The capital hosts a theatrical "record"

The year is starting off on a good note in terms of cultural events. The world's longest theatrical event will take place in February in Bucharest, announces the A.R.T. Fusion Association. "Horror Vacui" is a large-scale artistic act, a theater-type performance, supported by over 500 actors, which will take place between February 15 and 22, at the Galateca Art Gallery in Bucharest, for 7 days, 24 hours a day, and will represent a world premiere. According to the organizers, "Horror Vacui" aims to achieve emotional mediation and to make an appeal for the recognition of part of Romania's traumatic past, in order to shed light on the issue of child abandonment in our country and the history of this phenomenon during the communist period. This is the first initiative organized by the A.R.T. Fusion under the umbrella of Papercuts, an initiative that aims to encourage social change through greater cultural and civic resilience.

The audience is invited to contribute testimonials or personal stories about abandonment, which can be included in the performance. Among the actors who will join are Maia Morgenstern, Ofelia Popii, Ada Galeş, Mihaela Sîrbu, Richard Bovnovski, Nicoleta Lefter, Tudor Cucu Dumitrescu, but also Kate Pendry, a British-Norwegian actress who won the Ibsen Prize, as well as other internationally renowned writers and journalists. This cultural endeavor attempts to bring into discussion a profound breaking point in Romanian history. Over 1 million children were abandoned during the communist era, becoming victims of a system that transformed them into "nobody's children". To this day, the Romanian state has no concrete data about this tragic reality and continues to ignore its responsibility towards this vulnerable part of society. The initiative aims to create an intimate and continuous space for dialogue towards finding solutions. This space will function as a mediation bridge between the past and the future, keeping presence and reflection alive throughout the week. An essential element of the project is the fact that, regardless of the moment, in this place in Bucharest there will always be someone available to talk about these topics, whether the public comes to listen or not. Participation is free, and the detailed program will be announced soon on the project's social networks. Alexandru Ivănoiu, actor, playwright and initiator of the project, stated: "We are living in complicated times, in which isolation and abandonment persist in various forms around us. We think of Papercuts as a civic fitness platform, a mediation space between the past and the future. Through Horror Vacui, we seek to write an open letter to the Romanian state, together with the audience, so that it publicly recognizes the horrors committed between 1966 and 1990 and makes this recognition with a promise for the future. Over 1 million abandoned children then are today part of society, but face difficulties in integration. Horror Vacui is an attempt by art to strengthen its political and empathetic potential." The Abandonment Museum is the partner of this project, providing an archival and emotional framework for exploring the theme.