Adrian Ghenie at Ideo Ideis: “Everyone talks about how many millions I'm worth”

Ideo Ideis Theatre Festival brings to life the small town of Alexandria, southern Romania, being supported with enthusiasm and implication of some of the greatest Romanian actors and others people active in the cultural sectors. The event addresses to high school teenagers, who spent in Alexandria seven days to discover the art of the theatre performance, being trained and supervised by their mentors who are well known directors and actors, such as Mimi Branescu, Dragos Bucur, Teodor Corban and Geanina Carbunariu, among others.

For this edition, the organisers have convinced painter Adrian Ghenie to come to talk with the festival’s audience, the main theme being “empathy”, in an event called The Night of the Storytellers.

“When I first received the invitation to this festival, I said no. I usually say no to every invitation, especially when it comes to speak in front of a young audience because I don’t feel like I have anything to say to them. (…) And I don’t like to give advice. I have a phobia for those who give advice. Then, I read on the festival’s page about Alexandria and the city’s “handicap”: you don’t have a theatre hall, you don’t have a cinema hall, but still, you have this festival. (…) As an artist, I find it very important to highlight your “disability” and your weakness, this is what makes you special. And this is why I decided to come to Ideo Ideis,” explained Adrian Ghenie, who is one of the most famous contemporary artists worldwide.

The good, the bad, the famous

“I was invited here to talk about a successful story as a successful person, but as anyone knows, successful stories are incredible boring, this is why I will tell you the history of a cheating. Everyone talks about how many millions I’m worth,” started his speech Adrian Ghenie. “But I will look back to the worst day of my life, in 2009, when I packed 12 of my paintings for an exhibition and sent them by courier to London, but the paintings never arrived there, only the special box which was empty. After investigation in Romania and some “considerations” given to the couriers, I found some information about where my paintings could be. (…) While trying to track them down and being out of time due to the fact that the exhibition was starting soon, I made another 12 artworks that week, very similar to those I already made, using photos of my paintings. (…) Meanwhile, I felt sick and I self-diagnose myself with appendicitis, followed by a surgery, and after I woke up from the anaesthesia, I returned to my studio to continue paining. (…) After a week, I tracked down all my paintings, but I already finished all the replacements, so I was in the position of having 24 paintings for the same exhibition, so I put them all together. (…) The exhibition was a totally success and at that time, I sold some paintings for a small price and some were just given away (…) and this is how I currently have a price tag: those that-time buyers are currently selling my works of art on auctions and I am considered a millionaire,” said the artist.

Talking with the young audience

Adrian Ghenie underlined several times the fact that we shouldn’t take into consideration pieces of advice and follow our own creative path. Also, he talked about the fact that an artist’s greatest ally is his/her own handicap, which should give him/her confidence. “Tips are tricks. Do not listen to them. Be terribly stubborn,” concluded the artist.

Donating for Brancusi’s sculpture

This evening, Corina Suteu, the Minister of Culture, posted on her Facebook page that Adrian Ghenie has donated one of his paintings for supporting the buying of The Wisdom of the Earth. The auction will be announced soon. By August 1, only EUR 361.098 were donated. The state wants to raise EUR 6 million in donations by end-September, while the government already allocated EUR 5 million for it.

Editor’s note

I’ve been invited to this festival for the first time this year and I happily accepted their proposal, due to the fact that I believe what happens here in Alexandria during the festival is pure inspiration for the young generation who doesn’t really have mentors and programs for their theatre passion and the current public educational system doesn’t offer them much to learn more about this discipline.

Few days ago when the organisers have announced this Night of the Storytellers and the lineup, I was pretty amazed by the fact that painter Adrian Ghenie has accepted their invitation. I’ve been writing news about how appreciated his work is worldwide since 2012 and I’ve been trying to reach him for a talk – professionally known as an interview. The artist doesn’t usually do interviews and only tonight I understood why: he seems upset by the fact that we, the journalists, gave him a price-tag due to the well-known auctions that are taking place worldwide. Reading all my articles related to him, I discovered that I always quoted the auction house and their spokesman or the official press release of the event. I assumed some of the paintings were put on auction by Ghenie’s buyers (collecting contemporary art is a business, after all), but I somehow missed this story with the lost&found paintings and the fact that he is not the owner of those paintings – therefore, he doesn’t take the millions we underline in our news titles. I didn’t have the chance to say it in person, but I’ll write it down: Mr. Ghenie, I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful on your next successful selling story. The other thing I would have liked to say in a face to face conversation was to thank you for being Romania’s ambassador in this art world.

Last but not least, the teenagers pretty understood most of your speech. Tonight, at the festival’s bar, I caught some talks between them quoting you on the fact that a handicap it’s actually the artistic thing you need in order to have success. Congratulations!

Photo courtesy of Ideo Ideis Facebook Page

Oana Vasiliu

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