, and I have waited for two years, for the first time, after he returned from the first confinement. And again, I have been waiting for my life to change, for things to change, obviously, for the world to take on a more significant, more vivid outline, for the sky not to be leaden, but blue… ”. Ion Caramitru   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu

Launched almost eight decades ago by Ion Marin Sadoveanu, the National Theatre Conferences have returned to the stage of the Black Box Hall since 2006 with the lectures of prominent personalities of Romanian culture on the most diverse and exciting topics. Gathered in a collection of DVDs aiming at keeping these testimonials of wisdom, culture and civilisation, 59 of the conferences from the previous seasons can be purchased at the box office or in the lobbies of the halls before or after the shows. The collection of DVDs, accompanied by brochures containing the texts of the conferences, comprise the following titles: New titlesBogdan Aurescu – The National Interest and the Topicality of Sovereignty. Romania’s Foreign Policy and the Paradigm of the WinnerCristian Badilita - Mircea Eliade’s GlassesVladimir Belis - Half a Century of Serving Forensic MedicineGigi Caciuleanu - L'Om Gigi: Lines_Tracks_Signs_MeaningsDorin Chirtoaca – The Romanian People. Past, Present and FutureNeagu Djuvara - Actor and Poetry PerformerNora Iuga – Mister Beligan Is to Blame for My Becoming a PoetRadu Penciulescu – The Long Path of the Text towards the StageGheorghe Piperea – About Judicial TalibanismIrinel Popescu – The Organ Transplantation – an Adventure of the Human SpiritAlexander Rodewald – The Genetic Origin of the Romanian PeopleAlex Stefanescu – Who Needs Literature Today?Matei Visniec – Theatre and Journalism. Mutual InfluencesDan Voinea – The Legal Truth about the Miner Strike of 13-15 June 1990Dan Voinea – The Legal Truth about December 1989 N. C. Munteanu – Me and My Dog, the Securitate Basarab Nicolescu – Does the Universe Make Sense? The Contemporary Dialogue Between Science and Religion Ion Pop – From the Avangarde to the Rearguard Cristian Badilita – Why We Need a New Translation of the Septuagint and of the New Testament Ilina Gregori – When Was the 19th Century? Eminescu and Modernity Teodor Maries – In Search of the Truth Alex Leo Serban – And Yet, Why Do We Watch Movies? Andrei Serban – About Chekhov or Who else wants to go to Moscow? Alexandru Tocilescu – About Theatre and Its Matters Dorana Cosoveanu - At that time when the paintings were shot Bujor Nedelcovici – Writers and the Exile His Royal Excellency Prince Radu – The Wise Ruling Neagu Djuvara – The 77 Years War (1914-1991) Mircea Dinescu – The Curse of Being a Parody Writer Nicolae Manolescu – Do We Not Have Playwrights? Lucia Hossu Longin – The Exercise of Memory Dan C. Mihailescu – Who Is the Neo-Interwar Generation and What Does It Want Octavian Paler – With Melancholy, about the Barbarians Stelian Tanase – The Panait Istrati Case Theodor Baconsky – Orthodoxy and United Europe Adrian Cioroianu – Romanian Communism between Hope and Traps Ileana Malancioiu – The Tragic Guilt Ion Caramitru – The Limits of WaitingRadu Beligan – My Professors Cristian Tudor Popescu – The Sticker ManRobert Turcescu – The Burial of a Myth: Farewell, Free Press!Ion Vianu - Antigone, a Dissident Andrei Plesu – About the HeartDoina Jela – Deceptive MemoryNeagu Djuvara – A Brief Experience with Western Intelligence ServicesConstantin Ticu Dumitrescu – The Securitate Leaking, an Imperative for DemocracyVladimir Tismaneanu – The Revolutionary Year 1956Mihai Razvan Ungureanu – Romanian Ethics and Public Sense 200 Years AgoAdrian Vasilescu – Religion and the StarVarujan Vosganian – Elites and Counter-Elites in Transitional RomaniaRadu Beligan - Radu Beligan 90Emil Hurezeanu - Romania in Europe and Europe in RomaniaAna Blandiana – The Romanian Fun Making, from Defense to SuicideHerta Müller – Always the Same Snow and Always the Same UncleTheodor Paleologu – The Topicality of Political TheologySorin Alexandrescu – Visual Culture, Pros and ConsSolomon Marcus – A Peak of Romanian Culture: Traian LalescuHoria-Roman Patapievici – About Wasted Opportunities in HistoryCristian Badilita – Judas and Mary Magdalene Between Damnation and Exoneration  The series of conferences shall continue in this season as well, on each Sunday, once every two weeks, with new spiritual challenges, discussion topics and lectures. The price of a DVD is 25 RON!   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu

