Uzina de fapte şi alte povestiri (nemărturisite) / The factory of facts and other (unspoken)

A surprising book, which, from the poetic and well-found title, The Factory of Facts and Other (Unspoken) Stories to the alert assemblage of texts/images, interrogates and puts forward a reading of the socialist public space via what constituted its new milestones: the civic centre, the house of culture, and the universal store. These three complex objects are pertinently explored from various viewpoints, each of which restores to them different facets.

Densely-structured texts (by Alex Rauta, Irina Tulbure, Laura Popa-Florea) that examine the theoretical and historical sides of the objects in question are complemented by less unexpected approaches that resituate them in their post-1989 becoming: memory with a hint of sociological questionnaire (studioBASAR); partial transcription in the video-grammes of a documentary (Matei Bajenaru); photographic essay (Nicul Ilfoveanu); reanimation of ideological meanings from the press of the time (Puiu Latea).

Masterfully orchestrating all the fragments that make up the volume, Alina Serban places them in dialogue with exceptional period photographic material (selected by Irina Tulbure) that has preserved intact its evocative power.

Brought together, words and images set in motion the Factory of Facts of life (imagined/dreamed/real) in the socialist city.