Casa Radesti

• • 3ARTS MATCH
  • 108% contributed

I have always wanted to be a host. When I was six years old my parents had to stop me from constantly inviting people into our apartment. As this desire never left me, I’ve now found a way I can make this dream a reality by establishing a new artist residency that I’m calling Casa Radesti, located in my home country of Romania. Throughout my artistic career I have benefited from meeting many people at artist residencies, cultural centers, and informal sites of learning and collaboration. These experiences have given me a holistic understanding of how we learn, create, and express ourselves in the world. For many years I and my partner/collaborator Jon Dean have wanted to create a place that can deliver this to other artists: a house-studio-residency-meeting place in a location outside of the fast paced demands of a city. We found a small house-barn in the village of Radesti, about 1.5 hours from Bucharest. We plan to turn this into the Casa Radesti, a cultural house residency. It will be a place to meet, a place to cooperate, a place to collaborate, a place to share friendship, a place to live and be creative in exciting and non-prescriptive ways. While a great deal of work has already been done on the house, we are seeking funds to help us complete the renovation, including building a new kitchen, bathroom, terrace, and connecting to plumbing and utility systems. With your support we will create a unique space for artist support and collaboration.

About This Project

Through talking to local people in the village we were able to purchase the piece of land which covers an area of 1200 square meters (12916 sq. ft). The 93 year-old neighbour, Mr. Dinculescu, offered us the house as a gift if we could fully restore it. Importantly, this social and economic relationship has been one based very much in friendship, not related to, or reflecting, the blunt system of buying and selling land and property.

Upon the complete restoration of the house, the building will contain three small and accessible rooms downstairs, a bathroom, a kitchen, and an outdoor (covered) terrace where people can meet around a large dining table. Upstairs, the former hay loft will become an open and expansive room that can be repurposed according to the needs, interests, and desires of visiting guests, such as serving as an art studio, projection room/mini cinema, performance rehearsal hall, sleeping area, and so on.

So far we have begun reinforcing the old walls and relaying the existing foundation. The roof of the building has been completely rebuilt using local materials. The restoration process is being done in a collaborative manner, with the work being co-designed and facilitated by friends and neighbours from the village who have the relevant skills and experiences.

We are also planning to design and create a water well next to the house-barn using recycled materials from the old building. The well will provide fresh drinking water and will be a sculptural feature of the garden.

Once restored and operational, Casa Radesti will provide a wonderful residential space and rural cultural center that will be open to a wide range of artistic activities, educational events, social gatherings, and short residencies that aims to connect people on regional, national, and international levels.

The house itself will be an ‘engine of creativity’ stimulating ideas, thoughts, gestures, and actions within the physical context of a beautiful garden and surrounding countryside containing hills, rivers, and nearby mountains.

The concept of sharing focused and engaged periods of time together in non-competitive, critically reflective, and essentially enjoyable ways will form the ‘building blocks’ of Casa Radesti. Once the foundations are secured the sky could be the limit.

We plan to publish annual newsletters featuring both Casa Radesti updates and document art/creative works.

We are keen that all donations are equally appreciated and suitably recognized. All donors will receive a personal thank you and a (site-specific) downloadable image of Casa Radesti, and everybody's name will be included in the "Casa Radesti House Book." Due to the financial costs of producing and sending objects, additional gifts will be available at the levels noted in the Thank You section of this page. 

 

Thank yous

Contribute any amount or choose from the levels below.

• $20
  Personal thank you via a limited-edition & numbered postcard mailed from Radesti. The postcards will reflect the process of hosting guests, the restoration, and "opening our doors" internationally. ($20.00 is tax deductible.)
• $50
  Above, plus your name inscribed on a new sculptural and functional water well that will provide fresh drinking water to the house. ($50.00 is tax deductible.)
• $100
  A printed, limited-edition film still created by Irina Botea Bucan, plus the postcard and name inscription on the well. ($100.00 is tax deductible.)
• $250
  A small-sized, original work of embroidery art created by Irina Botea Bucan, plus the postcard and name inscription on the well. ($250.00 is tax deductible.)
• $500
  A medium-sized, original work of embroidery art created by Irina Botea Bucan, plus the postcard and name inscription on the well. ($500.00 is tax deductible.)

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Irina Botea Bucan

Chandler Family Awardee

Over the past ten years Irina Botea Bucan has been engaged in an art practice that uses multiple media to inspect socio-political dynamics and the possibility of transformation. Currently, her focus is on the de centralization of cultural discourses and …

View Irina Botea Bucan's profile

• 2 updates
• 50 supporters

• Update 1: we have reached our initial goal!

  Posted on August 09, 2019

   

  Thank you very much for all the amazing support and contributions to our project. It is the first time we have been involved in this process, and the messages we have received reinforced our belief that the existence of comunal places is very important. Everything exceeded any expectations we ever had! We have riched our initial financial aim! Any other funds/donations received in the final 6days will be put towards installing a heating system! Many thanks again!

  Update 2: We are very proud and happy about our new roof!

  Posted on August 12, 2019

   

  

• Thank you to the following for contributing to 3Arts with the recommendation that we support this project.

  • Nicholas Lowe

  • claire pentecost

  • mark jeffery

  • Rana Siegel

  • Lars Ebert

  • Roberto Sifuentes

  • Cecilia Cornejo

  • Marie Fischer

  • Jane Jerardi

  • Simina Balasoiu

  • Tirtza Even

  • Danièle Wilmouth

  • JI YANG

  • Eryka Dellenbach

  • Rachel Kraft

  • Carole McCurdy

  • Raluca Croitoru

  • Salome Chasnoff

  • Sorina Tomuletiu

  • Emma Rozanski

  • Anonymous Supporter

  • Alan Labb

  • Yuge Zhou

  • Anca Rujoiu

  • Kelly Kaczynski

  • Adriana Enache

  • Enma Saiz

  • Anonymous Supporter

  • Nadav Assor

  • Thomas Abbatiello

  • Penny Cagney

  • Gonzalo Escobar Mora

  • Fabienne Zuijdwijk

  • Lisa Barcy

  • Gabriel Gaster

  • Jane Foley

  • reginald quinn quinn

  • Irina Denischenko

  • Mitsu Salmon

  • Aurora Tabar

  • Mary Lowe Bailey

  • Katherine Trimble

  • Yoni Goldstein

  • Adrian Higgins

  • Tincuta Heinzel

  • Daria Ghiu

  • Adam Kinner

  • Cosug Oana

  • Julie Griffiths

  • Beth Cohen

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