”The scenographic installation Two in one. A story… in the white cube space of the CREART Gallery is a unique plastic experiment for its author, Octavian Neculai. The work takes as its starting point Mircea Eliade's The Forbidden Forest, both through the motto under whose inspiration it took shape, namely the passage that evokes the power of King Midas to turn everything he touches into gold, and through the character's hypostasis who is faced with a choice. If the existence of parallel multiverses - according to quantum physics - holds true, then basically every decision we make generates a new universe; but what happens when we choose between two choices? Two in one is the possible story not only of two brides, but, given Octavian Neculai's biography, it can also be a story about how a creator simultaneously follows two different artistic directions: architecture and scenography. Thus situated at the interface between artistic practices and keys to reading, the visual construction offers us the opportunity for an incursion into the artist's imagination, but also an impetus through which everyone can take the alchemical path of self-transformation.” (Ana Daniela Sultana)
”My story is about coming together through love or because of love. It began one day when I saw a wedding dress sitting on a mannequin in an open window facing the street, giving me the impression that she was talking to someone. And so I thought to myself: why wouldn't she talk to me and together we tell a story about this theoretically once-in-a-lifetime event. What if, looking in the mirror, we could see the other side only we know? It's about a revelation on the day we celebrate love.
It is the day when, by touching that miraculous substance, we can turn anything to gold, including dreams.
My brides - who are actually two in one - prepare for their wedding, in front of the mirror, hiding their faces and bodies behind veils to keep their love away from people's eyes. They only partially succeed.
All around them, meanwhile, are the gifts they are about to receive from the guests already hovering above them." (Octavian Neculai)
Octavian Neculai is a set designer and architect, associate professor at UAIM, practicing architect at ICPIL and president of Comproiect, graduate of "Ion Mincu" Institute of Architecture in Bucharest (1966). A complex personality, he has carried out numerous projects for the performing arts, remodelling and refurbishment of theatres, commercial and performance spaces, interior design, complex hotel construction, construction projects in Romania and abroad, pavilions for fairs and exhibitions. He has also signed the scenography of numerous theatre and opera performances, working alongside established names in the field, such as Liviu Ciulei, Dan Jitianu, Andrei Șerban, Alexandru Darie, Mihai Mănuțiu and Alexandru Dabija.
Ana Daniela Sultana is a curator and art columnist. She holds degrees in philology and communication, a MA in curating from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and is currently writing a PhD thesis titled “Poetics of the curatorial text”. Her articles appear in ARTA magazine, Romanian-Italian Cultural Horizons and on agentiadecarte.ro. She collaborates with institutions such as the International Cultural Centre in Krakow, the Romanian Cultural Institute in Vienna, the Austrian Cultural Forum in Bucharest, creart – the Center for Creation, Art and Tradition of Bucharest, the Literature Museum in Bucharest, the Art Museum of Timișoara, Kunsthalle Feldbach, Aluniș Art Center and with various contemporary art galleries.