Beyond the legend. Neagoe Basarab

Authors’ Comment

The exhibition event "Beyond the legend. Neagoe Basarab" opened at the end of 2021, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the voivode's death, is installed in the permanent exhibition circuit of the Romanian Medieval Art Gallery of MNAR, reconfiguring one of the spaces dedicated to art from the 16th century. The curatorial concept of the exhibition is to highlight the complex personality of the voivode, founder of the Curtea de Argeș Monastery, supporter of the first local school of painting (icons and frescoes) and of an artistic patronage campaign, the traces of which are can still be found all over the world, and author of the first literary writing in the Romanian space: "The Teachings of Neagoe Basarab to his son Theodosie".
A premiere of the exhibition was the display of the only preserved icon from a series of double-faced icons, originally placed between the twelve columns in the enlarged pronaos at Curtea de Argeș. One of the challenges of the scenography project was precisely the recovery of the original position (between the first two columns on the right). The twelve diaphanous, dematerialized columns, made of thin wires suspended on a circular frame from the ceiling level of the exhibition space, give a new depth to a known space, recontextualizing the frescoes salvaged from the same church and the few tombstones. All the elements that are part of the exhibition scenography and do not frame heritage objects - the columns, the podium, the screen box - are white, bright, "diluted" in the floor and ceiling of the hall. The voivode's figure is evoked through the votive portrait, a ceremonial costume that belonged to him and a multimedia montage that presents the pages written in Slavonic of a manuscript of the "Teachings..." currently in Sofia.
The exhibition is at the same time sober, elegant, rich, through spatial qualities related to the depth of the space and the new dynamics generated by the presence of "columns", the good dialogue between the different types of exhibits (frescoes, icons, tombstones) and the consistent presence of the two exhibition showcases placed in the space as independent elements (the double-faced icon and the garment). The multimedia materials add a new layer, while maintaining a hierarchy that does not compete with the 16th century exhibits.
The center of the space is occupied by a circular podium with a diameter of 4m, used for a video projection that aims to present in a dynamic manner a large inventory of buildings and artifacts, part of the voivode's artistic patronage. Occasionally, the podium becomes the stage for an acting performance that integrates the legend of Master Manole into the exhibition. The display of props around the perimeter, the dynamics of the character's movement, the costume, the overlap with the twelve columns, complete the experience of visiting the exhibition in an exemplary way.