Accademia di Romania in Rome, in collaboration with the “Ion Luca Caragiale” National Theatre of Bucharest, presents to the Italian audience the project Conferences of the Bucharest National Theatre. Launched almost eight decades ago by Ion Marin Sadoveanu, the Conferences of the National Theatre returned to the stage of the Black Box Hall starting with 2006 with the lectures of some outstanding personalities of Romanian culture on the most diverse and exciting topics. The conferences selected for this first series will be available, in Romanian and subtitled in Italian, on the Facebook page Accademia di Romania in Rome and on the YouTube channel of the National Theatre of Bucharest: March 27th, 2021: Matei Vişniec - Theatre and journalism. Mutual influences / Teatro e giornalismo. Influenze reciproche   April 29th, 2021: Gigi Căciuleanu - L'Om Gigi: Lines_Tracks_Signs_Meanings/ L'Om Gigi: Linee_Percorsi_Segni_Sensi   May 29th, 2021: Ioan Aurel Pop - Romanian culture between the Latin West and the Byzantine East / La cultura romena fra l'Occidente latino e l ' Oriente bizantino June 30th, 2021: Andrei Pleşu - About the Heart / Parlare del cuore July 27th, 2021: Bogdan Aurescu - The National Interest and the Topicality of Sovereignty. Romania’s Foreign Policy and the Paradigm of the Winner / L'interesse nazionale e l'auttualità della sovranità. La politica estera della Romania e il paradigma del vincitore. The first conference, Matei Vişniec - Theatre and journalism. Mutual influences/ Teatro e giornalismo. Influenze reciprochewill be presented on March 27th, 2021, on the occasion of the International Theatre Day. In recent years, playwright Matei Vişniec has come to the attention of audiences and creators in the Iberian Peninsula, where the strength of the dramatic text, the timeliness of the topics addressed and the unusual character of his poetic style are highlighted by translations and stagings in many Italian cities. The conference is an exceptional cultural opportunity and an extraordinary chance to learn about the story of journalist Matei Vişniec and the playwright Matei Vişniec and how they coexist and influence each other. Matei Vișniec studied philosophy at the University of Bucharest and became an active member of the Eighties Generation, which left a strong mark on Romanian literature. As he has stated on several occasions, he is a firm believer in cultural resistance and the ability of literature to demolish totalitarianism. Above all, Matei Vișniec believes that theatre and poetry can denounce manipulation through “big ideas” and brainwashing through ideology. Before 1987, Matei Vișniec had made a name for himself in Romania with his clear, lucid and bitter poetry. Since 1977, he has been writing drama; his plays have circulated widely in the literary world, but their staging has been banned. In September 1987, Vișniec left Romania for France, where he was granted political asylum. He began writing in French and collaborating with Radio France Internationale. Today, his plays are staged in more than 20 countries and are a constant presence at major European theatre festivals. In Romania, after the fall of communism, Matei Vișniec became one of the authors with the most staged plays. Accademia di Romania in Rome thanks the "Ion Luca Caragiale" National Theatre of Bucharest for the generous donation of the National Theater's Conference Collection, which is now part of the patrimony of the Romanian Library in Rome.