Artist-run spaces in Romania have only a very brief history. Given the authoritarian regime in late 20th-century Romania, the existence of such “alternative spaces”, the opening of clandestine exhibitions for a small audience (let alone for the general public), would have been impossible. Therefore, before 1989, we can only speak of isolated initiatives, in apartments or in the form of “alternative” exhibitions where obtaining approval presented great difficulty. “Subversive” actions took place in fields, in forests, or in the privacy of one’s own house, and by no means repeatedly.
Isolation Through Culture
Călin Dan talks about the opposite of the “resistance through culture” under communism, namely “isolation through culture”: “isolation through culture was a means of passive resistance, by ignoring and/or overcoming the oppressive circumstances that characterized society in the Eastern Bloc at the time. Trips to the outskirts of town, like in Moscow conceptualism, and the apartment performances of the circle Jiří Kovanda was part of are just two examples that come to mind. In ’80s Romania, there was a tendency for artists to hide in their studios, as a defence reflex against growing ideological pressure and as a gesture of resignation before the degradation of public space to the point of disappearance. Sometimes this ‘hiding’ happened as a group, so the public space was reenacted in the completely different context, guided by different rules, of private spaces.” Dan Mihălțianu writes of a similar context: “what is already very clear is that there was no coherent underground scene in Socialist Romania, but only a series of artists acting alone or small independent groups manifesting in various artistic contexts, combining more or less independent (unofficial) forms of organizations with others, more or less official.”
Atelier 35
Atelier 35, for example, though multiple voices describe it as an unconventional and independent space, was still an organization acting under the authority of the Union of Visual Artists (UAP in Romanian) of the Socialist Republic of Romania and the Union of Communist Youth, being, implicitly, financed and – artistically and ideologically – guided by them or by other state institutions… Even so, because the potential and energy of young artists back then, as ever, often surmounted rigid official structures, under the Atelier 35 umbrella a series of acts (works, exhibitions, events, actions) of more or less unconventional nature took place, which merit our attention and consideration.”
A slow “waking up” in the 1990s
The few artistic manifestations outside or against the system during Romania’s totalitarian-communist period were followed by a transition period that lasted a few decades, in which people tried to bring contemporary Romanian art up to date with international art and new practices. The early 1990s, which saw the democratization of access to art education, represent a slow “waking up”, with the continuation of traditional manifestations like art camps and group exhibitions following general UAP topics and the so-called counter-cultural opposition being made up of neo-Orthodox practices (given the banning of practicing religion under communism) and with conceptual art as the recovery of ideas that couldn’t even be thought of beforehand. These were, however, accompanied by a total lack of reaction on the part of critics, historians, and artists to the political events that had just taken place or were taking place (the Mineriad, the strikes, the presidential elections). Of course, activist art with social and political underpinnings was not known or practiced in Romania; artists hadn’t exercised such art, struggling to create under communism in a cultural vacuum with no references, and the freedom from censorship brought with it a thirst for knowledge that artists and critics respond to by aligning themselves with international cultural movements or by turning to the past, to the purity prior to the communist regime. The so-called ’80s generation is characterized by individualism, attempting to recover its lost years through self-promotion, trips abroad, and contact with the international scene it longed for. “Generally, the art of the ’90s looks towards the past: the separation from old forms of artistic expression, denounced as politically manipulated art forms, the discovery of the roots of ’60s Romanian experimentalism, and, on the other hand, the renewed ties with Byzantine iconography through the New Jerusalem, Neo-Orthodoxism, Neo-Byzantinism, and other messianisms.”
Art collectives and communities
New manifestations of the collective attitude of unity and community emerge, meant to fill in the gap. Artists come together in groups that quickly disappear or that gradually transform into associations or foundations (the groups Kinema Ikon, Prolog, and 9+1, formed before 1989, and later subReal, Euroartist, 2D, 2META, Crinul, Pâlnia, Rostopasca, Grupul celor 6, Supernova, Noima, and others), student festivals (the Timișoara Student Festival Studentfest, from 1992, the International Student Film Festival CINEMAIUBIT, from 1996, the Simultan Festival Timișoara, from 2005, etc.), or performance festivals (AnnART, in 1990, Zona, in 1993), and with the financial support and external intervention of investors (the CSAC International Contemporary Art Center that appears in 1993), the local art scene manages to align itself with the new international requirements and to teach young artists to work with new technologies, maintaining their more traditional practices within the sphere and galleries of the UAP.
