Don Giovanni 

Geta Bratescu created this photographic work, Don Giovanni, at an unknown date. It offers a compelling glimpse into the artist's creative process. Arranged in a grid, the panels show a copy of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, a manipulated mannequin, and tools. The composition invites us to consider the artist's studio as a space for both intellectual and physical work. Bratescu’s manipulation of found objects might reference the readymades of Dada, a transgressive European movement from the 1910s that was carried on by Surrealists and other radical groups. Made in Romania, this piece also offers insight into the state-controlled cultural institutions of the Eastern Bloc. Artists negotiated their relationship to a state that, in theory, supported the arts but also imposed a degree of censorship. To better understand Bratescu’s subtle acts of resistance, historians look to publications, exhibition records, and personal archives. Examining how these sources interact, we can recognize how individual works respond to the unique social conditions of their time.