Over a period of three days, on November 27, 28 and 29 2008, between 18:00 and 7:00 o’clock, red spots illuminated 11 weather-beaten buildings in the centre of Bucharest, that had been previously marked with stickers.

The buildings are located on Budisteanu, Lutherana, Theodor Aman and Grivitei Streets and they’ve been chosen because they have somehow been fallen into oblivion, in spite of their authentic historical and cultural value.

Red Spot continued with a photo and video exhibition at the Acvariu (Aquarium) room at the Romanian Peasant Museum. Photos of forgotten, abandoned or destroyed structures in Bucharest were shown, along with opinions and stories of those who used to live in such buildings. The images of the houses illuminated by red spots were also displayed.

Red Spot is an art project conceived as an alarm signal for the people of Bucharest- inhabitant, authorities, civil sector and private companies.

Red Spot is a warning sign for the collective indifference.

Red Spot is a finger pointing at some of the wounds that Bucharest has: buildings, streets, districts and people in a city that used to be called the “Paris of the East”. Nowadays it is more a city buried under cars, dust, and resentfulness. Will it be a future cultural capital or a chaotic, commercial, consumerist city?

Red Spot draws attention to neglected places in the city. The centre of the capital city is one of those places, but not the only one. A large number of streets, houses and other heritage buildings are perishing right in front of our eyes, thus adding to a heavy, grey feeling of Bucharest.

These are places that we see daily, that we get used to and we fail to really see them; we become indifferent to them and we forget that they are part of our daily life.

However, it is not only the buildings and the streets, but the people as well: those who used to live in these architectural monuments in the era of the “Paris of the East” and those who inhabit them today - tenants or owners. Beside them, there are the people of today who will shape the tomorrow. Owner who regained their long stolen properties, now regard these buildings merely as means of immediate profit, which usually brings the demolition of the structures (the works of rehabilitation would take much more time and money). What one forgets is that the house is part of the identity of the area and that this area is no longer the property of one owner, be that the government, but it belongs to an entire city. The city is not just a bunch of buildings, streets or institutions, but the people who inhabit it and make it live.

Does inhabiting a city give the people any right over its elements (buildings, institutions, regulations)? And if so, what rights? How exactly do we use these rights? How should we? What are the first places that we should focus on? Why? What makes them special? Who built them? What is their history? What is their historical, architectural, aesthetic value? Is there something that we can save? Could we still save our history? Could we still integrate this history in our present and future so that we keep the joy of being part of one European capital with a particular identity?

The relation between the past, the present and the future of Bucharest overlaps the relation between the history of the city, the building sites of the present and the history built by the action or the passivity of the inhabitant - individuals, groups, associations, public or private institutions.

Red Spot is a calling to overcome the ignorance for our own history, for our own past and present, and the carelessness for our own future.