Let them play!
Saturday, 06.09.2025 / 5-10 PM
Conacul Udriște-Năsturel

On September 6, the beautiful historical Udriște-Năsturel Mansion in Herăști will be our host for a one-day event featuring an exhibition, performances, and DJ sets.

The event takes place between 5:00 pm and 10:00 pm, with free admission. Access is by RSVP only. To confirm your participation, you need to register here. Please check our Facebook event for info on free transportation options and updated news.

Let them play! explores the concept of play as an open-ended, creative activity - distinct from structured games, gamification, competition, or the culture of productivity and self-optimization. The exhibition proposes, on both a thematic and symbolic level, a space devoid of stakes and of the pressure of immediate finality, in contrast to current phenomena such as communication without community, the pressure of constantly performing the self, and compulsive productivity.

“Without stillness, there is no music – just sound and noise. Play is the essence of beauty. When life follows the rule of stimulus–response, need–satisfaction and goal–action, it atrophies into pure survival: naked biological life. Life receives its radiance only from play. If we lose the ability to play inactive, we begin to resemble machines that must simply function. True life begins when concern for survival, for the exigencies of mere life, ends. In a culture of raging narcissism, playfulness disappears, and life loses its cheerfulness and exuberance. The culture retreats from that holy sphere of play. The compulsions of work and performance intensify the profanation of life. The holy seriousness of play gives way to the profane seriousness of work.” -Byung-Chul Han

Udriște-Năsturel Mansion, the oldest surviving monument of Romanian civil architecture built entirely from carved stone, is a remarkable site blending Renaissance, Oriental, and Gothic influences, surrounded by extensive gardens and greenery.

Exhibition & performance inside the Stone House

Artists:
Jan Berger, Ana Botezatu, Adrian Ganea, Virginia Lupu, Marta Mattioli, Vlad Nancă, Larisa Sitar, game works by Joshua Citarella & Esther Perel, AI generated content

Concert & DJ sets in the courtyard:
Takkak Takkak (live), YCS (DJ set), Admina (DJ set)

AFCN

The event takes place in the frame of the project "Let them play!", co-financed by AFCN. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not to be held responsible for the content of the project, nor for the ways in which the results of the project might be used. Those are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the grant.