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This house I think is very old. Even if is refurbished.
But I think that inside it seems to be old furniture...
Old furniture, and maybe, old people. Alive people, of course!
Maybe inside there are old people in a pension, something like this. With old furniture, and not very good smell.
And now I will tell you that inside there are actually young people.
Wow! Crazy!
The old owners came and take back the houses but can't restore it.
And they are in a very bad shape.
I think the old houses in Bucharest should be rehabilitated but I'm
not sure that young people are able to do it.
Inside is a radio. Which radio station is it?
Paul: Hello, welcome! To our cultural center ARTIDAVA!
And here we have a photo exhibition of a dance movie,
that will be projected later on this night.
Because tonight we have a projection of Romanian short movies.
Here is our space!
Is not so often that old buildings are inhabited with this kind of initiatives.
Also, it is a space where the Romanian young elite will form itself.
I think that Romanian Elite has a problem with forming
because a lot of intellectuals are living abroad.
So we kind of try to mix art with social and to put our activities
in a cultural background that can be like, from big Bucharest scenes to villages.
We were searching for a big house. To include the radio plus all the other artistic domains.
And that was how we found this house.
This main idea came long time ago. It was like,
me and Paul, when we first met, I had this kind of places but it was dedicated to dance.
He had this idea of like, making a place, where people can come and speak and have cultural activities
all together like a community but it should be like a house, not a like a stage
and people seated on chairs and watching.
We try to make these barriers between the viewers, spectators and artist, smaller.
People started realising the importance of preserving our cultural heritage and our architectural heritage.
So it came this question: Ok, we understand, we have a problem,
but how can we fix it? How can we rehabilitate houses without destroying them?
So that's why we came with complementary project which created the inventory of good practice models in the rehabilitation.
After finishing this inventory at Bucharest level,
we had like, 4000 degraded houses - "mourning houses" -
and on the other hand only 30 to 60 good rehabilitation models.
So the situation was very bad, so we tought "we need to do something more than this."
tu put the problem of our heritage as a source for economical development, social
development, and sustainable development at a local level.
We have these building that already exist. We have these resources. You don't have to go from zero to do a building.
You can use them. A lots of old building are high quality buildings, with high quality material.
So why not using them?
The house was built in 1938 by an Italian architect. I know the house was built for a lawyer family.
And the name of the family was Popescu-Necşeşti
and Alexandru Popescu-Necşeşti was also the Minister of Justice during the interbellic period.
The guy was imprisoned by the Communists and he died in prison,
in Sighetul Marmaţiei, on the north of the country. And the house was nationalised.
I don't know what happened with the house during this period
but I know that 3 years ago, the nephew of the minister
regained the house and started to think what to do further. But he left it in a stage very...
Loredana: So. nobody lived here in the last 3 years? Marinela: yes.
It was at the beginning. The roof is from this room where we are seated right now.
And, you can see, this was the original form of the room,
before the construction of the wall.
Loredana: So here are the stairs?
Yes, and you can see it from here. Loredana: And now you built the wall here.
Yes starting from this point, and we separated in 2 rooms. The voice, and the recording.
L: So, that's the space for the radio? M: Yes.
Because you are in the beginning, it is good to start observing how this will impact the local community.
Practically, you bring a different kind of people in this area.
So this clearly will change the specific of
this zone in Bucharest. So you have to observe it and then you know when you have enough material
to look back and to say: look, this is where we started, this is where it was and then, look
how it is now. Because this part of Bucharest is so close.
Yes, the fancy close part of Bucharest.
It's residential and you don't have a public opening.
I already can tell you that our neighbours, were here at our events because they were very very interested
"Oh my god! Here you have a cultural center, something is happening in our neighbourhood!"
"Can we come?" "Of course!"
Well, there are a lot of difficulties.
The first one came with this space because it was old and awful and we din't have money to invest in it.
So, then we kind of did it all by ourselves. From the painting the walls, making the installations,
and, like refurbishing. We had results. What you see here was from sponsorships.
So, people really got involved and the sponsors helped us with the furniture and all kind of other things,
like lights and music speakers. So it worked, we have good friends and good association.
You create a system that works and sometimes, people help you. And like, everybody having
this attitude, this will make the system work better. So, this is why it is more efficient
to invest in the restoration. Is not only the money itself. Nowadays, because we are aware
of the importance of preserving, there are financial supports. You can find help if you
want to restore an old building, you can find help, people to support you.
Communities are involved in these sort of work, so you are not by yourself.
Both of us we were employed.
But, lets say, is desicion you make in your life and you have a dream,
and if you cannot find your resources from your employer, or from the state, you find to do it on your way.
And "on your way" means finding the purpose, first of all, and after that you fight.
Establish an idea, and start from there. And then, it will come to you at the right time, it will come to you.
You only have to be patient. And to never stop working on it, that is the most important:
never stop working on it.
It is worth to fight for reaching your goal.