Wood / The 1989 Archive Project
The 1989 Archive Project restores and licenses rare artifacts from the Romanian Revolution, ensuring these powerful stories of democracy are preserved and shared through a large-scale multimedia installation.
The "Living Room" Set: Instead of a cold gallery, we are building a physical set that looks like a 1980s home. By sitting on period-accurate furniture, the audience experiences the film as if they were watching the 6 p.m. news live in their own living room, bridging the gap between Los Angeles today and Romania in 1989.
● An Immersive TV Experience: We are taking 35-year-old television footage and carefully upscaling it for museum walls. We are preserving the original "snow" and static of the analog broadcast to evoke the raw uncertainty felt by viewers as the live signal cut out and the revolution began.
● Dual-Screen Storytelling: The installation uses "doubled" screens to create a deeply emotional comparison, allowing the audience to see the people in the streets and the regime in power at the exact same time.
● Live Music from the Era: Jon Bernstein (Disparition) will perform a live soundtrack using 1980s synthesizers that defined the sound of that decade, creating a visceral, musical link to the heat of the moment.
● Expert Translation: We are working with a professional translator to add English subtitles so that the voices, news reports, and local cries for change can finally be understood by everyone.
● The "Detective Work" of Rights: We are tracking down the owners of this historical media and paying for the rights to use it, ensuring the project can travel safely to any city or museum in the world.