In the 2000s
Already in the 2000s, new arts students and graduates realized that there was no fully formed art scene, that a museum founded in 2001 offered them no hope of representation, and that there were no commercial galleries or institutions interested in investing in art. The only institution was the UAP, with which many did not identify any more, but then the Soros Center filled this educational need, and would help form a new, more theoretically articulate and up-to-date generation. “This art centre is, rightfully, considered to be the institution that, after 1992, forced the transition from the socialist Visual Artists’ Union’s cultural canon to that of post-1989 contemporary art. This transition meant a turn away from, even an overshadowing and overt disdain for, a segment of art produced in the UAP and the open encouragement of a different one, which was also done in the UAP, before 1989. Basically, official art was moved outside of contemporary art. And experimental and neo-avant-garde art was lifted to the rank of dominant art-making method.”
A Simulated Transition and Attempts at Meeting International Standards
It is difficult to distinguish the first artist-run spaces in Romania, as spaces often identified themselves as galleries. The language and terminology specific to contemporary art practice were not available at the time, and one of the key differences between a commercial gallery and an artist-run one is the exhibition programme based on sympathies, where the founders decide to exhibit their colleagues from the same generation – some of them lesser known – without relying on the “objective” criteria of a curator or the strategies of a gallery owner or an art dealer.
With the emergence of galleries in the early 2000s, artist-run spaces also multiplied in Romania as a result of access to education and international culture, Romania’s joining the EU and the ease of travel for students through ERASMUS-type programmes, as well as more accessible rent prices than in other European capitals, or certain favourable circumstances, like finding houses or apartments that could be used for free (or almost for free) from friends.
Unlike commercial galleries, which attempt to coalesce in certain areas of the city, synchronize their openings, and have a constant programme, independent initiatives operate in their own rhythm, location, and form, not following predetermined structures. But when multiple initiatives manage to come together into a community, visibility grows exponentially for everyone involved in the project. Such examples of cultural-managerial success are the Paintbrush Factory in Cluj (2009), the Interest Center in Cluj (2017), and the Malmaison Studios in Bucharest (2021). These three cultural centres, initiated by artists on a larger scale, have successfully brought within the same building artists’ studios (which often also function as artist-run spaces, hosting solo and group shows), commercial galleries, and artist-run spaces, developing local, national, and international mutual aid networks. The three cultural “nests” copied the art hub model, spaces on the border between independent art initiatives and the so-called “creative industries”, and they represent community aid systems and a “middle path” through which creatives in various fields and organizations put their efforts in order to promote “the whole”.
DIY Strategies
Generally, artist-run spaces have relatively short lifespans and assume various forms, attempting to fill in the gaps within the art scene and to create opportunities and visibility for their team’s members and their generation. It is a DIY way of thinking that often comes from art students or fresh graduates, who feel the need for a community and feel themselves unrepresented. As places of experimentation based on close ties and sometimes even self-promotion, artist-run spaces – when they are not led by a curator – have an apparently random curatorial direction, without a well-defined purpose or any goal other than helping themselves or their colleagues. Being led by artists active on the local cultural scene, their initiators are often caught up in their own projects. And, as their exhibition activity is driven by their own energy, availability, and free time, these spaces are often inactive or closed for varying stretches of time.
As these spaces are initiated by artists as projects in parallel with their own practice – with the goal of feeling good in the company of colleagues and friends – as work levels rise, organizational efforts are the first to be dropped, which leads to the spaces’ destabilization or termination after a short period of time, or their transformation into commercial galleries with the aim of transacting artworks from spaces, NGO-type entities, associations or foundations that can access funding, project spaces with sponsored programs, or, sometimes, they are even assimilated and swallowed by the very institutions on whose critique they initially base their activity, changing the team, work process, financing strategies, and even the location.
