VAR association is launching this month the CELLULAR project, a cultural project of research, artistic documentation and theater production, intended to involve the young urban audience (20-35 years old) from Bucharest and Iași. With the involvement of two artistic teams, the partner organizations and a psychologist, the project explores the role of culture as a means of expression and its redefinition in a digital age.

Figured as an artistic network game, the project will launch an open call ( from 15th June to 3rd July, 2023) in which young people are invited to select an object with personal significance and send a photo accompanied by its story. In a series of workshops, 10 participants/city selected as a result of the open call, coordinated by the two artistic teams, will select and develop stories based on these objects. The artists and the partner theater companies will complete the scripts and put them on stage. The two performances resulting from the workshops will then be presented to the public in Iași, Bucharest and online. The materials obtained during this process will feed the CELLULAR journal, published and promoted online, on social networks.

The everyday objects we surround ourselves with carry stories, meanings and symbols that include all the aspects of our lives. The project is focused on the physical and imaginative connection we have with these objects, the way they dialogue, allowing us to express ourselves in new ways that are not limited by the digital environment.

The CELLULAR structure unites features of the documentary theater with circular forms of communication between the audience and the artists. By involving young people in the creative process, the project has the potential to offer artists new ways to (re)establish the relationship with the audience, both on the “cellular”/individual level and at the macro level. The focus is on the development of personality, the discovery and value of emotions, the creation of a new artistic network based on trust and collaboration, and the young audience is invited to recognize its active role as cells within the larger cultural area.

CELLULAR is a cultural project organized by VAR association from June to October 2023, in partnership with FiX Theatre, Bulandra Theatre, tranzit.ro/Iași, The Theatre from Stejar, FITPTI, co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund and powered by ButanGas.

Media partners: Radio Romania Cultural, VIVA FM, Zile și Nopți, IQads, București FM, România Pozitivă, B-Critic, “Cultura” Magazine.

The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the financing.