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Video-streaming The first conference of the National Theatre in 2018 shall take place on 21st January, from 11.00 a.m., in the Studio Hall and shall be held by philosopher and essayist Mihai Șora. The conference shall be entitled: 101. Dialogue with Mihai Șora. About the Conference Over time, Mr. Șora has held further two conferences at NTB, but this time, at the incredible age of 101 years, he opted for a special meeting with the audience of the National Theatre of Bucharest. The conference shall commence with the projection, in premiere, of a film, a portrait-documentary with a duration of 45 minutes, followed by a dialogue with the audience. The being Mihai Șora is a profoundly (and authentically) dialogical one, very seldom encountered in our culture. Or, a film (where Mihai Șora is the main character, of course) has precisely this purpose: to introduce the audience into the so complex, unusual and atypical territory of this silent, piercing, humble philosopher, whom one gets to know only after years, days, entire hours of patient and careful vicinity… And one can – to a certain extent – „share“ him with others, with those people who do not have the time, occasion or privilege of always being around him. About Mihai Șora Born on 7th November 1916, in Ianova, Timiș County, Mihai Șora is a philosopher and essayist. Since 2012, he is an honorary member of the Romanian Academy. After high school studies in Timișoara, he would pursue philosophy studies at the University of Bucharest (1934-1938). There, he had Nae Ionescu and Mircea Vulcănescu as professors, among others, and Mircea Eliade as a teaching assistant at the seminar, for three years. Scholar of the French government, he arrived in January 1939 in Paris, where, under the guidance of Jean Laporte, he wrote a PhD thesis on La notion de la grâce chez Pascal / The notion of grace in Blaise Pascal’s works. The menace of the Wehrmacht’s vertiginous advancement made him leave Paris in June 1940 and, after long wonderings, he settled down in Grenoble (1940 – 1945), because there Jacques Chevalier, „an inveterate Pascal follower” was practising, according to his own words. In this period, he conceives his first book, Du dialogue intérieur, an essay of metaphysical anthropology, published later, in 1947, at Gallimard Publishing. During wartime, he participated in the antifascist French resistance and afterwards he became a researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, from 1945 to 1948. Not grasping the true tragic dimension of the de facto occupation of Romania by the Soviet Union, he returned to the country in the fall of 1948, with the intention to return to France, but it was too late. The border had already been closed and at the same time, Romania’s opening towards the West for almost 20 years. However, due to his youth and his obvious and outspoken apolitical attitude, he was not hindered from doing intellectual work. He worked as an expert advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1948 – 1951), then as a head of department at the Foreign Languages Publishing House (from 1951 to 1954) and editor in chief at the State Publishing House for Literature and Art (1954 – 1969), where he had the outstanding editorial merit to be the founder of the new series Library for Everyone. Mihai Șora is a founding member of the Group for Social Dialogue, of the Civic Alliance and the Romanian Phenomenology Society. He translated from Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Reveries of a Solitary Walker), Jean-Paul Sartre (No Exit), Benjamin Fondane. He was awarded the Writers’s Guild Prize for The Salt of the Earth (1978) and for The Leaf of Grass (1998). After December 1989, he was a Minister of Education in the first temporary democratic government, led by Petre Roman, and the sole minister who resigned from the government, as a sign of protest in the aftermath of the miners’ riots from 13-15 June 1990, refusing afterwards to hold any office in the state apparatus. In 2016, he was bestowed the „Star of Romania” National Order to the rank of Knight.   Works: Du dialogue intérieur, 1947, Paris, Editions Gallimard; Romanian translation About the Inner Dialogue. Fragment from a Metaphysical Anthropology, Humanitas, 1995; 2006; The Salt of the Earth, Cartea Românească Publishing, 1978; Humanitas, 2006; To Be, to Make, to Have, Cartea Românească Publishing 1985; Humanitas, 2006; me&you&him&her or generalised dialogue, Cartea Românească Publishing 1990; Humanitas, 2007; The Leaf of Grass, 1998; Croquis and Evocations, 2000; Do We Still Have a Future? Romania at the Beginning of the Millennium, interviews, Polirom, 2001; Common Places, Universalia, 2004; The Moment and the Time, Paralela 45 Publishing, 2005   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu

