© Raluca Popa

General area of interest: medieval history
Specific area of interest: local terminology, specific to certain historical periods (obsolete)
Objective: developing a dialog/correspondence with Museum staff on obsolete (limited-use) terms
Museum curator: Ioana Savu-Gruiță, Andreea Demjen
List of inventory artefacts:
F94: Psalterium Davidicum cum calendario (facsimil)
F324: Conscripția domeniului Hodod, cu posesiunile Korod, Apacza, Mutos, Völtsök din anul 1773-1775.
F3626: Cutie pentru tutun de prizat (a doua jumătate a secolului al XVIII-lea)

Words, recto-verso

(The most frequent looked up words this year)

As the year started to unfold with its peculiarities, I found myself confined, absorbed in the reading of dictionaries, looking for forgotten words and meanings.

With Historia-Hysteria residency in mind, I set myself to working with materials from the Medieval Age. I was particularly interested in looking for words which in time lost their initial meaning, or they disappeared altogether. Then, I wanted to pair these words, and invent simple word games that would allow me to uncover a more violent and edgy side, which I always thought existed in the words we use. I chose the title Words, recto-verso with this intention in mind.

Zeciuiala, or tithe in English, was the first word on my list. 

From here on I proceeded at writing down old words used for naming methods of taxation in Medieval times. It was a satisfying process having to research terms such as: ajutorniță, albinărit, butucărit, ciubotă, clacă, décima, décimă, fumărit, ierbărit, lucru domnesc, oaie seacă, ogeac (ogeag), patentă, rânduială, róbotă, ruptă, rușală, rușfét, sáma, săpunărit, văcărit, vădrărit, vinárici.

But soon, from my dialogue with the custodians, I came to learn that these terms were used to describe the methods of taxation in Wallachia and Moldova. They were non-existent in Transylvania of the same period, and therefore useless in my dialogue with the Museum in Cluj. If I am not wrong, décima is the only term in the list which was used in Transylvania. As much as it was illuminating to acknowledge that, I also felt ashamed with my ignorance, and my inability to distinguish between parts, the local factors, the various histories and othernesses. 

Naturally, as I was progressing with my research of tax-related terms, adding new ones and erasing others, I came across words that were in no way related to methods of taxation, but I felt that they were able to act as connectors for the first ones, or portals to new words and realms: marginalia, glosă, apostilă, acoladă, anafura, anepigraf, anluminură, apostazie, calendar, decimare, săgeată, surét.

Therefore, I was able now to pair zeciuiala with decimare and décima, but also with glosă (the literary form), and through their simple pairing, to reveal a structure of various meanings but with a common cell (one tenth), the recto and the verso of words, the shared cruelty, bliss, dependency.

I have received from the custodians reproductions of three documents / objects: Psalterium Davidicum cum calendario (facsimil) (a reproduction of a calendar painted in the 13th century); Conscripția domeniului Hodod, cu posesiunile Korod, Apacza, Mutos, Völtsök din anul 1773-1775 (a register of annual taxation in the 18th century); Cutie pentru tutun de prizat  (a painted ceramic box for storing tobacco from the 18th century). But we also discussed “obiecte martelate”, (hammer-wrought objects), and the destruction of objects belonging to a civilization, a (religious) community etc. by another which comes after. Again, it was surprising to acknowledge that, from a local point of view, the Medieval Age has a different span here, compared to, let us say, the West-European demarcation. Therefore, objects from the 17th, even the 18th century are, in some cases, considered “medieval”.

At this point, as a way of responding to the objects from the Museum, I brought into discussion two small objects from my personal archive. And like those, they also bear the traces of time and destruction, in their own way. The first is a torn paper envelope received from ANAF, the tax office in Romania. The envelope dates back from 2017-2018, it is white and has a dark-blue opaque rectangle made of plastic whose role is to cover confidential information. The second object is a found postcard, date unknown, showing, in brown tones, a reproduction of La Suppliante (Rugătoarea), a sculpture by Camille Claudel from 1894-1895. The postcard is pierced multiple times with a sharp object, as if in an act of fury.

Whether the ANAF envelope makes reference to zeciuială, clacă, lucru domnesc, văcărit, or it is the abbreviation for anafură, I can not answer. Likewise, I can not say if there is a connection between my Suppliante on the postcard, and the painted woman on the lid of the tobacco box. It is true that the latter is holding a letter in her hand, but there is no fit of fury, or hysteria in her attitude. 

I feel compelled to introduce the pierced postcard inside the torn envelope, and within this new space  to conceal the meaning, and perhaps, to materialize an idea.

This is the arriving point of my research for Historia-Hysteria. Thank you.

Glossary:

tithe = one tenth of annual produce or earnings, formerly taken as a tax for the support of the Church and clergy. (Oxford Dictionary)

decimation = the killing of one in every ten of a group of people as a punishment for the whole group (originally with reference to a mutinous Roman legion).

illumination = a colored decoration, usually painted by hand, in an old book

gloss (or glosa), here with the meaning of poetic form

antidoron = is ordinary leavened bread which is blessed but not consecrated and distributed in Eastern Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite.

What do we need art for?

Art, singular, does not need us.

Art, I

need. I can read and talk. Order

of words,

of no importance.

Few things,

I understand.

How to

disappear,

I, singular, am learning.

Where I am (situated) right now (it could be artistically, geographically or both)

I am in Berlin. I am making the poster for a film and writing about the work of another artist. I am progressing with two artist books. I am also having an online conversation / interview on the subject of How to disappear, which was the title and theme of my last solo show at gaep, Bucharest. This month I will move to my new studio after a 6-month postponement, and hopefully I will regain a sense of normality within my life and work.