#projection

Location: Palatul Telefoanelor

Artist: Matei Branea

Energoropa represents Europe in the form of a goddess, the energy of nature. The city seen as a hypermodern citadel is eclipsed by the female character who represents balance and communion with nature. The house is a symbol of living in the environment without trying to dominate. The lake at the bottom of the work symbolizes the renewable and sustainable energy that could be infinite. The goddess Energoropa generates energy and continuously gives birth to spirits that contain metaphysical energy hieroglyphs in counterpoint to the neon imitations of the commercial city. Made on the occasion of a European themed exhibition within the Angouleme comics festival in France, the work is now adapted for the special format of the façade of the Telephone Palace and contains new graphic elements such as memento mori and the bird „Birdy”, a philosophical character in the universe of Omulan. 

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Matei Branea, animation film, comics, and illustration author, active both in TV and advertising. Branea is mainly known as the creator of Omulan, a minimalist comic book character, who became notorious after the 2002 publication of the homonymous comic book album by HardComics and the hero of the animated film (“Omulan!”, 2015, with CNC financing). In addition to this, the author’s best-known achievements are the animations he made for the Marcă Înregistrată TV show, Planeta Moldova, NexT Film Festival and the SoNoRo chamber music festival, the comics published in RePublik magazine or the newspaper AperiTIFF and the illustrations in Esquire Romania magazine. His illustrations and comics have been exhibited and published internationally, from Tokyo to New York, via Berlin, London, Paris, and, naturally, Bucharest. His latest exhibition „Berlin Banana” (2022-2023) reunited a condensed retrospective, the graphic works made in Berlin during 2015-2016 and the piece “Madon with child” (2021). Currently Matei Branea is also a lecturer at The National University of Theatre and Cinematography “I.L. Caragiale” in Bucharest, within the Film Faculty, where he coordinates the Master’s Degree in Animation Film and manages the Animation and Interactivity department.