Video-streaming  On Sunday, 8 January 2017, 11.00 a.m., the Small Hall of NTB shall host the first conference of this year, held by Matei Vișniec: Festival d'Avignon, theatre capital of the world About the Conference „The Festival d’Avignon is the most important of France and one of the greatest in the world. Since 1947, it became a true international cultural legend, inspiring many other cities. Each July, in the city of Popes on the shore of the Rhone, a kind of cultural pilgrimage unfolds, the theatre being its foremost dimension, but not the only one. This festival is also a social and political phenomenon (as it turns into a debate forum), and a touristic and economic one, as well as a genuine show market. Since 1990, I have never missed a single year in Avignon (where I also had systematically staged plays in the unofficial OFF section). I was, somehow unwillingly, the witness of an evolution, of an exponential growth of the festival, as nowadays, its posters feature around 40 shows in the IN section and over 1300 plays in the OFF section. This festival is a fascinating cultural and human adventure, often placed under the sign of avant-garde and challenge, worth telling.” Matei Vișniec The conference held by Matei Vişniec shall be illustrated with images from the documentary film „Matei Vişniec – King in Avignon”, a TVR Iaşi production from 2015 produced by Andreea Știliuc (film-maker), Relu Tabără (image), Dragoș Brehnescu (editing). About Matei Vișniec Matei Vişniec is a poet, playwright, novelist, journalist, member of several creative associations of Romania and France. He was born on 29 January 1956 in Bucovina, at Rădăuţi, fabulous city divided in two (cemetery included) by a railway representing for the author the axis of symmetry of the universe. The town is amply described in the novel published by Matei Vişniec at Cartea Românească and entitled „Pass-Parol Cafe”. His mother, Minodora, was a nursery school teacher, his father, Ioan, was a clerk. He made his poetry debut in the fourth grade, when he versified a fable by La Fontaine. Later on, he discovered in literature a zone of freedom and he nurtured himself with pages from Kafka, Dostoyevsky, Camus, Poe, Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, Nichita Stănescu and many other writers, not contaminated by Socialist Realism. He liked very much the Surrealists, the Dadaists, the fantastic stories, the absurd and grotesque theatre, the oneiric poetry and even the Anglo-Saxon realist theatre, in short, almost everything except the „official” literature of the Communist regime. He studies philosophy in Bucharest and becomes very active within the 80’s generation, being a founding member of the Monday Literary Circle. He believes in cultural resistance and in the capacity of literature to overthrow totalitarianism. He especially believes that theatre and poetry may denunciate the manipulation of man through the „great ideas", as well as the brainwashing through ideological speeches. Before 1987, he becomes known in Romania through his purified, lucid poetry, written with acrimony. From 1977, he writes theatre plays massively circulating in the literary milieu, but which are banned from the professional stages. His prose remains however ‘on shelf’, as well as the novel „ Pass-Parol Café”, written in 1982/1983 and only published after the fall of Ceauşescu. In September 1987 he leaves Romania with a tourist visa and arrives in France where he applies for political asylum. He starts writing in French, works at from 1988 to 1999, and then he starts working for Radio France Internationale. He becomes a French citizen in 1993, but also keeps his Romanian citizenship. As of 1987, since he has been living in France, his plays have transgressed the borders and his name has been on posters in approximately 40 countries. His plays are published at the Actes Sud - Papiers, Lansman, Espace D’un Instant, Non Lieu Publishing Houses. However, Matei Vişniec is also the author of a prose which some critics consider atypical. A first novel, “The Pass-Parol Café”, written in 1983, has only been published after the fall of Communism. “Panic Syndrome in the City of Lights” was one of the most appreciated novels of the year 2009, receiving the award of the Observator Culturalmagazine. Matei Vişniec has further published, in 2010, the novel „The Release of Mr. K”, written in 1988 in the first year of his