La Est Prin Sud-Est

One of the most important Romanian photographers of the 1980s, Andrei Pandele showed a special selection of unpublished images from Târgu Mures and Mureș County, together with famous images from his native Bucharest. On display was the painful reality of the 1980s, including the overfilled public transport, queues at grocery stores, the systematic demolition of architectural monuments and the general vulnerability of the population. This is captured in Pandele’s photographs, which have become increasingly famous over the last twenty years. The Romania of the last decade of communism is revealed in an uncompromising way, despite the draconian control of the state during that period. Through Pandele's exhibition, the viewer travelled not only into an abrasive political and social (visual) system—the abyss and absurdity of the 1980s—but also into the development of a relationship with democracy that got off to a bad start in 1990. Since then, Pandele’s photographs helped create both dialogues and clashes between generations that led, over time, to a series of clarifications that recalibrated not only the intergenerational relationships but also Pandele’s international recognition.

Exhibition curated by Uschi Klein