Monday 16 November 2009
19.00-21.00, The Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre, Manchester Square, 18 Fitzhardinge Street, London W1H 6EQ; Tel. 020 7486 0295, ext 108; e-mail: bookings@romanianculturalcentre.org.uk; Entry is free but booking is essential.

Hosted by Dr Mike Phillips OBE, British novelist, historian and curator.

The public space in Bucharest is dotted with monuments commemorating various events or characters from the history of Romania, many of them erected in recent years, after the fall of communism in 1989. Some of them have been (and still are) much derided by the public, some were adopted more readily than the former, while others have a special place in the hearts of Bucharest’s inhabitants.

This year, a long-awaited memorial to the victims of the Holocaust in Romania was inaugurated. Starting from this point, architect Augustin Ioan – special guest of the Culture Power series for the second time – proposes a frank presentation and discussion on the subject of the so-called Architecture of Memory in Bucharest in particular, and in Romania in general.

With this occasion, we are also going to introduce to the audience his latest book, ‘Modern Architecture and the Totalitarian Project’ (Romanian Cultural Institute Press, 2009, 198 pages, ISBN: 978-973-577-577-3), a study into the relationship between totalitarianism and modernity, with a special emphasis on the case of buildings in Romania.

Augustin Ioan is a professor at the University of Architecture and Planning in Bucharest, Romania, and also a practicing architect. With post-graduate studies at Oxford and in the US, Augustin Ioan holds doctoral degrees in the history of architecture (1998) and philosophy (2002). He has published extensively in Romania, Europe and the US.

Images above show (clockwise from top left): statue of statesman Iuliu Maniu; statue of politician Corneliu Coposu; part of the official monument commemorating the victims of the 1989 revolution; plaque in Bucharest’s University Square reading “Here, people died for freedom”; the memorial to the victims of the Holocaust in Romania; (unofficial) shrine and plaques in memory of the young men and women who died in the revolution; the obelisk of the official monument commemorating the victims of the 1989 revolution.

Organised by The Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre in London

Culture Power is a programme initiated by the Ratiu Foundation, consisting of a number of presentations and constructive dialogue with an invited audience.