Camping in Bucharest

Selling carpets in Bucharest, around 1925

Camp has to do with posing. Maybe it is about the French origin of the word, maybe it is about the theatrical element of posing for an old photo or for a painting. Camp bodies express excess, dolce far niente, non-productivity, they escape the capitalist logic of production, of efficiency, of giving all you got, of dying on stage. It is always about something more, something in excess, something that goes beyond the expectations. I remember the perfect example: Odin actors were studying not photos but paintings to increase the theatricality of their movement on stage, to go beyond the every-day-life energy, to dilate their bodies. The reason was that there is an inherent excess there, the painted models have to stay for a long time in one position that cannot be efficient in a daily situation. A Camp situation. The same situation with our two characters from above: posing for a nice photo, they are acting excessive and they produce a nonchalant theatricality. A beautiful example of Camp. Bucharest style.