Parisian exile, which he waited for over 20 years before sending it to be published. The novel „A Merchant of Novel’s Beginnings” was awarded in 2014 the Augustin Frăţilă prize. He received in 2009 the European Award of The French Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers for his entire activity; the “Jean Monnet” Award for European Literature in 2016 for the novel „A Merchant of Novel’s Beginnings” (Jacqueline Chambon Actes Sud Publishing). In Romania, his books were distinguished repeatedly with the Writer’s Guild Drama Award (most recently in 2015), the Drama Award of the Romanian Academy, the special UNITER Award for the Most Enacted Romanian Contemporary Playwright (2016). 2016 Overview: Matei Vişniec’s have been translated into over 30 languages. Some of his plays have been enacted in major European theatres: Rond Point Theatre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Stary Theatre of Cracow, Piccolo Theatre of Milano, Royal Theatre of Stokholm, Young Vic Theatre of London, National Theatre of Istanbul, Maxim Gorki Theatre of Berlin, Teatro Stabile of Catania (Sicily). Since 2006, his plays have been staged at a pace of one every two years by the Kaze Theatre of Tokyo. Numerous shows based on his plays were produced in Brazil, after É Realizações Publishing House from São Paulo started in 2010 to massively publish his plays (around 20 to date). After the fall of Communism, in 1989, Matei Vişniec becomes one of the most enacted authors in Romania, with shows produced on all national stages (Bucharest, Iaşi, Cluj, Craiova, Timişoara), as well as in countless other cities. Numerous radio plays produced by the National Theatre Live. Recent publications in Romania: - At the Cartea Românească Publishing House: The Spider in the Wound(theatre), 2007; The Hole in the Ceiling(theatre), 2007; The Human Trashcan. The Body of a Woman as a Battlefield in the Bosnian War(theatre), 2007; The Pass – Parol Café (novel), 2008; Panic Syndrome in the City of Lights(novel), 2009; The Release of Mr. K. (novel), 2010; Preventive Disorder(novel), 2011; Dinner with Marx (poetry), 2011; Word Cabaret (theatre), 2012; A Merchant of Novel’s Beginnings (novel), 2013; The Man from Whom the Evil was Extracted(theatre), 2015; Shoe Loves, Umbrella Loves (novel), 2016 - At the Paralela 45 Publishing House: The Town With a Single Inhabitant(poetry anthology), 2005; A Paris Attic Overlooking Death(theatre), 2005; The One-Winged Man(theatre), 2006; How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients (theatre), 2007; Just Imagine that You are God! (theatre), 2008; Occident Express & About the Sensation of Elasticity When Walking Upon Corpses(theatre), 2009; The Man in the Circle(short theatre anthology), 2010 - At the Humanitas Publishing House: The Chekhov Machine & On the Frailty of Stuffed Seagulls (theatre), 2008; Love Letters to a Chinese Princess (poetic prose), 2011; The Trial of Communism through Theatre(theatre), 2012; The Balkan Trilogy & Migraaaants (theatre), 2016   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu

Video-streaming  On Sunday, June 14th, at 11 o'clock, the Black Box Hall will host the conference When was the 19th Century? Eminescu and Modernity, held by Mrs. Ilina Gregori."What does the good God expect from the one who did not live his life due to the circumstances that humiliated and sacrificed it?"With this question - rhetoric, in fact - Alexandru Dragomir, the exceptional philosopher, but without writings, was recently justifying the tragic balance of his life. Forced by circumstances, he had decided to sabotage through solitude and silence the Romanian culture that was „created” around him – so false and so ill-founded, that any participation in the activities that kept it operative, was in the eyes of the philosopher an unforgivable guilt.But "what does the good God expect" from a brilliant man, who has lived only thirty-nine years, of which the last six cannot even be weighed with the units of measurement suitable for normal human life? In Eminescu's case, then, God should be content with little - if He is "good." And if such kindness and mercy have hitherto manifested themselves neither constantly nor clearly in the judgment of posterity, we must not lose confidence in the mercy of heaven, but only investigate more closely