The Bureau of Melodramatic Research made its presence felt last spring with the performance The Perfect Heel, in the frame of the exhibition “Unleashing the Sins of Sculpture” at Scânteia+. It was an iteration, as this performance has undergone continuous evolution, with elements constantly being added to the original work, an example of art that I often refer to: through a collaboration proposed by the Institute of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova, two collaborators of the Bureau (Tatiana Fiodorova and Valeria Barbas) measure the height of the heels of passers-by at several locations in Chișinău. The result is a series of charts showing fluctuations in the Gross National Heel, the average length of heels—an element that questions equality between people and a concept that may have been inspired from the economic studies of the late Alina Popa. As Silvia Costin herself says: “Somehow she transferred her knowledge into this research with a hint of parody, of absurdity, but it actually became, through the beacon of performativity, reality.”

The original performance had a provocative feel, a slight transgression of reality, a joke, a social experiment, a feminist or simply sartorial commentary, the kind of art that I cannot say I have seen among younger generations.

According to Irina Gheorghe, the conditions of the original performance fell into a zone of “beyond art,” but one that undergoes transformations in relation to the space in which the work takes place. “Somehow I try to think of a longer duration, while still attempting to always address the present in the moment it happens. It’s not just about transposing something from here to there. Through transposition, you readdress a new reality and think about this transfer over time,” Irina adds.

The performance set is placed among other sculptures in the exhibition: a giant photograph of the nine models, each on heels that raise them to the same height, along with several mannequins wearing heels, seven in their number. Two are missing, because two are the performers: Irina Gheorghe and Silvia Costin. The performance involves bringing two mannequins to life, as they move from stillness to motion and back again.

One thing I notice is that, in the controlled, beautiful space of Scânteia, the performance becomes museumified. The text and description of the original performance are reread. New elements are added to this: a measurement of the audience members with a bar—another ironic interrogation of equality between people, which Silvia Costin attributes to “the absurdity of methodology, a cacophony, an ornamental intermezzo as in Baroque architecture, where ornaments such as caryatids or Atlanteans are used to create a controlled imbalance and a prominent dynamism.”

This episode is followed by the two artists standing among mannequins and imitating them – “all ornament,” artificial and stereotyped, the torment of wearing high heels. This torment ends only in the final scene, when the two artists take off their shoes in front of the large photograph from which, metaphorically, they emerge.

The Bureau of Melodramatic Research. The Perfect Heel, performed by Irina Gheorghe and Silvia Costin, 27.04.2025, as part of the exhibition “Unleashing the Sins of Sculpture.” Curators: Georgia Țidorescu, Cristina Vasilescu [Suprainfinit Gallery at Scânteia+, Bucharest, 27.03–08.05.2025]