What is this event?

Good News Workshop is conceived as a round table where the essential aspect is the encounter as the first catalyst for change. The workshop highlights the activist force of self-representation and happiness in relation to visual arts. Together we will create a space in which cynicism is disowned to make room for gentleness, and “pre-established” social scenarios are questioned and reinterpreted to make room for a new vision adapted to our immediate needs. Throughout the workshop you will rediscover what gives you joy through humor and by activating the pleasure of play – a kind of reorganization of your personal story.

The course is divided into 4 sessions and is based on a balance of visual art history and individual practice. You will explore portraits and self-portraits, learn about the representation of the other and self-representation, resistance through the visual arts and self-portraiture as a manifesto, ethical dimensions and, last but not least, practice different styles of self-portraiture from session to session and storytelling through images. After each session you will receive a homework assignment so the course requires you to allocate time outside the sessions for practicing.

To attend this event, the Consent Workshop attendance is not required.

📝 We confirm attendance 48 hours before the start of the event at the latest. Please register by filling the RSVP form at least 2 days before the start of the event. To manage the limited number of participants for this event, it is essential that complete the questionnaire posted in this description with your responses.

What happens at the event? What is the schedule for each day?

Workshop structure and schedule:

5th July schedule:

🕖 13:00 PM – 13:30 PM – We gather at InFLUX
🕣 13:30 PM – 17:30 PM – Workshop activities:
– introduction of Daniela, Ioana and participants
– presentation of self-portraits from the personal series ‘Good News’
– practical assignment

6th July schedule:

🕖 13:00 PM – 13:30 PM – We gather at InFLUX
🕣 13:30 PM – 17:30 PM – Workshop activities:
– practical assignment
– viewing and discussing the assignment results

12th July schedule:

🕖 13:00 PM – 13:30 PM – We gather at InFLUX
🕣 13:30 PM – 17:30 PM – Workshop activities:
– viewing of homework assignment projects + discussion with participants
– movie

13th July schedule:

🕖 13:00 PM – 13:30 PM – We gather at InFLUX
🕣 13:30 PM – 17:30 PM – Workshop activities:
– viewing of homework assignment projects + discussion with participants
– movie screening
– feedback session, Q&A, free discussion

Please be on time, so as not to disturb other participants. We cannot guarantee that someone will be available to open the door for you after closing time.

How can you reach us?

🔥This event is hosted at InFLUX! 🔥

Our address is Bulevardul Theodor Pallady 287. You can find information on how to reach us here or here.

The area has many parking spaces, especially in the evening or after 6 pm. The metro station at “1 Decembrie 1918” is the closest to us and it’s only 8 minutes away, on foot.

Take the small elevator (behind the large stairs on the ground floor) to the 5th floor, where you will see the sign for InFLUX. One more flight of stairs up, and you’re there. If mobility issues prevent you from climbing up a flight of stairs, you can take the large elevator, which will take you straight to our door, but that one is much slower.

Our phone number is +40723258105 and you can write to us on WhatsApp before the door closing time.

Who can come?

This workshop welcomes everyone, regardless of the level of knowledge or visual arts skills.

🎫 Fill in the form and questionnaire below, in this description, to register for this workshop. You will receive an email confirmation and we will keep you updated with information about the event. You will also receive an email reminder close to the event, so you don’t miss it.

We reserve the right to select event participants.

What are you bringing? What are you wearing? What is the cost?

This event has no dress code, so wear whatever makes you comfortable.

A professional camera is not necessary, a phone that takes pictures is enough.

Joy should be accessible for everyone, because of that reason the participation fee for this workshop will be 10 RON/weekend.

🪪 Please bring your ID card so we can check your age at the door. We keep none of your data, but we need to make sure that everyone is an adult. You can see here or here how we check your ID so that all your data but your year of birth and picture are visible to us.

Who organizes this event?

Daniela and Ioana met at the Joy in the Visual Arts workshop in the summer of 2021. They became both life and creative partners in this journey into the world of self representation and queer activism. Sharing the same convictions about how the visual arts can be put at the service of activism, together they extend the Queer Joy/Good News series through portraits and self-portraits defined by the concept of happiness as resistance. Thus happiness is no longer a mere selfish orientation towards the self but it becomes a tool, an engine of action against the heteronormative system. Through both the photo series and the workshop series they want to give hope and voice to future generations of queer people and to emphasize the need to pass on personal queer stories in order to increase the visibility and legitimacy of the community.

Daniela, a self-taught photographer, has activated her love for the power of the image as a means of expression within the queer activist community in Romania that she joined through this constant exercise of visibility. Thus she identified a gap in the field of photography – the lack of humor and happiness in the visual arts, a gap that she is now trying to fill through her images and workshops, in order to re-envision and redefine the image of queer people, given that this community is often defined from the outside in a light poor in compassion or truthfulness.

Ioana graduated from the Faculty of Theater and Film, Cinematography, Photography and Media, followed by a Master’s degree in Documentary Film, within the same faculty. During her formative years in visual arts she understands the exploitative potential of photography, film in general and documentary film in particular, becoming interested in diverse non-abusive methods of artistic creation based on mutual care and love. Thus she turns to self-portraiture and the concept of happiness in visual arts and collaborates with her wife in her personal photographic project, Good News.

The series of self-portraits on film creates an atmosphere that is utopian and yet as real as it can be – life as it is, in moments of rest, in moments when freedom is palpable and the desire to tell one’s own story out side of homophobic distortions comes alive. The GOOD NEWS series is complemented by a collection of solo images that address themes such as what ‘home’ means, the sense of gratitude for the objects and experiences that make Daniela feel safe, and last but not least the tension between gratitude and the energy needed to resist the oppressive forces a queer person faces in a world that is sinking into a void of greed and hate.