where those expectations we all know stem - maximum or downright immeasurable, if not even absurd - that have always and always imposed themselves in Eminescu's reception. How can we so easily forget the circumstances that distorted his life, the disease that "humiliated" and brutally abbreviated it?If that "God of culture" that C. Noica was talking about is not a simple figure of speech, such an exorbitant expectation could be attributed to him: Eminescu – the genius individual, the "complete man", moral and intellectual role model, "Soul" of the nation, "[its] better conscience". But Cioran also judges from above, from heaven, when it comes to Eminescu. Even in the years of maturity, with all the lucidity acquired in exile, even looking for challenge, offense, blasphemy, Cioran continues to believe that Eminescu saved the Romanian nation, deprived of any political or cultural merits, an "invertebrate" nation, lacking destiny, etc. In his youth, as we know, Cioran had claimed that Providence had expected more from its chosen one: as the Messiah, Eminescu had to project the virtues and triumph of his nation into the near future. However, Eminescu remained a prophet of the past, Cioran claimed, a true failure of the project of Romania’s modern "transfiguration".The disappointment of young Cioran, as well as the imputations of an Eugen Lovinescu, for example – in order not to recall but two moments of a rich critical tradition - they essentially look at Eminescu's deficit in relation to modernity, but can we still accept such an apology for modernity nowadays? How much more legitimacy did this secular religion have in the interwar period? But what did it mean to be modern in the second half of the twentieth century? How was modernity conceived in Iasi? What about in Vienna or Berlin? Which of these contemporary, interconnected and yet asynchronous environments decisively influenced Eminescu's relationship - theoretical, aesthetic, existential-emotional - with modernity? We propose some topics of reflection in this direction, aroused by the Berlin phase of the poet's biography. About Ilina Gregori:Graduate of the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Romanian Language and Literature.She made her debut with literary criticism articles during her student years.Present between 1966-1969 in the literary press, especially in the Luceafărul magazine, with numerous literary reviews, signed as Ilina Grigorovici.She pursued her studies (philosophy, Romanics, comparative literature) in the Federal Republic of Germany, where she settled in the early 1970s.Under the guidance of Professor Walter Biemel, she received her PhD degree in Aachen (completed in 1977), with a thesis on Maurice Merleau-Ponty and phenomenology of language (work published under the title Merleau-Pontys Phänomenologie der Sprache, in 1977, in Heidelberg, Carl Winter Publishing House).From 1976 to 2005, she was a lecturer at the Institute of Romance Philology of the Free University of West Berlin.Since 1977, she has published in synthesis volumes and specialized journals (from Germany, Holland, France) a series of studies, often from communications at congresses, colloquia, international symposia, about Eminescu, Caragiale (Ion Luca and Mateiu), Romanians writers in exile, etc.She translated into German (in collaboration with Heinz Hermann) Mircea Eliade's Memoirs (1987, Frankfurt, Suhrkamp).She collaborated with articles on Romanian literature at the Brockhaus Encyclopedia and the Kindlers Lexicon.The volume Rumänistische Literaturwissenschaft. Fallstudien zum 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (2007, Heidelberg, Winter Publishing House) contains a selection of 20 studies in German and French, dedicated to modern Romanian literature.She returned to Romanian cultural life after 1980 with the volume The Only Essential Literature: The Fantastic Story. Balzac. Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. Pieyre de Mandiargues (1996, DU Style Publishing House).The volumes Literary Studies. Eminescu in Berlin. Mircea Eliade: Three Analyses (2002, Romanian Cultural Foundation Publishing House, "Titu Maiorescu" award of the Romanian Academy) and Do We Know Who Eminescu Was? Facts, Riddles, Hypotheses (2008, Art Publishing House) followed. Translated by Simona Nichiteanu