Off Season Tourism Agency Cluj

23 – 27.02.2022

Tranzit House
16 George Barițiu St.

BRIGITA ANTONI
ANNA BARANOWSKI
VALENTINA BONIZZI
VLAD BRĂTEANU
IOANA VREME MOSER

Opening:
Wednesday, February 23, 6pm – 9pm
Visiting hours:
February 24 – 27, 3pm – 7pm

• other hours only by appointment at 0744.261.058

Using the metaphor of an imagined travel agency, the Off Season Tourism Agency employs the language of tourism critically, to produce and showcase new works of contemporary art inspired by the dichotomous nature of tourism.
Off Season is a residency programme that invites contemporary artists to live and work at the seaside, in areas usually thought of as one-dimensional tourist hotspots. We invite artists to rethink touristic phenomena and produce works that bring into question the narratives that come to dominate the seaside, as the Albanian coast develops and becomes increasingly welcoming to international tourism.
The pilot edition of the research residency took place in Radhima, Vlora in the off season in October 2020, against a backdrop of a multitude of changes in how tourism functions; faced with big changes in tourist flows and travel possibilities, but also within the context of a long term transformation in the landscape of the Albanian seaside. As more investments transform the coast to a space of hospitality, we asked ourselves which histories and local narratives are passed on to new guests? With the promise of a prosperous future in the hospitality economy, how does the past inform the transition of these territories with complex layered histories? How do the movements of people and tourist flows affect the ecology of the land and sea, and the ecology of images? Which idealised images of the Albanian coast build up the welcoming scenery, what is authentic and what is undesirable, what will become touristical canon?
A group of five international artists working in different mediums, from visual arts to film to sound, spent three weeks in the small seaside resort in Radhima. The travelling exhibition showcases new works produced over the course of a year, as result of the research conducted in Albania.

Off Season Artist Residency is organised by Dan Angelescu, Donika Çina, Bianca Oana, Flaviu Rogojan, Elian Stefa, through Galeria e Bregdetit, Manekino Cultural Association and Young Actions and Abstractions.
Visual identity: Gabriel Barbu / Graphic design: Sebastian Danciu
www.off-season.xyz
The project is supported by Goethe-Institut Bucharest, as a collaboration born out of the Goethe-Institut’s Cultural Management Academy in 2019 that brought together organizations and curators from Albania and Romania.
Cultural project co-funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN) Romania.

• The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project, nor for the manner in which the results of the project might be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the grant.
• Access is allowed exclusively on the basis of a Covid vaccination certificate and protective mask. All legal measures for prevention and health safety regulations currently enforced will be respected. Venue capacity will be limited.