IN 2012, ROMANIA WENT THROUGH A TURBULENT SERIES OF POLITICAL INCIDENTS, MOST IMPORTANTLY THE JULY CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS AIMED AT IMPEACHING PRESIDENT TRAIAN BĂSESCU BY THE GOVERNMENT-CONTROLLED PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY AND THE DECEMBER GENERAL ELECTIONS WHICH GRANTED THE COALITION A CONSTITUTIONAL MAJORITY IN THE NEW LEGISLATURE, EVENTS WHICH LARGELY POLARIZED ROMANIAN SOCIETY BETWEEN PRESIDENT BĂSESCU AND PRIME MINISTER VICTOR PONTA. WITHIN THIS INTERVAL, AUTHOR GABRIEL MILOIA, EXPLOITING HIS STRIKING RESEMBLANCE TO PRIME MINISTER PONTA, APPLIED MORE THAN 250 STENCILS OF HIS SELF-PORTRAIT ON PUBLIC BUILDINGS IN HIS HOMETOWN – ORADEA. AFTER THE INITIAL CONFUSION, GABRIEL MILOIA PUBLICLY ADMITTED HIS AUTHORSHIP OF SAID STENCILS IN THE LOCAL MEDIA, CAUSING PUBLIC OUTCRY AND A MASSIVE PRESS CAMPAIGN AIMED AT HIS PERSON AND FAMILY. AT THE HIGH POINT OF THE MEDIA FRENZY, THE SCANDAL INVOLVED ONE NATIONAL AND THREE LOCAL NEWSPAPERS AS WELL AS TWO TELEVISION STATIONS. GABRIEL MILOIA ONLY TARGETED PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CULTURALLY-ORIENTED BUSINESSES AND WAS FINED NO MORE THAN 100 LEI (ROUGHLY 25 EUROS) BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES. HOWEVER, DURING THE ENSUING SCANDAL, THE AUTHOR RECORDED MORE THAN 120 PAGES OF PRESS RELEASES, ARTICLES, TRANSCRIPTS, LETTERS, COMMENTS AND DEATH THREATS; SPEAKERS VARY FROM PUBLIC FIGURES, LOCAL POLITICIANS, ARTISTS AND JOURNALISTS TO ANONYMOUS INTERNET TROLLS AND THE ROMANIAN FAR-RIGHT GROUP ”NOUA DREAPTĂ”, REACTIONS GO FROM BLACKMAIL, THREATS, HARASSMENT AND SLANDER TO INSINUATIONS OF FELONY, OPEN VIOLENCE AND A SPECTACULAR ONE-HOUR TELEVISED TALK-SHOW, DURING WHICH TWO PUBLIC FIGURES, TOGETHER WITH THEIR HOST, DEBATED THE NATURE OF ART AND CAME TO PUBLICLY INSULT GABRIEL MILOIA AND HIS FAMILY (ONE SPEAKER SAID THE AUTHOR`S FACE IS UGLIER THAN A PENIS), ALL IN THE UTTER ABSENCE OF THE AUTHOR. BASED ON THESE RECORDS AND THE SOCIAL-CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS THEREOF, AS WELL AS FURTHER INQUIRY, LEADING TO IDENTIFICATION OF A NUMBER OF ANONYMOUS PARTIES, MUIAN AND ITS CENTERPIECE, THE DARK CIRCUS, ARE THE ARTISTIC RENDITION OF ANSWERS TO ANY AND ALL QUESTIONS, IMPULSES AND STATEMENTS LEFT PENDING DURING THE ORIGINAL ENDEAVOR OF 2012.
Muian