Flaviu Rogojan
FLAVIU ROGOJAN (b.1990) is an artist and curator who works in a variety of media.
Using references from technology, video game and internet culture, Flaviu Rogojan deals with different aspects of the layered worlds we live in, navigating both online and offline spaces. Geeky factoids and stories are often a starting point in his works, but his artistic practice also draws inspiration from conceptual art and contemporary art strategies, weaving together different fictions and narratives.
He is a founding member and coordinator of Aici Acolo, a pop up gallery project transforming unused or abandoned spaces into temporary art spaces for young artists.
His works have been shown in contemporary art spaces, group and solo exhibitions and media festivals: at kinema Ikon in Arad, Romania; Salonul de Proiecte in Bucharest, Romania and at Viennafair, Vienna; Obroncow Stalingradu in Szczecin, Poland; Kunstverein Wolfsburg in Wolfsburg, Germany; Pilot and Baril at the Paintbrush Factory in Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Nida Art Colony in Nida Lithuania; and others.
Between 2011 – 2012 he was the curator of Ataș Project Space, a gallery for art students from the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca. During his studies there he organized projects with art students until 2014.
Flaviu Rogojan currently works in Cluj, in his studio (Young Actions and Abstractions Artists Studio).
Paleto Forest – In the popular game series called Grand Theft Auto, games centered on stealing cars and working for the criminal underworld, breaking the law is not only encouraged, it’s the way you win the game. A lot of casual players however not only break the rules of society, but the rules of the game itself, by using cheat codes to get access to more money, the best cars, the best weapons and so on. A form of cheating that goes one step further is breaking the rules of the in-game physics. Running from the police, in a stolen car, driving the best car in the game, this player is using cheat codes to turn off any collision between the police car barricade and his car. Not only disrespecting the authority of the police but also being unstoppable, immune to the normal physical constraints. Being able to move through objects is a form of mobility imbued with power, a ghost-like movement transcending power relationships.
Paleto Forest – Being able to walk, run, drive, or move through 3D objects and environments, unrestrained by “natural” physical limits and collision rules, can be a form of subversion in the case of cheat-codes, but can also be a case of a higher perspective. In competitive video games, walking and, implicitly, seeing through walls which are not meant to be transparent, is a right reserved only to moderators, referees, or admins.
Does lookin at a picture of the sun hurt your eyes? – A recreation of an early photographic equipment error that would render the sun black if the camera’s photo sensor overloads.
Reghin – A 3D model of a long-forgotten design for a paddleboat-like watercraft, modeled after the original plans found in the archives of a former transilvanian industrial complex. A vehicle that provides no opportunity for travel.
Throwing Four Balls in the Air to Get a Square – Screenshots of recreating John Baldessari’s eponymous work in a video game. A mod of the popular video game Half-Life 2 was used to build an in-game version of his 1974 conceptual art project.