When artists take on the role of curators or administrators, they often realize that these tasks can be time-consuming and may require skills and expertise beyond their artistic abilities. Planning and organizing exhibitions involve a range of tasks, such as coordinating with other artists, managing logistics, promoting the event, guided tours. Selling art involves more than just opening the doors: it requires networking, marketing, and interacting with potential buyers and collectors. Artists who take on these responsibilities may need to learn how to negotiate prices, write compelling descriptions of their work, and participate in sales-related activities.
Also, artist-run spaces often rely on various sources of funding to sustain their operations. Securing grants, sponsorships, or donations can be a time-consuming and competitive process, adding to the administrative workload. If the funding is received, then comes the paperwork.
Depending on the artists’ ability to balance these responsibilities and the success of their exhibitions, artist-run spaces may evolve into more professionally managed galleries or face the possibility of closing down because artists want to go back to their studios.
We will create our own path
If these types of organization emerged in the West at the beginning of the 20th century, motivated in their protest against the modernist art canon, the dominant system of commercial galleries and museums, and then against the white cube, this issue was not raised in Romania on the large scale of an art market and scene governed by particular rules against which artists could rebel and fight through alternative spaces. This was mostly because, after communism, many artists longed to exhibit freely in any kind of gallery or space. Only later, with the emergence of the auction house ArtMark (2008) and the commercial galleries that began working with artists, of copyright contracts, shares from sales, and other written and unwritten rules, did the idea appear that an artist does not need the help of an institution or gallery to reach an audience, as well as reactions to new means of meaning-making in contemporary art, such as the specific and rigid frameworks in which the curator or theorist is called in to produce meaning and knowledge for every artistic production, and museums and galleries are called in to validate these productions.
In an art scene still completely cut off from the unwritten rules and protocols of the international scene, Romania in the 1990s and 2000s created its own mechanisms, often through imitation, attempting to catch up with the western models and recreate them locally. But the Romanian scene is still an immature one that does not respect fixed organizational rules. For young artists – even if they’re represented by galleries – this means little, and they are free to work with whom they like and to create their own spaces or to exhibit with other people, without worrying about an “image” that can be tarnished or “curated” by the interests or large galleries, which, in turn, survive on government funding, together with the independent sector, and not on sales, and so cannot afford to demand “fidelity” from the artists they are working with. Some artist-run spaces which later became galleries were even founded as a result of their founders’ dissatisfaction towards the gallery representing them, deciding to create their own opportunities, believing in their own destiny.
Discovering some of Bucharest’s more active artist-run spaces
The artist-run spaces in Bucharest are scattered mainly in central areas in improvised spaces, with an irregular curatorial programme, depending on the time the organizational team can dedicate. If you want to visit them you need to make an appointment, write on their Facebook or Instagram, or give them a call.
To help provide a glimpse into the vibrant artistic scene in the city, the following functions as a guide to the most active artist-run spaces in Bucharest’s city centre, together with bits of relevant information that can be a valuable resource for visitors and art enthusiasts.
Two recent initiatives stand out as artist efforts to gather a bigger artistic community, bringing galleries, artist-run spaces and artist studios together. One is Malmaison Studios, while the other opened its doors this September, under the name Scânteia Studios.
Atelierele Malmaison is an initiative by a group of local artists who were looking for affordable studios in 2021 that managed to gather a community of artists, photographers, cultural managers and gallerists. Similar endeavours could be found in Bucharest, created by the Arthub community and other such artist studio conglomerates like the one in Popa Nan street. Around the country, you could find these types of art hubs in Cluj, where the famous – but now closed – Fabrica de Pensule used to be, or, more recently, Centrul de Interes. Timișoara has a similar hub, under the name of Faber Studios.
Dan Basu, an artist member of the Malmaison community, has this to say: “In 2020, even more than before, the need for such a space dedicated to artist/artist workshops was felt. Thus, a group was organically formed that discovered the potential of this space and that organized itself to be able to build something here in the long term. So first of all, it is a project for creative workshops, the vast majority of spaces, on both the 1st and the 2nd floors, being used individually for this purpose. Galleries and artist-run spaces have joined this effort and contribute to a good dynamic of the space in general – they have more events for the public, often exhibit the works of neighbouring artists, or even create collaborative projects”.
