The “Hikikomori” project has as its central point the production of the visual-auditory-performative installation, an artistic creation that has as its starting point the Japanese phenomenon and the play of the same name written by the Austrian playwright Holger Schober and published by the German publishing house Rowohlt, presented for the first time in Romania. The author of the performative installation is Vlaicu Golcea, a multi-talented artist known for his projects in the field of performing arts (music, contemporary dance, theater), who coagulated around him a suitable team: Cristina Milea (installation, costumes), Mihai Păcurar (video-art), Nicoleta Lefter (live performance), Emil Măndănac, Raluca Aprodu (audio performance); with whom are Claudia Vîlceanu (debates / workshop), Ciprian Marinescu (translation), Cornelia Winkler (international communication), Oana Ivașcu (management, production), Florin Ghenade, Bogdan Gîrbovan (photo / video), Daniel Ivașcu (graphic / web design), Gabriela Spiridon, Cristi Spiridon (installation assistants).
The project included the installation’s itinerary in three alternative exhibition spaces from as many cities in Romania (Kube Musette – Bucharest, Fabrica de Pensule – Cluj-Napoca, Transilvania University Multicultural Center – Brașov) and generated a series of related actions: from debates with the audience for online products, the main environment in which the target audience “lives”. Public access to all three spaces was free.
In addition to the itinerancy of the installation/performance, the project aimed to generate debates among the young beneficiaries about the need for communication of a subject with a behavior that is incomprehensible to a large majority, emphasizing that the need for communication is only re-directed and not suppressed . These debates were moderated by Claudia Vîlceanu (philosopher and psychoanalyst), Vlaicu Golcea (concept author / sound-designer) and Cristina Milea (visual artist) and focused on themes such as: “Loneliness – A room for oneself or a new skin-wall against the world? Creative isolations versus autistic isolations from the perspective of psychoanalysis” and “Handbooks of resilience in solitude. Three philosophical perspectives on destiny alone: Epictetus, Kierkegaard, Foucault” (Claudia Vîlceanu); “Syncretic art: bridge between Imaginary and Reality” (Vlaicu Golcea); “Recycling / hand-made / Do-It-Yourself – form of therapy” (Cristina Milea). This way made it easier for the direct beneficiaries to inform the indirect ones (colleagues, friends, families) about the details of the project.
The artistic research was doubled by such new, philosophical/psychological perspectives on the analyzed social phenomenon.
The “Hikikomori” project was co-financed by AFCN in session II/2017.
Learn more on the project website: hikikomori.ro
