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The City and its Cultures: Presentations at Public Space Library, Chisinau (Moldova)

MP

#3 The city and its cultures with Virgiliu PASLARIUC
Chisinau in modernity: 1812-1990

A cycle of presentations as part of the Public Space Library program

May 21, 2015, 6 pm
Zpace (Al. Sciusev str. 103, Chisinau)

No narrative could configure, transform but also deteriorate so much the physiognomy of Chisinau as the narrative of “modernity”. Being always seen in opposition to “tradition”, the Power was forced to constantly (re)invent both terms, because one was needed in order to legitimize the other, depending on the political regime in charge. In the period 1812-1990 there were several major changes in the political regime of the city and each one of them left deep traces on the urban landscape. The classic modernization (urbanization, industrialization, rationalization) during the Russian Imperial Era was replaced by the eclectic spirit of the Romanian period when “traditionalism” was combined with the search for the national specificity, with hypermodernist experiments (ex. Bauhaus). These experiments, however, were not able to change the inherited city. The soviet regime, revolutionary in its essence, cleared both traditions marginalizing them. At the same time, in a very paradoxical way, it also conserved them, especially the (historical) center, putting the emphasis on the former suburbs, now microraions. The conflict between these three modernizing “traditions” is still defining, in a very fundamental way, the identity of Chisinau today.

Virgiliu PASLARIUC holds a PhD from the Faculty of History of “Al.I.Cuza” University of Iasi. He is currently teaching at Faculty of History and Philosophy at State University of Moldova.

Vitalie SPRINCEANA
The post-socialist city: transformations, processes, perspectives

June 5, 2015, 6 pm

Ovidiu TICHINDELEANU
Urban economy in post-socialism

July 30, 2015, 6 pm

Dinu GUTU
Subcultures, liminality and the dominant culture: the city during a football game

September 10, 2015, 6 pm

These presentations are part of the series  City and Culture and are organized under the umbrella of the Public Space Library program, a project supported by the European Cultural Foundation, as part of the Connected Action for the Commons program.
The series City and Culture aims to explore the city and the urban life from a variety of perspectives: anthropological, historical, philosophical, political, artistic etc.

Participants: 

Public Space Library

The Public Space Library gathers a collection of relevant books on topics related to the transformation of the public space in Europe and worldwide: urbanization, democratic process, urban theory and planning, right to the city, architecture and art, in Romanian, Russian, French and English. It aims to offer to interested readers (students, scholars, activists) the necessary theoretical and methodological tools, to put them in contact with the theoretical reflection on the urban question.

Hosted by ARThotel, the library offers a place for discussions and talks on topics related to public space transformation in Moldova and in the region.

The public program of the Public Space Library will materialize through various public events:

– reading groups
– public presentations with invited guests
– book reviews
– newsletter

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