(Follow their Facebook account and keep up to date with the weekly events happening there, or you can write to the specific artist-run spaces there to book a visit: Sandwich, Cabinet 44, Cazul 101. There are plenty of open studio events during the year, and likewise openings of commercial galleries, offering ample opportunity to visit the place.
Recently, on the first floor, a new community inside the Malmaison was formed — L1 Studios, which is a support network created by independent artists, co-founders & part of Atelierele Malmaison, focusing on supporting independent workers in culture and integrating community programmes into artistic activity. They also opened a small shop, MIRAJ – a community space aimed at supporting artistic work by fostering patronage in the arts. “At MIRAJ we facilitate the direct encounter with artistic production and various art practices of subsistence, hoping to contribute to a habit of owning and gifting art or artist objects.”
A new artist hub has opened on 28 of September in Bucharest’s Free Press Square, in the The House of the Free Press also known as “Casa Scânteii”, named Atelierele Scânteia, a cultural hub that brings together 15 spaces dedicated to contemporary art, a common place for 13 artist studios and 3 exhibition spaces.
The project was initiated by the team of another active artist-run space in Bucharest — Switch Lab, together with a growing community of artists, mostly photographers, looking for more affordable spaces in buildings that are safer via the use of long-term renting contracts.
Casa Scânteii (originally known as Combinatul Poligrafic Casa Scânteii “Iosif Visarionovici Stalin”, later Combinatul Poligrafic Casa Sânteii “Vladimir Ilichi Lenin”, or for short Casa Scânteii) is a building located in the north of Bucharest, at the edge of the Băneasa district. Its style is socialist realism, an early 20th-century communist form of neoclassicism, which emerged as a reaction to modernism – especially Art Deco modernism, which in the communists’ view belonged to the “rotten western capitalism”.
The name of the building (which housed the country’s main printing house) comes from the name of the Scînteia newspaper, the main written propaganda tool of the Romanian Communist Party at the time. The building was designed to be functional, which is why many rooms and office spaces were created. The architecture was inspired by high-rise buildings in Moscow, such as the Lomonosov University or the Leningradskaya Hotel.
As for the artist-run space holding the initiative, Andrei Mateescu has a few words about Switch Lab’s beginnings: “In early 2018, in Bucharest’s Universe Palace, another creative space was inaugurated in the building, adding to the cultural mix on Brezoianu Street 23-25, together with Salonul de Proiecte, and Apollo 111. It was suggestively called Switch Lab and presented itself as a modular space dedicated primarily to photography, where both artistic projects and commercial ones can be developed, through functioning also as a photo studio. Switch Lab was created on Dani Ghercă’s initiative together with Nicu Ilfoveanu, at the time Mihai Barabancea also being included but having to leave the group soon after. This eclectic mix suited the artist-run space’s assumed praxis of looking for a balance between cutting-edge art gallery and high-end photo studio, based on turning artistic craft into a commodity and a commodity back into artistic practice.”
As the rent for the building in central Bucharest increased, the Switch Lab started looking for cheaper spaces, and they found them in the Casa Scânteii building, owned by the state and offering affordable rents in spaces traditionally occupied by printing houses. The artists started gathering other like- minded members from the community (such as Vlad Albu, Albert Kaan or Anca Țintea) and galleries (Galeria Posibilă) that had the same interests and values, mainly focused on contemporary photography. Together they started to clean, rearrange, and renovate the previously neglected space, helping each other out with every occasion.
You could likewise start your visit with the Peasant Museum at Piața Victoriei (walking distance from the metro station of the same name), Şoseaua Kiseleff 3, Sector 1, 011341. Ilina Schileru, artist and founder of the space, opened MNȚRplusC in 2021 – an artist-run space that functions in the basement of the national museum – as a response to the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, when the entire world suffered a major setback, including the arts.
The initiative was born out of a need to get back into the practice of art production, exhibition, and experimentation. It was also a personal need of the initiator to build up a community that would rediscover the patrimony of the museum that was long-time closed to the public due to a lengthy rehabilitation process that left the permanent collection in a provisory state for several years.
