We talked to Alexandru Voiculescu, the founder of PureQuad, an IT Romanian company which chose to get involved in the project I want a Dacian in Bucharest, a project supported by the Association of Contemporary Cultural Identity (AICC).
Ovidiu Mățan: What is the connection between an IT company and a project that seeks to relocate a statue from Florence to Bucharest by creating a copy of it?
Alexandru Voiculescu: Obviously the connection exists because of the people and their ideas. My connection with the initiators of this project runs for over a decade, given the IT projects and the outsourcing we have been caring out since 2004. At the end of the 90 these people were laying the foundation of the Romanian software industry. I would be glad to see, in a couple of years, that this project was a first step in discovering the unknown aspects of our history, the ancient one especially. I've recently travelled to Rome and I was surprised to see the many architectural remnants of our forefathers. It is a pity not to have a Dacian statue from the Roman Forum at Bucharest. This is a symbol which is missing.
Even though PureQuad was founded in 2011, its reorganization last year and the change in our customers' profile took place very fast. Given this context, the company can support this project both logistically and financially.
Alexandru Voiculescu - founder of PureQuad
Has PureQuad ever been involved in such projects?
PureQuad has been constantly involved in cultural projects. We helped building the website of the Radu Stanca National Theatre in Sibiu, and the one dedicated to the International Theatre Festival in Sibiu. Our other contributions include websites for The Children's Theatre and the Gong Youth Theatre in Sibiu (currently under reconstruction).
Throughout the company's development we will get involved in other projects as well.
How much does it matter for local companies to support local values in Romania?
It is our duty to identify our values and to support them. Companies can identify projects, as this one and can partner up to support it even more strongly than a couple of isolated people could. Even if it is said that Spring does not come about with only one flower, yet, by creating this precedent, we hope to inspire others as well.
Can other companies participate in this project?
Any company can get involved in such projects and enforce the values they represent; the legal framework exists both under the form of sponsorship and in the form of redirecting a part of the profit taxes. This is also valid for individuals who want to see a Dacian in Bucharest. This Dacian statue is special: a sculpture in imperial, red porphyry, a fabric worn by the imperial family and Roman deities. This might be Decebal's statue, since it resembles the portraits on de Traian's column.
When will we see the statue in Bucharest?
We hope to have the statue finalized by 2018 and to have it displayed in Bucharest by 2019. (You can find more details on proiect.statuidedaci.ro)
In what other community and educational projects would you like to get involved?
In the near future, we plan to focus on projects belonging to the identity of the Romanian people. As I mentioned earlier, there are many inconsistencies which are worth our attention. 'Nosce te ipsum' ( Know yourself) is what the Latin people believed to hold true on an individual level, but let's think how beautifully Nicolae Iorga used to phrase it, including everyone: "A people that doesn't know their history is like a child who doesn't know his parents".
by Lőrinc Pap
