Here are a few of my curatorial projects from the past years; exhibitions that explore themes of identity, memory, community, and transformation through diverse artistic voices and interdisciplinary perspectives.
Primăvara în Satul Românesc: Băbăluda
Etnographic Museum of
Transylvania
Short description:
Băbăluda brings together Romanian and international artists who gathered in the village of Buru, at the foot of the Apuseni Mountains, to explore and reinterpret a rare and complex rural ritual. Rooted in living tradition yet on the edge of disappearance, this collective artistic project transforms the spring celebration of Băbăluda—with its symbols of initiation, masculinity, and nature—into a reflection on memory, transformation, and fragility. Through installations, performances, and visual reinterpretations, the exhibition questions gender roles, the bond between humans and nature, and the place of art as both witness and renewal. Băbăluda becomes not a monument to tradition, but a mirror of what remains, asking: How do we keep something alive without freezing it in time?
Read the full text at the link below.
Crossing Time
Iaga Contemporary Art
Short description:
Crossing Time unites modern and contemporary Italian artists in an intergenerational dialogue that transcends boundaries of style and era. Featuring masters such as Dadamaino, Bruno Munari, Mimmo Rotella, and Emilio Vedova alongside today’s voices like Francesco Arecco, Silvia Inselvini, and Francesca Pasquali, the exhibition explores the evolution of Italian art — from post-war innovation to contemporary experimentation. Through this encounter, Crossing Time reveals a living continuum where tradition meets transformation, inviting viewers to reflect on the ever-renewing language of Italian creativity.
Read the full text at the link below.
Ștefan Bădulescu, “Transcending Realities”
Iaga Contemporary Art
Short description:
Transcending Realities by Ștefan Bădulescu is a photographic exploration of human archetypes, seeking to move beyond labels and surface judgments to reveal the shared essence that connects us all. Through striking portraits and surreal digital transformations, Bădulescu blends light, symbolism, and emotion to uncover the complexity of existence and the depth of human identity. Each image becomes both a mirror and a portal—inviting reflection, empathy, and a renewed understanding of our collective humanity. The exhibition is a profound visual meditation on unity, diversity, and introspection, transforming photography into a space where the real and the imaginary coexist.
Read the full text at the link below.
Narratives of Now
Voyages Numeriques Festival by French Instituite in Cluj – Iaga Contemporary Art
Short description:
The exhibition explores art as a form of protest and social change, bringing together eight artists who temporarily occupy the Iaga Gallery. Structured in three chapters – Ecological Revival, Political Transformation, and Poetic Ascendance – the exhibition reflects the struggle for justice, equality, and social dialogue. The artists use their creativity to address pressing social issues, transforming the gallery into a platform for awareness and collective engagement.
Read the full text at the link below.
Journeys of Love
Iaga Contemporary Art
Short description:
Journeys of Love brings together a diverse group of artists exploring the many dimensions of love within the LGBTQ+ community — from romantic and familial love to self-acceptance and solidarity. The exhibition highlights love as a universal yet deeply personal experience, shaped by resilience, vulnerability, and authenticity. Through moving works that address identity, activism, and inclusion, the show honors the stories of LGBTQ+ individuals and those living with HIV, celebrating courage, diversity, and the ongoing pursuit of equality. Journeys of Love is both a celebration and a call to reflection — an invitation to see love as a force for connection and social transformation.
Read the full text at the link below.
A iubi nu înseamnă a ne privi unul pe celălalt, ci a privi amândoi în aceeași direcție.
French Institute, Cluj
Short description:
The exhibition “To Love Does Not Mean to Look at Each Other, But to Look Together in the Same Direction” invites viewers on an intimate and emotional journey through the many dimensions of love — from familial and platonic bonds to romantic and spiritual devotion. Through artworks inspired by myth, literature, and personal experience, the show explores love’s power to heal, transform, and transcend time and space. Reflecting on legendary tales like Orpheus and Eurydice, Tristan and Isolde, and Romeo and Juliet, the exhibition reveals love as both strength and fragility — a force that defines humanity itself. It stands as a poetic tribute to love in all its forms, echoing Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s timeless idea that true love means “looking together in the same direction.”
