"The Battle for Luck exhi­bited in both Germany (Düssel­dorf) and Romania (Bucha­rest), became the venue for a social expe­ri­ment. The focal point was the Luck measu­ring concept, consis­ting of two wooden boards displayed side by side (Düssel­dorf) and two wooden and copper boards displayed back to back (Bucha­rest), with one side measu­ring good luck and the other bad luck. Both boards are drilled, with only one hole going through both. Ceramic needles of varying lengths, colors, and termi­na­tions were inserted into almost all the holes. The public was invited to draw needles and measure their Luck using two sepa­rate drawings that depicted the exact charac­te­ri­stics, sizes, and meanings of each cate­gory of needle.

The Good Luck and Bad Luck cate­go­ries ranged from small to large, inclu­ding some popular types like beginner's luck/ beginner's bad Luck. There were two special types of needles: one on the Good Luck side with a thin copper thread going through it (Almost Endless Luck), which required the finder to unwind the entire copper spool, and the double needle, which went through both plaques (Shared Bad Luck/Shared Good Luck), meaning it had to be shared or gifted if drawn simul­ta­neously from both boards. I came to realize that the way people perceived the game of drawing Luck was greatly influ­enced by reli­gious beliefs, age, and cultural back­ground.

During my time at Villa Sonnen­berg, I am parti­cu­larly inte­rested in explo­ring the idea of seemingly meaningless actions that hold a signi­fi­cant place in our common cultural heri­tage. I also plan to explore the local beliefs or precon­ceived ideas regar­ding Good Luck/Bad Luck and invent new types of good luck and bad luck. I aim to deliver to the public a new inter­ac­tive instal­la­tion, thus rese­a­r­ching cultural diffe­rences and using art as a tool to bring together diffe­rent gene­ra­tions."   

Naiana Vatavu wurde 1985 in Rumä­nien geboren und ist eine viel­sei­tige Künst­lerin mit einem inter­dis­zi­pli­nären Werde­gang. Sie absol­vierte ihre schu­li­sche Ausbil­dung am George-Apostu-Kunst­gym­na­sium in Bacău (2000–2004), bevor sie ein Studium der Psycho­logie an der Univer­sität Buka­rest begann und mit der Promo­tion abschloss. Parallel dazu folgte ihre künst­le­ri­sche Ausbil­dung an der Nati­o­nalen Kunst­uni­ver­sität Buka­rest, wo sie ihren Master (2011–2013) in Malerei erwarb. Ihre künst­le­ri­sche Praxis bewegt sich zwischen Malerei, Keramik, Instal­la­tion und Zeich­nung und ist geprägt von einer tiefen Refle­xion über die Absur­dität des Lebens, exis­ten­zi­elle Fragen und gesell­schaft­liche Zwänge. Seit 2011 hat sie ihre Werke in zahl­rei­chen Ausstel­lungen präsen­tiert, darunter Einzelausstel­lungen wie Animus liber (2019) und Grup­pe­n­ausstel­lungen wie Conflu­ente Festival (2019) oder Laborna & Friends (mehr­fach von 2015 bis 2019). Ihre Arbeiten wurden unter anderem im Mogo­soaia Palast, der Laborna Galerie und dem Nati­o­nalen Lite­ra­tur­mu­seum gezeigt.

https://naiana-vatavu.com/