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Dan Mihaltianu bio.
DIVIDED FILES

Visual research based on multiple and parallel versions of reality. It focuses on issues seen from different points of view: personal and official, individual and collective, masculine and feminine, sacred and profane and other perspectives.
The project has several components: photographic (analogue and digital) archive / interactive sound and video installation / book & DVD-ROM and consists in two main topics of research:

I.         
Bucuresti / Berlin / Bergen - three different cultures: Romanian, German and Norwegian – a personal approach featuring architectural, economical, social and cultural developments:

Les énfants de Ceausescu et de George Soros
A survey of the Romanian art scene following peoples, events and places, through the changes occurred in the long way from the closed society of the Ceausescu regime, through the extended and still on-going period of transition towards the open society of the post communist era.

End-ArtBerlin
A look into Berlin’s fermenting culture from the Iron Curtain and the Cold War to the social, economical and identity crisis after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

NyNorsk
Two official Norwegian languages: Bokmal and Ny Norsk, double morality - Protestantism and Petro-Dollars, in a society with no apparent internal conflicts.

II.
Production / Consumption / Alienation, three factors defining the dynamic of development that could be identified in both material and spiritual components of the contemporary societies:

Union
An artistic experiment that has involved the infrastructure of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest in the production of an art multiple (300-brandy bottles cast in concrete), questioning the alienation process as a result of the production and consumption in the cultural sphere.

Cola-Libre
A consumer world divided between Coke and Pepsi, two similar products with different cultural and geopolitical impact. One perceived as the” symbol” of the American imperialism, the other as “moderate” is operating in the areas with “anti-American” feelings. What is left from the market is taken by the local brands in every country, which are competing to be part of the Cola-Culture.

Alienated Spaces
The alienation of space as a result of historical and social processes: post-industrial, post-totalitarian, post-colonialist, post-religious, is a constantly changing factor related to “progress”.
The memory of a place combines the physical space, the spoils of activity and the collective memory of the people involved.

Divided Files, developed between 2004-2007, was generously supported by Bergen National Academy of the Arts as a research project and publication.
The book and DVD-ROM published by KHiB featuring this material will be launched during the show at the Gallery 3.14, Bergen (January 18 - March 2, 2008.