Read the full text at the link below.
Rada Niță, “Protecție și magie în imaginarul popular românesc”
French Institute, Cluj
Short description:
Rooted in ethnographic and anthropological research on the protective and magical functions of traditional Romanian household objects, this exhibition reimagines ancient folk beliefs within a contemporary artistic framework. Through etchings, pen drawings, and installations, the artist conjures a bestiary of witches, spirits, and demons — tamed by the presence of rural tools such as spindles, distaffs, and hemp. Complemented by symbolic plants like sânziene and basil, as well as by objects of travel such as traditional shoes (opinci) and bags, the show becomes a journey through memory, identity, and ancestral protection. Paying homage to artist Mariana Gheorghiu, the project continues the dialogue between folk heritage and modern creation, curated by Liviu Bulea.
Read the full text at the link below.
Béla Zoltán, Sașa Bandi, Vlad Olariu, Tudor Costin, “The Silent Stories of the City”
French Institute, Cluj
Short description:
The Silent Stories of the City draws inspiration from Gordon Matta-Clark’s concept of Anarchitecture — a radical way of rethinking how we interact with urban spaces. The exhibition explores forgotten corners of the city, transforming neglected objects and materials into new artistic forms that reveal the hidden beauty of the overlooked. Blending art, design, and architecture, the participating artists embrace creative reuse and sustainability, echoing the spirit of Arte Povera and the principles of the circular economy. Through this process, they breathe life into the city’s “silent stories,” inviting us to see the urban landscape through fresh, more conscious eyes.
Read the full text at the link below.
Andreea Chiricā și Rāzvan Ion „Gradual Decline”
Visual Kontakt Gallery
Short description:
Gradual Decline unites artists Andreea Chiricā and Răzvan Ion in a deeply personal exploration of loneliness and depression, expressed through distinct yet complementary visual languages. Chiricā invites viewers into her introspective, interactive world of illustrated narratives, while Ion captures quiet, contemplative moments of emotional refuge through photography. Together, their works reveal two intimate perspectives on vulnerability, self-reflection, and the search for balance in a restless world.
👉 Read the full text at the link below.
Sașa Bandi, Odeta Catană „Inside”
Visual Kontakt Gallery
Short description:
Inside brings together artists Odeta Catană and Sașa Bandi, who explore the complex realities of mental health, psychiatric institutions, and the boundaries between inner and external confinement. Catană’s documentary photographs reveal the stark truth of life inside psychiatric hospitals, while Bandi’s performative and visual work delves into the psychological decay and isolation of the human mind. Together, their perspectives form a powerful dialogue about vulnerability, identity, and the struggle for dignity within — and beyond — institutional walls.
Read the full text at the link below.
Anna Olenicenco, SMEE
Visual Kontakt Gallery
Short description:
Death is a universal mystery first encountered in childhood — a moment often met with fear and repressed through imagination and play. In her project, Anna Olenicenco explores the world children build to escape the terrifying awareness of mortality: a universe of street games, superstitions, and rituals born in playgrounds, alleys, and forgotten corners. Through her lens, childhood becomes both refuge and resistance — a realm where fantasy shields innocence from the inevitability of aging and death.
Read the full text at the link below.
READ HERE
A Journey Through Slavic Prints
Visual Kontakt Gallery
Short description:
Hosted by Visual Kontakt, this printmaking collection was assembled over several years during Rada Niță’s doctoral research, “The Contemporary Intaglio in Slavic Countries. Hypostases of the Fantastic.” Featuring works from renowned and emerging artists across Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belarus, and Ukraine, the exhibition celebrates the richness of contemporary Slavic engraving — a realm where technical mastery meets imagination, humor, and poetic fantasy. With sections dedicated to both ex libris and free-themed engravings, the show highlights a living tradition that bridges myth, literature, and modern sensibility through the timeless craft of printmaking.
Read the full text at the link below.
LIVIU BULEA 