Ilina Schileru wanted to attract artists to the basement of the museum where MNTRplusC has its headquarters, beneath the museum’s cinema, to engage somewhat with the museum’s vast archive of material and immaterial patrimony. Since its launch in April 2021, MNTRplusC has hosted over 12 events, from exhibitions to educational projects. Education is another asset of MNTRplusC’s program, as Ilina Schileru has developed a routine for teaching immigrant Muslim children arriving in Romania from war zones and Middle Eastern countries.
The space was not meant for exhibitions; it has been used as an old warehouse space for different objects by the museum’s staff over the years, for special courses, and lately as a workshop for manual paper production. Lately, the space was sitting in the dark with no purpose intended until the management of the museum identified a better use by granting a chance to set up a contemporary art program led by an active artist and curator willing to take upon the task of shaping this abandoned space into a suitable workplace for a small community of artists and curators.
The entire programme is built upon the trust between the museum’s management and the efforts of all artists and curators, through Ilina`s management and logistics. The negotiations were based on a contract of mutual collaboration between the museum’s management through free hosting and the financial and know-how efforts of the program initiator. Since its opening, two of the events here have been co-financed through state open calls for projects given by AFCN, a state financing programme for cultural projects.
The renovation of the space lasted for several months and was done with the help of artist members from the E T A J artist-run space, Ilina likewise being an active member of this group since 2018. In 2023 she announced a residency proto-project in her home-village – a rural site (the Schela village, situated 300 km west of Bucharest, in a mountainous area). The goal for this next appendix within the project is to gain the financial support of a European-funded grant in order to grow a collaborative programme between other artist-run spaces throughout Europe and MNTRplusC.
After visiting MNTRplusC, you can walk down Bulevardul Magheru towards Piața Romană (also reachable by the metro) and visit the E T A J artist-run space.
They are an experimental exhibit venue located in Bucharest, housed within the personal apartment of artist and founder Mircea Modreanu. Since its establishment in 2018 by nine art graduates from Bucharest and Cluj, E T A J has blossomed into a thriving “cultural cell” for the local art community, as it constantly changes the team of artists managing the space. With a handful of objectives, E T A J attracts a diverse range of artists, including emerging and established figures, students, academics, and influential personalities within the Romanian art scene. One of the primary aims of E T A J is to provide a platform for artists to showcase their work, fostering dialogue and collaboration across different generations and artistic practices in an inclusive and trans-generational manner.
Under the guidance of its remaining founder, Mircea Modreanu, E T A J’s main venue at 43 George Enescu Street hosts exhibitions twice a month, offering artists complete freedom to envision and transform the space. In addition to the core venue, Mircea Modreanu coordinates the conceptual framing for further group shows within the pop-up white cube structure known as E T A J on wheels. This mobile space serves the purpose of facilitating cultural access to restricted areas and appearing in unconventional environments. E T A J on wheels found its way into a variety of “venues”: the roof of the UAP studios in Eforie Street, Bucharest, the yard of studios on Pache Protopopescu Street, a crater on the Canary Islands, floating on a lake in the north of Bucharest, as well as the “Matrioska” exhibition in Cluj – the ingenious adaptation of the white cube in such contexts summarizes the basic principles on which the entity of E T A J functions.
Collaboration plays a significant role in E T A J’s activities, with many events in the past two years being organized in partnership with artist-members including Ilina Schileru, Răzvan Năstase, Lucian Sandu-Milea, and curator Călina Coman. In addition to its exhibition endeavours, E T A J artist-run space self-publishes E T A J Magazine. The magazine’s editor, Ioana Aron, is also an artist-associated member of the E T A J community.
Close to Piata Romană, you can go and have a drink at the ArtHub Garden, an artistic initiative of Nona Șerbănescu created in 2013 as a project of the Association for the Promotion of Contemporary Arts through which problems of the artistic community in Bucharest were addressed, such as the lack of work spaces, the lack of union systems, or the micro- and macro-organization of artists and professionals in art and culture.
