Problematic Terminology in a Tentative Research Methodology for the Visual Culture of the Balkans

"The aim of this paper is to highlight and briefly discuss some of the most problematic terms and concepts that recur in art historiography: for example, the words Byzantine, post-Byzantine, Eastern, Western and Local. These concepts are used in a misleading way not only by American and Western European authors, but also by Eastern and South-Eastern European ones: in fact, the “Balkan” art historiography based itself on the Western-European one, adopting its periodisation, terminology and interpretative framework, which led to a number of methodological problems that researchers are now trying to identify, discuss and, if possible, solve. Keywords: art historiography, South-Eastern Europe, silverwork, Byzantium. "

The Power and The Truth. A Film. A National Project

"This article tries to understand what type of film is approved by the Nicolae Ceauşescu regime and how it is promoted, through various propaganda channels. In this sense, we choose to discuss the film made by the artistic couple Manole Marcus - Titus Popovici, The Power and The Truth (1972), and we resort to a content analysis to understand the way it was made. We are also interested in the echoes of the film in the press of the time and how with the help of newspaper articles the authorities inoculate the idea that this film is the most important cinematographic achievement of the moment, a benchmark for political productions to be made from that point on. Keywords: Cinematography, Political Film, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Manole Marcus, Titus Popovici, Propaganda "

The Traditional Romanian Folk Dance in Şieuţ, Bistriţa-Năsăud County, as Part of the Winter Traditions and Customs. Carol Singers and the “Beer”

"The present study focuses on the custom of “Beer”, a remarkable event that shaped the evolution of the communities that were part of the Second Romanian Border Regiment at Năsăud, a military unit of the Austrian army in Transylvania between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It focuses specifically on the Şieuţ village and the detailed manner in which this social event was organized by the village’s young men between Christmas and the New Year, when young villagers could attend the “Beer”, an important occasion for social interaction. This research is based on a series of interviews with active community members from then and now and aims to offer an overview of the custom’s meaning and structure. According to tradition, during the Nativity Fast, young men would follow the call of the “bucin” and meet at the house of a host to plan the event. They were assigned the roles of “vătafi” and “colceri” who hired musicians for the event, while the “căprari” were responsible for collecting the traditional pastry received by carol singers. On Christmas Eve, they grouped and went caroling throughout the village. After the Christmas church service, the traditional folk dance (“Beer”) started at the host’s house. The traditional festive garments, the young men going caroling or the traditional men’s folk dance from Şieuţ, included in the UNESCO World Heritage, represent elements of this custom that have survived the passage of time, integrating the traditional into modern life. Keywords: Şieuţ, ”Beer”, Romanian folk dance, tradition, carol "

The Book as Object of Lay Devotion in Late Medieval Transylvania (Fifteenth-Sixteenth Centuries)

"Research on late-medieval religiosity in Central and Western Europe has shown that religious books were not only possessed, but also read, and sometimes even copied or disseminated by laymen. The need for a better definition of the relationship between the laity and the religious text leads to the formulation and intensive discussion of concepts such as devotional reading, culture of religious reading, or vernacular theology. Several examples of works that belonged to late-medieval Transylvanian laymen suggest the opportunity and, at the same time, the need to ask whether similar dynamics of pious behaviour can be discussed in their case. In order to provide a convincing answer, this study proposes an analysis of these books from at least three perspectives: theme, language, formal characteristics. The most interesting information is offered, however, by property notes, which suggest that the devotional potential of the book was not activated by reading, but rather by donation. By offering solutions to the everyday necessities of ecclesiastical institutions, these gifts were designed to ensure personal salvation as well. In order to support this hypothesis, I will also address another category of sources from which mentions regarding this kind of donations can be recovered, i.e. last wills. Keywords: religious books, devotional practices, pious donations, last wills, laity "

The 2000 Romanian Presidential Elections – between Populism and Europeanism

"In November 2000, ten years after the fall of the communist regime and the organization of the first free elections, the Romanian population was called to decide on the future president of the country. This was the first poll that took place after the transition between power and opposition, which took place in 1996, but also in the context of a serious economic crisis with considerable effects on living conditions, which marked the activity and political destiny of PNŢCD. The elections, especially the second round, proved to be representative not so much from the perspective of political options, but especially regarding the future of the country: open to Euro-Atlantic structures or isolated, oriented towards the former Soviet space. These visions were personalized by the two candidates, Ion Iliescu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor, and the present article analyses the electoral mechanisms the two tried to use in order to promote their platforms within a Romanian society marked by the economic recession, but also by a major moral and identity crisis. Keywords: Elections, Electorate, Presidentialism, Europeanism, Populism, Crisis "

