About the Work
This was the bed of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu. Nicolae was the long-dictating and last communist head of state of Romania. In the communist world, the Securitate, Ceaușescu's secret police, rivalled those of China and North Korea in their tyranny, unsurprising as Ceausescu modelled his approach to leadership on Mao Zedong and Kim Il Sung. By marching to his own tune, rather than that of the Kremlin, he, like Tito in Yugoslavia, endeared himself to western leaders for years.
But in December 1989, Nicolae and Elena, in many ways his equal in terror, were overthrown in a popular uprising, the only one of its kind in the communist world. Both attempted to flee, but were captured, tried and convicted by a hastily-convened court, and then shot. All on Christmas Day.
The Ceaușescus built themselves massive palaces and tucked-away country retreats, despite the poverty of the people. I stayed in one of their more modest retreats, now a guest house, and slept in the Ceaușescus actual bed. One night, after rising for a pee, I stumbled back in the dark, where I saw looming before me, their huge bed.
″I still use the same approach to my work: I get an idea, think of the title and then make the work. So not much has changed since 1964″
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