"The Battle for Luck exhib­ited in both Germany (Düssel­dorf) and Romania (Bucharest), became the venue for a social exper­i­ment. The focal point was the Luck meas­uring concept, consisting of two wooden boards displayed side by side (Düssel­dorf) and two wooden and copper boards displayed back to back (Bucharest), with one side meas­uring good luck and the other bad luck. Both boards are drilled, with only one hole going through both. Ceramic needles of varying lengths, colors, and termin­a­tions were inserted into almost all the holes. The public was invited to draw needles and measure their Luck using two separate draw­ings that depicted the exact char­ac­ter­istics, sizes, and mean­ings of each category of needle.

The Good Luck and Bad Luck categories ranged from small to large, including some popular types like beginner's luck/ beginner's bad Luck. There were two special types of needles: one on the Good Luck side with a thin copper thread going through it (Almost Endless Luck), which required the finder to unwind the entire copper spool, and the double needle, which went through both plaques (Shared Bad Luck/Shared Good Luck), meaning it had to be shared or gifted if drawn simul­tan­eously from both boards. I came to realize that the way people perceived the game of drawing Luck was greatly influ­enced by reli­gious beliefs, age, and cultural back­ground.

During my time at Villa Sonnen­berg, I am partic­u­larly inter­ested in exploring the idea of seem­ingly mean­ing­less actions that hold a signi­ficant place in our common cultural heritage. I also plan to explore the local beliefs or precon­ceived ideas regarding Good Luck/Bad Luck and invent new types of good luck and bad luck. I aim to deliver to the public a new inter­active install­a­tion, thus researching cultural differ­ences and using art as a tool to bring together different gener­a­tions."   

Naiana Vatavu, a versatile artist with an inter­dis­cip­linary back­ground, was born in Romania in 1985. After completing her schooling at the George Apostu Art High School in Bacău (2000–2004), she went on to study psycho­logy at the Univer­sity of Bucharest, gradu­ating with a doctorate. During this time, she also pursued further artistic training at the National Univer­sity of Art in Bucharest, obtaining her Master's degree in Painting in 2013. Her artistic prac­tice encom­passes painting, ceramics, install­a­tion and drawing, and is char­ac­ter­ised by deep reflec­tions on life's absurdity, exist­en­tial ques­tions, and social constraints. Since 2011, she has exhib­ited her work in numerous solo and group exhib­i­tions, including Animus Liber (2019) and Conflu­ente Fest­ival (2019), as well as several appear­ances at Laborna & Friends from 2015 to 2019. Her work has been exhib­ited at Mogosoaia Palace, Laborna Gallery, and the National Liter­ature Museum, among others.

https://naiana-vatavu.com/