The pilot centre operated for a year in a building at Bdul Mărășești 107, offering space for exhibitions, debates, cultural management meetings, courses and artistic lectures.
In 2016, ARTHUB moved to a generous industrial space on the fourth floor of the Piața Latină building. Here they focused on organizing work and production spaces and growing the artistic community. Among the events held in B-dul Carol, we can mention the production of the theatre show “Bambina, regina florilor” and the exhibitions during the Bucharest Art Week 2017, ”War Correspondent”.
On 1 June, 2018, the artist community moved to a 350 sqm villa near the National University of Art, on Theodor Aman Street no. 38. The space is a true artist hub that hosts parties, theatre shows, music, and art, together with plenty of events by and for the LGBT and Roma community, including punk cinema, voguing, drag races, preparing food for the community, and creating a safe place where they have weekly events. You can check their Facebook page and see what’s on in the week when you visit, or you can just pass by and grab a drink and support the community.
The approach is part of ARTHUB Bucharest’s policy of democratizing the artistic act, facilitating purchases for people with medium incomes, not just for a privileged elitist group, while also facilitating concrete and immediate actions to monetize the artists’ work. It is a project that, by its very nature, is about people and space; being defined by the communities (artists + audience) it serves and is shaped by the real estate resources it has available along the way.
The concerts, shows, and parties organized by the ArtHub Garden and ARTHUB Bucharest contribute to the sustainability of the project as an independent stage and space for cultural and artistic dialogue.From there you can go towards Piața Unirii and visit Atelier 35 and Atelier 030202.
You can find Atelier 35 on Șelari 13 Street, with always changing curators or artists that manage the space until they move on, as it is a space offered by the new director of the Romanian Union of Artists for artists under 35, be they members of the union or not, for free, unlike all the other galleries of the union, where you need to be a member and also pay a rent of 200 euros for 2 weeks. Different teams manage the space until they move on to other personal projects, which is very much like an internship for a lot of graduates to experiment with organizing and implementing exhibitions for free, with the costs of rent and utilities covered.
“Atelier 35, a youth centre coordinated both centrally and locally by a representative designated from young artists or art critics. Thus, important artists or art critics succeeded each other in the position of coordinators for the circle’s activity, who imprinted a special dynamic on the artistic pursuits of young people. In this regard we can recall a few names around which a significant youth movement emerged. Before the revolution, Octav Grigorescu and subsequently Ana Lupaș were appointed by the UAPR to coordinate youth movements in the country, while in Bucharest Wanda Mihuleac, Leonard Răchită, and Magda Cârneci each successively took care of this endeavour. Atelier 35 was assigned an exhibition space in the basement of Orizont Galleries in Bucharest, [and it’s] possible that the choice of space was intentionally decided to better shield the unpredictable manifestations of young artists from the vigilance of censorship. Atelier 35’s network expanded throughout the country and created an impressive dynamic through far-reaching events – often uncomfortable for the political regime, which was extremely attentive to events in the cultural scene. In the 1980s a few exhibitions stood out, such as “Oglinda” and “Alternative” in Bucharest, “Mobil Fotografia” in Oradea, “The Youth Biennial” in Baia-Mare or “Criticism Colloquium” in Sibiu. They drew attention towards new forms of artistic expression and often created radical reactions from the authorities.” (Petru Lucaci, president of the Union of Artists in Romania)
Atelier 030202 is a space coordinated by the artist Mihai Zgondoiu since 2009, with its name inspired by the postcode of its address (11 Sfânta Vineri Street) on the ground floor of the New Hall of the Theatre of Comedy. Atelier 030202 is another example of ways in which artist-run spaces exist (like MNTRplusC) and benefit from rent-free spaces offered by different institutions. “Writer Dan Mircea Cipariu, together with Mihai Zgondoiu, founded the Euro CulturArt association, which is the administrative body of the space; actor George Mihăiţă supported the unfolding of such a project in the foyer of the New Hall of the Theatre of Comedy, but Mihai Zgondoiu is the one who shaped the exhibition programme of this space, creating a series of resounding events that had been documented, at least in the first five years, in a publication issued by UNArte (The University of Arts in Bucharest) publishing house in 2015.” (Ana Daniela Sultana)
The space often exhibits projects resulting from the collaboration of literature and art, like Diptych Art Space, but also has a permanent display of a “Golden Frame” in its courtyard, where the famous representatives of local street art (IRLA, KITRA, SADDO, Pisica Pătrată, Obie Platon, etc.) are invited to create artworks in a big golden frame for different periods of time.