Moscow Conceptualism through Collective and Private Memory. The Archive as an Artistic Self-historicising Practice in Vadim Zakharov

"In an era characterised by the growing tension between local and global, the multiple activities acted by the artist Vadim Zakharov offer an important case study to investigate critically the relationship between artists and the art institutions at the time of the Global Art History. Artist, archivist, collector and editor in the frame of Moscow Conceptualism, since the end of the 1970s up to today, Zakharov embodies the figure of the “artist as institution” in the attempt to reach his artistic autonomy. This text introduces to his expansion of the archival attitude typical of Moscow conceptualism, a Soviet unofficial art movement developed in the marginal, underground, and self-referential context in the capital of USSR since the 1970s. Due to its transnationality, Zakharov’s story gives the opportunity to trace parallels, comparisons and differences to what happened next, when he moved in Germany in 1989, after the fall of USSR, and with the appearance of the new labels of “post-Soviet” and “Russian contemporary art”. Within this socio-historical framework, he joined a more cosmopolitan artistic scene, enlarging his archival practices with the aim to self-institutionalize and self-historicize his own artistic practices and the circle of Moscow Conceptualism in an international scene. Keywords: Vadim Zakharov, Moscow Conceptualism, Russian Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art, Global Art History, Archival fever. "

The Beginnings of the Greek-Catholic Diocese of Oradea in the Eighteenth Century. The Beiuş Estate Conscription of 1778

"The Beiuş estate conscription of 1778 holds valuable information regarding the fiscal state of the local population. The Greek-Catholic Diocese had just been created and it needed a source of income to sustain itself and at the same time to grow. This estate was one of the richest in the whole county, formed from 72 villages with Beiuş at its center. From buildings such as mills, inns and taverns, to farms and homes, they are all presented inside the document. Moise Dragoşi, the first Greek-catholic bishop of Oradea struggled to get this estate and it took four years. The conscription in this case represents not just an official piece of paper, but a window into the life of an eighteenth-century peasant. Keywords: conscription, Beiuş, estate, Greek-catholic, Oradea, income, tax. "

„The Sword Stretched between Two Worlds”: the Image of the Charismatic Leader in Legionary Ideology

"Inspired by recent historiographical contributions concerning the complex implications of the notion of charisma for the various expressions of fascism, this article attempts to explore some of the main characteristics and functions of charismatic leadership in the case of the Legion of the “Archangel Michael”. Drawing upon the classical ideal-typical model developed by Max Weber and building on the conclusions of some of its most significant refinements within the field of fascist studies, the present analysis will provide a brief outlook on the manner in which charismatic authority was theoretically developed in the case of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the founder and ruler of the Legionary Movement. Keywords: fascism, charismatic authority, the Legionary Movement, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu "

The Passion Cycle in the Sanctuaries of the Saxon Fortified Churches in Southern Transylvania

"This paper aims to reconstitute the pictorial program of some medieval Saxon churches’ sanctuaries, which are Mălâncrav, Curciu, Râşnov and Sibiu, with particular interest on the images regarding the Passion Cycle. The article will try to bring a stylistic and iconographic analysis of the Passion Cycle in the sanctuary, episodes that usually appear on the northern choir wall. Therefore, we aim to highlight the reasons why this Passion narrative was chosen to decorate this part of the sanctuary and what was its role both regarding the place that it occupies, that is near the most sacred place of the church, and also the role it had in the religious services. Given the complexity of the narrative programs and the strong link with the biblical texts, the paintings have a double role, both educational and devotional. Keywords: Passion Cycles, mural painting, fortified churches, iconography "

The Warsaw Ghetto Workshops: Perspectives of Space and Time in Emanuel Ringelblum and Reuven Ben Shem's Diaries

"In this paper, I analyze the notion of time and space in the small factories of the Warsaw Ghetto, commonly known as shops, through a close reading of the diaries written in the Ghetto by Emanuel Ringelblum and Reuven Feldschu Ben Shem. In the Warsaw Ghetto of July 22, 1942, there were but two options for Jews: being deported to Treblinka or ""postponing"" the death sentence by becoming a shop worker. As long as one worked in a shop, one's life ー and only one's life, not his family's ー was spared for a while. The authors of the diaries who will be presented, both worked in the shops, and in their writings, they exposed how space and time became significant oppressing factors. As I will show, every familiar perception was challenged in this space of an imposed slave-like existence. Keywords: Jews, 2nd World War, Warsaw Ghetto, Treblinka. "