New record for the number of participants and events at ARTmania Festival Sibiu 2012

The seventh edition of the ARTmania festival came to an end, setting off in its portfolio one more successful event. Through this year`s achievements, the well-known ARTmania festival brand, recognized as a promoter of rock music, proved to be open to a more diverse artistic perspective and public profile.

In 2012, ARTmania has brought on the stages in the medieval centre of Sibiu, impressive artist names from a more varied musical scene, covering from gothic metal to heavy metal, and even punk and alternative rock. The concerts that took place at the heart of Transylvania during the weekend, gathered over 12,000 people that came from all over the country, but also from abroad, mostly from Germany, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria and the northern countries, to see their favorite artists, improving the occasion to visit one of the most beautiful towns in Romania.

The concerts that took place this year on the main stage, in the Large Square, or on Harley-Davidson stage, in the Small Square, reached the expectations of the fans and kept them entertained from 14:00 till late after-midnight, both on Friday and Saturday.

Die Toten Hosen, the main attraction of the 2012 edition of the festival, gathered in the Large Square of Sibiu about 10,000 enthusiastic spectators, looking forward to the first performance of the great German band ever organized in Romania. Another important band, whose unique show was equally appreciated and highly praised even by the public that came to see them for a third time, was My Dying Bride. Epica and Edguy, Deathstars and Delain, Trail of Tears and Poets of The Fall, Kitsune Art and Arc Gotic, Voices of Silence, Abigail, Reborn or Violentory are just some of the artists that impressed the public of ARTmania Festival 2012 through their spectacular live acts.

Complementary to the unleashed musical evolution in the two main squares of the medieval fortress, the cultural institutions in Sibiu open their gates to welcome ARTmania`s public to its temporary and permanent exhibitions, according to a successful partnership running on three years now. Over 2,000 people wearing ARTmania wristbands visited Brukenthal and more then 500 walked through ASTRA National Museum Complex.

A completely new element for this year`s edition was the Baroque Garden, an area specially designed to host contemporary artistic manifestations, located in the Small Square.

Between 6th-12th of August, the ARTmania festival added to the concerts a complementary artistic program consisting of events meant to promote the local cultural values in an international context. The tourists and the local population proved to be very receptive to a great variety of activities like photo, painting and sculpture exhibitions, astronomical observations, literary moments, workshops & screenings of documentaries, short movies & animation.

From now on, there will be written down in the agenda of ARTmania festival some representative figures of the Romanian cultural life, such as Maria Răducanu, a name with great resonance in the world of jazz at an international level and the famous sculptor Adrian Alexandru Ilfoveanu, that participated to the festival with a collection of works of bronze and wood, entitled ”Angels” and exhibited at Habitus Gallery.

The Baroque Garden was animated for an entire week by workshops, live multimedia sessions, live painting & graffiti or text lecture, given by authors that belong to the new generation of writers like Rita Chirian, Claudiu Komartin, Vlad Pojoga and Radu Vancu, that brought a new pespective on the ARTmania concept.

Another premiere was the screening program, a series of movie projections very well received by the public, hosted by the Habitus Gallery. The first day of the ARTmania Festival Sibiu 2012, started with a preview of short movies of ”Luna Plină” festival, the only event in Romania dedicated to horror and fantastic cinema. Anim`est and FutureShorts, two of the brand film festival, participated to ARTmania with a selection of short movies awarded with international prizes. ARTmania had the support of two important culture centers such as the Czech Centre and the Polish Institute, which provided two documentary films covering themes related to the rock concept of the festival. With the occasion of the cosmical event called ” The Perseides – stars rain”, the ARTmania participants were offered workshops and documentary projections related to this thematic, the activities being prepared by the UNAWE organization in the Baroque Garden.

ARTmania Festival 2013 will take place between 5-11 august. Tickets are already available, in the ARTmania online shop for the price of 60 lei, till the end of the year, for the first 1,000 buyers. Three of the most active fans on the festival`s Facebook page can be the lucky winners of one iPod Shuffle, offered by iStyle – Apple Premium Reseller, and one ticket for ARTmania 2013, in return of their participation to the selection poll of the artists for the next festival edition.

Co-producers: ARTmania Events and TVR 2

ARTmania Festival is supported by important cultural partners such as Brukenthal National Museum, ASTRA National Museum Complex, Humanitas Bookshop, Instituto Camoes, Polish Institute, Czech Centre, The Embassy of Finland in Romania, Anim’est, Future Shorts, RAWW and other prestigious partners as Harley-Davidson Bucharest , Tuborg, Ford, iStyle – Apple Premium Reseller, Rapunzel, Marquardt, Hotel Roberts. ARTmania Festival Sibiu 2012 is co-financed by Sibiu Local Council through the City Hall and Sibiu Muncipality House of Culture.