Animest Hot Points: artists wanted for a series of murals in Bucharest’s neighborhoods

Thermic distribution sites in Bucharest will become Animest Hot Points to celebrate the Animest International Animation Film Festival. Through a new urban revival project in collaboration with the Termoenergetica Bucharest Municipal Company, the Animest cultural association will contribute to beautifying the capital and offer artists around the country a space to express their unique takes on love. Until September 6, painters, graffiti artists and illustrators may send in their visual concepts, which winners will be able to transpose onto the thermic points’ walls, by filling out this online form.

Some of the thermic points awaiting a facelift

After two challenging years, with both big picture and personal upheaval, in 2022 Animest returns to its original well-beloved form. We chose to do so at the heart of our community, by bringing art to communist era neighborhoods, with their uniform identical lodgings. This autumn, several thermic points nestled between Bucharest apartment buildings will become playgrounds for the visual artists invited to depict their interpretations of love. 

Love, the theme of this year’s Animest Festival, may be seen as an answer to the myriad adversities plaguing the world: the pandemic, war, economic crisis, climate change. Love is also tolerance, self-love, empathy, support, and openness towards those around us. Love can be the power to overcome difficult times or our desire to accept one another, just as we are. Love’s language is universal, just as that of visual arts.

If you are a creator in Romania who resonates with this message, send your original visual concepts depicting love, designed for a frame of 3 by 4 meters. Previous experience in creating a large-scale mural is not necessary, but will be considered a plus. As the festival approaches, Animest will provide the winning artists with transportation, accommodation for four nights, logistical support, and materials so that love may bloom among communist grays. 

Read the competition’s full official rules here, in Romanian. 

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The Animest Festival is a project organized by the Animest Association and co-financed through the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme, Romanian Film Centre, Romanian Cultural Institute and Groupama Insurance, with support from the Goethe Institute and Studioset.

Animest.17 is co-financed by the Municipality of Bucharest through ARCUB, as part of the ‘București afectiv’ 2022 program. For detailed information on the ARCUB funding programs, please access www.arcub.ro.