From there you can go to Plantelor 58 Street and visit the Diptych Art Space, coordinated by young curator Lina Țărmure and artist Zoltán Béla. It opened its doors to the Bucharest public in September 2019, when Lina was just 20 and in her second year studying Art History at the University of Arts in Bucharest.
Diptych crystallized in its first three years of existence in a rather conceptual direction. Among the exhibited artists are absolute firsts in Romania, such as Sándor Pinczehelyi, Mitoș Micleușanu, Maria Balabaș, or Josef Wurm, but also artists already established in the Bucharest context, whose artistic approach was found to be in sync with the approaches to space. Being an artist-run space that is not subject to commercial rigors, Diptych is also working on its expansion in fields adjacent to visual art, starting in 2021 with the launch of events on the market with a focus on literature, music, or theatre, thus marking itself as a pluri- and interdisciplinary area.
Another interesting initiative, formed after the Tranzit.ro space was closed, is Stația experimentală de cercetare pentru artă și viață [Experimental Research Station for Art and Life], created in 2021. The station is an association of a group of artists, curators, theorists, economists, and others who, together with tranzit.ro, co-own and co-plan a plot of land in the village of Siliștea Snagovului, 30 km north of Bucharest, in the vicinity of a protected natural area (forest and lake). With exhibitions, conferences, residencies or just walks in nature, the Station aims to become a centre for contemporary art and research as well as the study of nature, a resource centre and residences, and a prototype for a cultural institution anchored in a locality it shares with its community, situated in a post-development narrative, and supported on ecological and ethical principles. The members of the Station include the following people and institutions: Anca Benera, Andrei Gavril, Arnold Estefan, Dana Andrei, Eduard Constantin, Florian Niculae, Iuliana Dumitru, Livia Pancu, Maria Eichhorn, Marius Babias, Olivia Mihălțianu, Ovidiu Țichindeleanu, Raluca Popa, Raluca Voinea, Stoyan Dechev, Thomas Poeser, Vlad Basalici and the tranzit.ro Association. (Source: here)
There are so many artist-run initiatives in the city that it would be impossible to gather them all in one article, but some other spaces that function as part of the artist-run initiative are: Alert Studio at Piața Romană, Sandwich Gallery at Combinatul Fondului Plastic, Carol 53, Laborna, Make a Point, 8pt alternative space, Salonul de Proiecte.
Written by Gabriela Mateescu
1 – house pARTy, edited by Raluca Voinea, Editura Idea Design & Print, Cluj 2016.
2- Atelier 35 was designed to exhibit young artists in the Union`s galleries all over Romania. Now there is only one gallery with this name in Bucharest dedicated to exhibiting artists under 35. The space is the only one offered for free; for other Union galleries, you need to pay rent. The space has become an urban legend when speaking about experimental art done in the Communist period.
3 – Ibidem.
4 – Cosmin Nasui “O privire retrospectivă asupra celor 30 de ani de artă românească de după 1989,” in Liliana Corobca, (ed.) Panorama postcomunismului în România, Editura Polirom, 2022.
5 – Idem.
6 – Cosmin Năsui, “Anii ’90 în artele vizuale (II),” Observator Cultural, nr. 352-353, 21.12.2006.
7 – Cosmin Nasui “O privire retrospectivă asupra celor 30 de ani de artă românească de după 1989,” in Liliana Corobca, (ed.) Panorama postcomunismului în România, Editura Polirom, 2022.
8 – Ionuț Cioană, “Mașina de influențat.” Despre discursul anti-Soros în artă, Revista Scena9 online: https://www.scena9.ro/article/soros-arta-nicodim
9 – Simone Sheridan, Artist-Run What?
