At a time when borders are increasingly contested and history is at risk of being forgotten, One Eye Laughing, the Other Crying at the Międzynadorowe Centrum Kultury (MCK / International Culture Centre) in Kraków offers a compelling reflection on the complexities of the Romanian experience through a century of artistic expression. From early 20th-century Dadaism and Abstraction, through conceptual and performative ideas, to contemporary art, the exhibition explores these movements through specific artists, local contexts, and global connections. Presented as part of the 2024-2025 Poland – Romania Cultural Season, this exhibition brings together works from the esteemed Ovidiu Șandor collection, offering a rare and timely dive into a visual history that has often remained on the periphery of Western-centric narratives.
The MCK provides an ideal setting for such an exhibition, given its dedication to exploring art, architecture, and culture through the lens of history. Poland and Romania share a deep historical connection, having a history of over two centuries. This common geography and regional connections have shaped both nations’ cultural landscapes, informing artistic production, political resistance, and identity formation. As Krakow and Timișoara (the Romanian city central to this collection and exhibition) continue to navigate their layered histories as sights of acute dissonant heritage, the dialogue between their pasts and presents becomes all the more relevant.
The power of perspective: seeing Romania through Romanian eyes
The exhibition stands out not only for its breadth – spanning avant-garde movements, Communist-era resistance, and contemporary experimentation – but also for its perspective. Too often, art from so-called “Eastern Europe” is framed through an external, Western gaze. Here, curated by Dr Monika Rydiger and Dr Łukasz Galusek, with the exhibition’s concept and narrative accepted by Ovidiu Șandor, Romanian art is presented on its own terms, in dialogue with itself across generations and conversation with collaborators from the region.
This intergenerational approach is a key strength of the exhibition, presenting Romanian art as a dynamic continuum rather than a static entity. It traces a lineage from early modernists to artists shaped by political oppression and, finally, to contemporary voices redefining Romanian identity globally that are in conversation with those before them. Each section explores how personal and collective histories intertwine, shaping identity through both proximity and opposition to inform artistic responses to transformation and trauma.
This intergenerational approach is a key strength of the exhibition, presenting Romanian art as a dynamic continuum rather than a static entity.
Sergiu Toma’s Interior reflects his transitory upbringing, where moving between city and village homes created a fusion of memories and generational influences, embodied in furniture of different purposes and styles crammed together. Ciprian Mureșan’s All the Images from a Book on Andre Cadere, commissioned by Șandor, reimagines Cadere’s “moveable paintings” as a layered, map-like graphite composition, reinterpreting Cadere’s body of work through a unique work and singular form.
A collection as a living narrative
One of several elements that sets this exhibition apart is its deeply personal nature. Rather than a sterile, academic presentation of Romanian art history, it feels like an invitation into a collector’s home – a space where history and emotion are held with care. This is fitting, given that Ovidiu Șandor himself has spoken of his collection as a reflection of identity and a means of navigating history. His Art Encounters Foundation, established in 2015, has played a crucial role in supporting and amplifying Romanian artists, making this exhibition not just an archival project but an active, evolving conversation.
The curatorial approach resists the rigidity of the white cube, opting instead for a more intimate, salon-style arrangement that allows works to dynamically engage with one another and create multifaceted narratives. This accessibility is vital in an exhibition that grapples with dense historical content. Rather than feeling weighed down by history, viewers are drawn into a space of discovery, where art becomes a bridge between the personal and the political, the absurd and the profound.
Ana Lupaș’s Identity Shirts explores textiles as vessels of the body, embedding personal and generational stories through distinct colors, sewing techniques, patterns, and personal traces we leave behind on the items we inhabit. This visual language captures individuality while weaving in recurring motifs that connect generations. Meanwhile, Mircea Cantor’s video, Tracking Happiness, reflects on memory’s fragility through a performance of women in white gliding across sand, erasing their own traces and those before them – an ephemeral meditation on identity and inherited narratives.
Re-centering the periphery
The exhibition challenges the notion of artistic “centres” and “peripheries”, pushing back against a canon that has long marginalised artists outside the Western bubble – even those who left their homelands out of necessity or survival. One Eye Laughing, the Other Crying reclaims Romania’s place as a vital artistic hub, often at the forefront of major movements.
Lena Constante-Brauner embodies this, both through her expertise in set design and textiles – mediums often wrongly dismissed as lesser arts – and her fate as a political prisoner under communism. During her twelve-year imprisonment, she created intricate fabric collages like Summer, using discarded cloth scraps collected through strategic coordination with local residents. Another striking example is Andre Cadere, a Romanian-born artist who built his career in Paris while rejecting the gallery system. His “moveable paintings” – portable, sculptural interventions – challenged institutional control, serving as a powerful metaphor for the exhibition’s core themes: displacement, resistance, and artistic autonomy.
The exhibition challenges the notion of artistic “centres” and “peripheries”, pushing back against a canon that has long marginalised artists outside the Western bubble – even those who left their homelands out of necessity or survival.
Humour as survival
Perhaps the most striking thread running through the exhibition is the way humor is used as a means of survival. The Romanian concept of râsu’-plânsu’ (laughter through tears) permeates the works, offering both a coping mechanism and a form of defiance. This humor is not lighthearted escapism but a profound way of confronting difficult realities. In times of repression, war, and displacement, artists have turned to absurdity, satire, and irony to document their experiences, build resilience, and imagine new futures. This is a lesson the West urgently needs – as borders are in question, histories are being erased, and democracy falters, we can learn from those who have resisted and endured. Humour, an effective tool against fascism, exposes contradictions, deflates fear, and fosters solidarity – offering resistance and agency through shared experience rather than division.
Victor Brauner’s darkly ironic yet beautifully executed Suitcase Paintings – delicate pencil and watercolour works made while he was stateless and fleeing fascism in the 1930s – speak to the fragility of exile, a reality that remains all too relevant today. Andrei Pandele’s dissident photography, spanning the 1970s through the Revolution, bears witness to Romania’s shifting landscape, capturing both quiet moments of daily life and the charged energy of mass protests, crafting a visual language that humanises people while condemning oppressive systems and conditions.
Bogdan Gîrbovan’s Romanian Orthodox Church and Police Hierarchy satirically dissects power by portraying individuals from the lowest to highest ranks in both institutions. His portraits – ranging from gravediggers to patriarchs and police agents to chiefs – expose the hierarchies that dictate what is permissible, what is punishable, and, ultimately, who holds the authority to decide.
Echoes of the past, visions of tomorrow
One Eye Laughing, the Other Crying is more than an exhibition; it is an urgent and necessary act of storytelling, presenting fragments of the past and present for the needs of the future. It reclaims narratives that have been overlooked, amplifies voices that have been silenced, and offers a nuanced, deeply human portrait of Romanian art. At a time when history is increasingly manipulated or forgotten, exhibitions like this serve as essential reminders of the profound power of cultural memory.
For those willing to engage with its compelling layers, this exhibition offers not just a glimpse into Romania’s artistic past but a vital reflection on our collective present – and the futures we might yet imagine.
One Eye Laughing, the Other Crying.
Art From Romania in the Ovidiu Șandor Collection
Międzynarodowe Centrum Kultury / International Cultural Centre in Kraków
March 7 – July 20, 2025
Supported by Międzynarodowe Centrum Kultury in Kraków.
