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Slobozia, Texas

Slobozia,Texas relives the strange confrontation in the 80ies of Romanians under communist rule with Dallas, the legendary American campy soap. It shows oil-related landscapes, palace interiors and kitschy portraits of ordinary Romanians re-enacting Dallas by blending fiction and reality. Dallas ran for 13 years and was very popular. It tells the story of a family of oil barons in Texas, that showed what the hyper-capitalist eighties were about: money, power, success.
The communist leader Ceaușescu allowed the airing of Dallas, which was at the time the only western fiction on state television. Allegedly because he thought the soap would prove to be anti-capitalistic with all its misery. The small city of Slobozia has a permanent Dallas-vibe since a Romanian millionaire built a replica there of the mansion in the soap. Slobozia,Texas visualizes a past moment of future hope while documenting the present.
The book presents the images partly like a film strip but there are also quotes written as subtitles, and black and white film stills of Dallas (since the series was aired in B&W in first instance), all references to moving image. All interviews with the ‘actors’ on the impact of Dallas, on their own lives and their country are printed on a big newspaper that is wrapped around the book as a dust cover. The book can as such be looked at/read/used in different ways and layers.

Photographer(s): Text:
Barbara Debeuckelaere Barbara Debeuckelaere
Format: Pages:
26 x 19,4 cm 114
Design: Images:
Emma Hazen (Werkplaats Typografie Arnhem) 64
Publisher: Binding:
Self-published Cold glue, soft cover 250 g plus dust cover (newspaper)
Printer: Printing:
Libertas Pascal (Utrecht) Indigo on Munken Kristall 115g
Date: Edition:
June, 2021 75
Place:
Gent