2015
Performance, 50 min.
The Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest (RO), built during Ceaușescu’s regime, is one of the world’s largest administrative buildings for civic use. Today, the monumental building houses the Romanian Parliament, the International Conference Centre, and the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC).
The official guided tour of the Palace takes visitors through a selection of state rooms, introducing them to vast quantities of marble, crystal, and gold leaf via a relentless stream of statistics and nationalist rankings.
44.4275°N 26.0874°E: E4 Wing is a performance-guide that mirrors the format of these official institutional tours, focusing strictly on the E4 Wing which houses MNAC. Blurring the lines between sanctioned narrative and critical fiction, the performance leads a moving group of visitors through all five floors of the museum space, offering reflections on furniture, electronics, sonic terror, symbols of power, personal space, and visitor behaviour.
Documentation by Maria Draghici (video) and Iulius Costache (photos)
Special thanks to Larisa Crunteanu and Giles Eldridge
Presented within the public programme The Guide to an Unacceptable Behaviour at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC), Bucharest, 2015.