Daniel Djamo (b.1987, Bucharest) is a Romanian artist, interested in personal and group histories and stories, and in themes such as the national identity. Winner of the 2013 ESSL award CEE (offered by the ESSL museum, Klosterneuburg) and the 2013 Henkel Art Award. Young artist prize CEE (given by mumok - Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien - and KulturKontakt Austria). Daniel had recent solo exhibitions in Dortmund (Kunstlerhaus Dortmund, 2017), Maribor (K18 Gallery, 2017), Graz (Afro-Asiatic Institute, 2016), Herzlele (ARPIA, 2016), Glasgow (Briggait, 2014), Leipzig (KunstKraftWerk, 2015), Bucharest (AncaPoterasu Gallery, 2015 and Victoria Art Gallery, 2015), and Kuala Lumpur (WOLO + Wei-Ling Gallery, 2015).

 Artist’s statement

“16 sounds of paper” is an installation that intends to create an imaginary archive of a future year, anticipating the results of struggles and tensions that we are confronted with right now within the European space, while also understanding and reflecting the past Yugoslavian war and its consequences. It focuses on the routes followed by 16 ex-Yugoslavians after the start of a second Yugoslavian War, in the fictional year 2028.

The  work is developed alongside research related to a fictional age. It is the spring of the year 2028. Along with a fall of the European market, illegal immigration affected more and more the territories of Western countries. Germany recently launched project “Dome”, in which it developed protection-domes over all of the cities and towns of the country. Each city has developed a bar-code system, in which in every citizen is implanted a microchip and has a specially-designated bar-code which assures his/her safety and full-knowledge about his/her position within the country. You can approach cities only with microchip and bar-code approval. Once you have entered a new space, your particular code determines your position.

After the fall of the European Union (2024), Serbia saw a period of financial difficulty. Soon after, it sold its gold reserves to Finland and all its oil to Austria. From an economic point of view, the country fell into a coma. The situation developed into local protests, which later led to a military conflict. Nonetheless, a group of 16 ex-Yugoslavians are about to embark on a journey that might change their lives, reaching Munich where they found jobs on the black market. This is where our story begins.

The constructed fiction of the year 2028 putsthe stories of 16 people during and in the aftermath of another Yugoslavian conflict under the magnifying glass;imaginary testimonies of young people who never saw war and conflict, blendingthe past and the present in order to reflect a potentialdystopia.

The work is an archival installation, where audio elements are blended with materiality.

 Daniel Djamo

The exhibition