Our project’s objective was “The Monumental Assembly” from Targu-Jiu and the Memorial House “Constantin Brancusi” from Hobita.
I) A small village, in the heart of Gorj, a village in which the main activity was agriculture, in which the traditional customs had a major role, a village whose name would be significant because of one man: Hobita-Gorj-Romania, is the birthplace of the great sculptor Constantin Brancusi. The Memorial House "Constantin Brancusi" had been built after the original model, representing a precise reconstitution of the familial habit in which Brancusi – the child- had grown. The native places had a significant role in his becoming as an artist, assuming some popular motives that are found in the romanian village.
II) “The Monumental Assembly from Targu-Jiu” is a tribute to the fallen heroes of World War I, carrying with it the most obvious signs of artistic and philosophical spirit of the great artist.
1. "The Table of Silence" or "The National Apostles Table", is composed of 12 seats (representing the 12 apostles, Jesus being in the middle) and like Radu Boureanu said,it is "an invitation to a magical shadow council of ancestors." Petre Pandrea considers the Table of Silence as "a marriage , family, love and fertility hymn, as it happened on our lands since memorable times.
2. "The Gate of The Kiss" or "The National Unification Monument" expresses eternity of love ,the kiss representing unity. The kiss became a symbol of universal art and human spirituality chosen for the full union and communion among others. Brancusi's stone Gate is created to describe new paths to the heart of the earth and especially to Paradise.
3. “The Endless Column” or "The Column of Gratefulness", considered by Sidney Geist "the peak of modern art", is a true "spiritual testament" of the artist, an axis-mundi, as if designed to support the eternal heavens, is the symbol of aspiration towards the infinite - and feeling so often encountered and characteristic for the Romanian spirituality called in Romanian „dor”. The Endless Column has a weaker national rider, is less romanian than the other works made by Brancusi. It is the universal himself in his nudity.
4. “The Alley of Chairs” is in fact the central alley of the park that links The Table of Silence and The Gate of the Kiss. This represented the domain of those who participated without being involved, the cautious people, waiting for the final; they represent the order imposed by the circumstances. The chairs have a special meaning which gives them a sacred allure of hourglass, of clock that measures the path ,the time and the action.
5. “Holy Apostles Church” fits very well in the Assembly; it is the religious component of it.
Grinding his works to the philosophical substrate, Constantin Brancusi, this genius of the sculpture, considers that his work synthesize the essence of things, hidden in the world’s shadow. For him, sculpture represented not only a way to shape the material through creations, but also a way to touch the absolute. By proving the reducibility of the Assembly from Targu-Jiu to a folkloric substrate, we only wanted to make visible the so called “ Keystone” in the assimilation of Brancusi’s work, through the nowadays perspective.
