Kehrer Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Mobile Churches is a visual exploration of a lesser-known chapter of Romania’s recent history. Bucharest in the 1980s, Ceausescu’s “systematization” program is in full swing in the Romanian capital: one-third of the historic center has been wiped out to make way for imposing buildings and wide avenues intended to honor the regime. Despite Ceausescu’s particularly dogged approach towards churches, seven are spared and undergo a process as incredible as it is absurd: they are lifted and placed on rails, then moved and hidden behind housing blocks. The series closes with a synagogue which is enclosed by a “U” of apartment blocks. Combining photographs with archival material, this critical inventory aims at revealing a fascinating urban and political story and giving an image to the displaced churches of Bucharest, thus resisting the logic of erasure and amnesia that governs the country.