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Art School Misses Construction Deadline
Simina Mistreanu
Despite promises from the authorities to improve the situation by the end of last year, students at the University of Arts in Bucharest are still forced to work in overcrowded and noisy conditions while repairs have dragged out far beyond the deadline.
When The Bullet raised the issue in an article in its November 2006 issue university officials stated that at least some classrooms would be ready for use by Christmas. However a recent examination revealed that the situation has hardly changed; construction is still going on and students share the same overcrowded workshops as before. The date when students can move to their renovated classrooms has been postponed from month to month.
“We were supposed to move to the fresco room on March 10,” said Alexandru Vatavu, a second year student of mural painting. “We are sharing a room with students in the third and the fourth year. Every year should have its own room, but at this rate, I don’t think this will happen until we finish university. We will take up a master’s degree and maybe then things will return to normal.”
Students in the design section have classes in the foundry, which belongs to the ceramics section. “This room is very small, and we are about 20 students for each course. We don’t have enough space. Each of us should have a drawing board of 1.50 square meters,” said Vald Icobes, a freshman in design.
His colleague, Cristian Codreanu added: “I heard a rumor once that we could move after Easter in the workshops in the back, which will be 80 percent ready. Nobody told us anything official, neither us, nor our teachers. We sometimes ask them, and the teachers answer: ‘Well, they say March.’ March comes and we ask the teachers again. ‘Well, they say after Easter.’ When the cows come home!”
One lecture room in the L wing is ready and open for use. Nevertheless, it seems that the freshly renovated room faces some problems. “Our first course in the lecture room was a funny experience. We had art history. While the teacher was talking, water started pouring out of the ceiling. A puddle was forming on the floor. The teacher looked up and down, we were laughing, but he continued teaching,” said one student who was there at the time but did not wish to have his name used.
“During classes, it is horrible. Those men are working right beneath us, it’s always very noisy. And the way towards the lecture room is full of bricks, debris, dust and workers,” he added.
Ceramics students also complain that the foundry is occupied by design students. “We should have a room for casting and one for firing. We do the casting in the oven room, which is not only unpleasant, but also unhealthy. When the oven is working, you shouldn’t stay there because toxic gases are emitted,” said another student.
“Next year … I don’t know where will we cast, where will we fire. We’ll be all over our heads,” she added. Meanwhile, the degree deadline in June is approaching and students in the fourth year are starting to panic because they do not have the right conditions to work on their final projects.
“Everything that happens in this university, from small to big, can be summed up as indifference, with a capital I.” said Ciprian Ariciu, a fourth year ceramics student. He and his fellow students are unhappy because the foundry, the main workshop where they could work on their s, is not at their disposal.
To earn a degree in ceramics, students must produce a series of works on a common theme. This requires a lot of work as well as time and space. “You can’t take the main workshop away from a student. We are eight people working in this tiny room. Our materials don’t even fit,” said Ariciu.
“The design people should free up the foundry for us at noon. But they also have to work, so they finish up at about 8 o’clock in the evening. Only then can we get in. We have to stay over the schedule, some of us come in the evening and we work all night. But now, we can’t do even this any longer because they gave an order that we are not allowed to work at night. It is impossible to get a degree in ceramics done in two months under these condition,” another student said.
Fourth year students of ceramics, glass and metal all signed a petition to be allowed to work during the night. Georgeta Damalan, chief of the technical bureau, said that in fact, all the rooms were ready at the beginning of March and were not opened for the students because of what he termed, decisions in the education system.
Cătălin Bălescu, the chancellor, said that students would be allowed to into the classrooms right after Easter. “There are a few small rectifications to be done and the rooms will be open. The problem was and is related to the way we receive our finances and here we have two aspects. First, we had to settle once again the contracts with the construction firms. Second, the financing level dropped right after the New Year, until the treasuries started moving and all the necessary steps were taken,” said Bălescu.
He said that the “final deadline” was now mid-March but “there appeared some modifications from the initial project.” Referring to students who want to work during the night, Bălescu said that they needed to apply in writing. “If I receive their written request, I will approve it … for a limited period of course. They must be supervised. If anything happens to them, we are responsible,” he said.
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