“Ruptul Sterpelor” is based on a pastoral custom from the Maramure\u0219 region of Romania, also practiced in the village of S\u0103cel. The ritual marked the beginning of the grazing season and took place in spring, when shepherds would measure the sheep’s milk for the first time \u2014 a gesture of validation and belonging to the shepherding community, through which the exact amount of milk and cheese each villager was to receive for the year was established. The event culminated in a communal meal, where doine and traditional songs, passed down through generations, were sung. Through conversations with locals, I learned that these practices are slowly disappearing, along with the decline of agriculture and traditional ways of life. Fewer and fewer families raise sheep today, and the songs once performed during “Ruptul Sterpelor” are now nearly forgotten. The disappearance of an agriculture-based economy brings with it other losses as well: songs, customs, crafts, and forms of communal coexistence.
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The proposed work consists of a ceramic vessel (historically used as a milk container), made in collaboration with local potter Burnar T\u0103nase. On its inner surface, a fragment of a traditional song related to “Ruptul Sterpelor” is inscribed in Braille (via perforation). A light source inside transforms the vessel into an intimate lantern, alluding to its current uselessness \u2014 it can no longer function as a container, having become a kind of strainer. The vessel will be displayed on a rotating stand, with an audio recording playing underneath \u2014 created together with Mrs. Maria Catan\u0103, one of the few people who still remembers those melody. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song becomes a sonic code of collective memory, embedded in clay. “Ruptul Sterpelor” is both an act of recovery and transformation. It is a work that speaks of community, loss, and resilience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Andreea Medar about her work, july 2025)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Andreea Medar (n. 1990) este o artist\u0103 rom\u00e2n\u0103, reprezentat\u0103 exclusiv de Mind Set Art Center, Taipei. Practica sa include obiecte \u0219i medii mixte, sculptur\u0103, instala\u021bii media \u0219i lucr\u0103ri video. Din 2017, s-a implicat \u0219i \u00een proiecte colaborative cu M\u0103lina Ionescu, artist\u0103, curator \u0219i critic de art\u0103 din Rom\u00e2nia. Imagistica sa rescrie imaginarul s\u0103u personal prin juxtapunerea elementelor contrastante, \u00een proiecte care exploreaz\u0103 teme precum istoria familial\u0103, comunitatea rural\u0103, ritualul, schimbarea, dizolvarea \u0219i persisten\u021ba.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":387,"template":"","meta":{"arac_resident_start":"2025-07-07","arac_resident_end":"2025-07-21"},"residency_location":[24],"class_list":["post-385","resident","type-resident","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","residency_location-maramures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arac.ro\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resident\/385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arac.ro\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resident"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arac.ro\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resident"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arac.ro\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arac.ro\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"residency_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arac.ro\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/residency_location?post=385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.arac.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/3W7A7502-1200x800.jpg\")
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