Suzana Dan, artist, cultural manager, and founder of the Night of the Galleries (NAG), reflects on NAG’s growth from a spontaneous initiative to a key platform in Romania’s contemporary art scene. She explores its impact on artists and communities while considering the future role of technology and young creators.
How did you envision NAG in its early days compared to what it has become now? Has it evolved in ways you didn’t expect?
NAG appeared in the context of the effervescence of the first years of the new millennium. I don’t know how many of you remember what the atmosphere was like at the beginning of the 2000s in Bucharest. To summarise and to give you an idea, the city that was called Little Paris wanted to become Little Berlin. I was doing things just for the sake of doing them, I wasn’t following a purpose or a specific strategy. I think this gave the ensemble a freshness and a special je m’en fiche-ism. So NAG stuck its moustache firmly in that atmosphere and grew with the community. Has it matured? Yes. Has it become professional? It has, just like the rest of the community. NAG—I hope—will remain a mirror of the local creative scene and I’m glad that this expectation I had from this story has remained somewhat unchanged. Otherwise, I had no expectations. This project is made with a lot of love towards my colleagues and towards the public and yes, their absolutely wonderful response is something that far exceeded my expectations. That and the fact that it grew and lasted for so long.
In what ways do you think the Night of the Galleries has transformed the Romanian art scene? Has it influenced other similar projects in Eastern Europe or globally?
I think that any event of NAG’s magnitude becomes a small landmark for those who associate with it. One thing I think NAG has managed, and I think this aspect cannot be ignored at all, is to coagulate a rather fragmented and vulnerable scene. The fact that NAG is as democratic of an event as possible despite existing hierarchies—not only in culture but in any field—makes it free and open to artists and spaces that have been marginalised for various reasons, it encourages and creates a comfort zone for the general public that no longer feels awkward in the presence of a complicated curatorial discourse, and has the courage to say, when appropriate, that the emperor has no clothes. The critical attitude of the public and the accessibility of contemporary culture for the general public are for me a fight worth fighting and for which it was worth sacrificing the time dedicated to my art. Certainly an infinitesimal percentage has reached other similar projects, I think the butterfly effect applies here as well as anywhere else.
How has NAG managed to attract emerging artists and how important is it for you to provide a platform for younger, less established talents?
As I said earlier, the fact that NAG is open to all forms of contemporary art and all spaces, whether temporary or with a permanent activity dedicated to culture, makes it a fluid event where young artists feel comfortable. They are free to present their ideas without being judged by a curatorial court, they probably feel validated by their presence in the same program with spaces and artists recognized in the scene, maybe in fact they just feel good to have the opportunity to participate in an event that promotes them without asking them to account. For me, it is very important that NAG maintains this natural openness towards young artists and spaces that are not necessarily well known to the public. They are the voice most unaltered by the compromise that the cultural scene naturally ends up making with the recognition and validation by the art market. In other words, revolutions, if they are going to happen, happen there.
What role does NAG play in connecting artists with the broader public? How do you see it bridging the gap between contemporary art and local communities?
Culture has always been and will remain a faithful mirror of society. A society that ignores culture is a serious thing that reflects the alienation of its consciousness and, to some extent, it can also indicate its degree of collective depression. Investing in education seems to me as essential as investing in culture. Therefore, I hope the opening that NAG is trying to make to the general public won’t just be empty discourse but a fact that will help increase cultural consumption. This cultural consumption term sounds a bit crude, but it is damn important because a society that understands the art of its time is one with a higher degree of freedom of conscience than an ignorant society.
What’s your vision for the future of NAG? Are there new directions you’d like to explore, in terms of either geography or technology (e.g., digital art, NFTs)?
Obviously, new digital tools can facilitate the development of such an event. You can make an entire strategy using artificial intelligence to optimize the most subtle development parameters of a project. I am interested in the communication of the event, in the format in which it can reach the young target audience who already have different habits of interacting with information than our generations. And the use of any tool, whether digital or not, that could bring added value to NAG is welcome. Otherwise, just for the sake of trends, no.
The desired NAG is to become an event that helps to map the contemporary culture scene at the national level. So its geographic expansion in as many cities as possible is naturally part of the future plan of this event.
Related to the future of NAG, certainly connecting and collaborating with younger minds are essential for a project that is approaching twenty years of existence. I see the future of NAG in the hands of a young team. I am aware that there is no way for him to remain as effervescent as at the beginning except in the presence and vision of some young minds. Also, the scenario of NAG’s disappearance does not seem impossible to me. I would just like it to be due to natural causes, not imposed.
As part of the NAG for several years now, how has NAG shaped your personal journey and understanding of the art world? What has been the most rewarding part of this experience for you?
Through NAG, every year I made a reverence to my colleagues and to the cultural scene. I am grateful to them for this whole journey which taught me a lot about them and about me. It shaped me, rounded the corners of my ego and made me fight some battles in areas where I didn’t expect to end up. The most rewarding thing about NAG was the fact that I had the great opportunity to meet a lot of wonderful people. This often helps you to realize that you are not really alone in your ideal world. It’s a really cool thing.
Are there any moments or exhibitions from the past years that stand out as particularly memorable or impactful for you personally?
The most rewarding moments were the involvement and support of the community of artists and galleries, the wonderful collaboration we have with all the local NAG organizers in the cities, then one of the projects produced by NAG, the Passage exhibition which a year later turned into a project that it was presented at the Venice Biennale and last but not least, Rezidenta9, a journey and a project that I love immensely and with whom I am glad to be since its beginnings.
