“In 1948, 23.4% of the Romanian population lived in urban areas: in 1989 it was 53.2%. In 41 years, Romania suffered a major transformation, from an agrarian society into an industrialised one. The massive migration was made by force without taking into account the people’s desire.” When Gherca speaks of the “morality” of buildings, he is not talking of the merits or other aspects of architectural design, but the ideology that produces the urbanism in question: “Is it moral to use the power of state institutions to modify the traditions and beliefs of the population?”

Traces of Fantasy will focus on two types of buildings: public housing and public institutions. These were two urban forms that were used to proclaim the greatness of the communist cause, before being denounced post-1989 as grotesque examples of that same cause’s folly. Gherca hopes that his project will steer a course between these rhetorical extremes, exploring instead how exactly it is that this “functional community [of buildings] tentatively plays a role” in real Romanian society today.