Studiotopia, a Creative Collaboration Between Art and Science

Larisa Cherechianu has been passionate about nature, books, and children for as long as she can remember. 

She attended a pedagogical high school in Oradea and graduated from the Faculty of History and Philosophy at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj. She has worked in several fields, but her most significant role was as a trainer for emotional management courses for preschoolers and young schoolchildren at a personal development center in Oradea. 

Since 2016, she has been living in Roșia Montană, has two young children, and strives to contribute to the lives of local children through extracurricular activities such as scouting, as well as educational projects she initiates and supports at the “Simion Balint” Secondary School in Roșia Montană.

In 2018, Bianca Mereuță and the Ce le Citim Copiilor (What We Read to Children) community donated, on their own initiative, a collection of 300 children’s books. Using this book fund, many activities were organized at events in Roșia, but only this autumn will a dedicated space for the CititOra reading club take shape.

In 2024, an educational project called ScriitOra was carried out in the commune, through which five writers met with the students of the “Simion Balint” Secondary School in Roșia Montană.

Meanwhile, CititOra was also born, an extracurricular project which, through donations of hundreds of children’s books gathered from across the country, managed to create a small free library in each of the three schools in Roșia Montană. The libraries are placed in the school hallways, so that children have direct access to beautiful, engaging, high-quality books.

The CititOra reading club is still small, but it has big dreams.

Dora Cerin coordinates projects at the Cu Alte Cuvinte (CUAC) association, which develops free educational resources—courses, guides, games, and books—for teachers who promote diversity, empathy, and critical thinking in kindergartens and schools.

With 21 years of experience as a cultural manager, she has initiated projects that promote reading among children and bring history into unconventional spaces—from a communist apartment staircase in Bucharest to installations in Trinity Square Gardens in London during the 2012 Olympic Games. She has also been involved in museum projects as part of Sibiu – European Capital of Culture 2007 and contributed to the publication of the first three volumes of Noii industriași, creativii (The New Industrialists, the Creatives).  In 2022, she was recognized as a Social Innovator by Ashoka Romania.

More about CUAC projects: 👉 www.cualtecuvinte.com and www.pentrudiversitate.org (a platform with over 5,300 teachers who have completed the Stories for Diversity course).

Octavian Popa is an entrepreneur with a diverse professional background, ranging from eight years as a career military officer to 15 years in sales, where he rose to the position of national director.

He studied law, holds a bachelor’s degree in economics (marketing), and a master’s degree in engineering, law, and sustainable development economics. His experience also includes consulting in printing and digitization at UTCN. Since 2014, he has worked as a freelance business consultant (management, marketing, sales) and has been running Only One® Publishing House.

Passionate about books, the arts, and especially children, he has been involved in developing the Boovie® festival for students since 2018. A music lover, he is defined by his energy, curiosity, and civic spirit.

After debuting with literature for adults, Adina Rosetti discovered that what she enjoys most is inventing stories for children. She has published 13 children’s books, many of them award-winning and adapted for the stage. Miss Tomorrow, one of her best-known characters, appears in several stories for different age groups: sometimes as a curious and spoiled little girl (Miss Tomorrow and the Game of Time, Miss Tomorrow’s Christmas), and other times as a rebellious teenager (the trilogy The Chronicles of Miss Tomorrow).

Adina has a passion for witches, dragons, and elves, explored in Why Do Witches Fly on Broomsticks? and Why Did the Dragon Lose His Tablet?. Her experience running storytelling workshops with a group of Roma children inspired The Story of the Lost Kendama, a tale about the magic of friendship that can change the world, awarded by the Writers’ Union of Romania. She is also the co-author of The Unruly Ones. 100 Women for 100 Years of Modern Romania. Among her most recent works are My First Pioneer Word, A Story with a Taste of Kiwi, and the young adult novel The Final Challenge (Arthur Publishing).

Adina Rosetti teaches storytelling and creative writing courses for children and is a founding member and president of the De Basm Association.

Ruxandra Gîdei holds a research master’s degree in Comparative Literature from Utrecht University and currently coordinates The Europe Challenge, a support program for libraries at the European Cultural Foundation. 

Through her YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok accounts (4fără15), she brings together over 100,000 readers, whom she constantly encourages to diversify their reading.

Gabriela Nenciu is the co-founder of the Cu Alte Cuvinte association, where she brings her passion for culture and education to life. She studied Didactics of Modern Languages and Management of Cultural Projects at the University of Paris 3, Sorbonne Nouvelle.

She has served as a lecturer and cultural events coordinator at Brandeis University and Dartmouth College, and as an instructor within the international network of the French Institute. Since 2016, through Cu Alte Cuvinte, Gabriela has initiated projects focused on diversity education, created creative writing workshops, and contributed to the publication of the first children’s books in Romania about Roma culture.

Irina Bălan has over 15 years of experience in cultural management, collaborating with museums, cultural centers, independent art spaces, and publishing houses. She has been part of multidisciplinary teams dedicated to promoting culture, including Night of Museums, Support Culture in Education, and the Forum for Cultural Mediation.

Her work focuses on creating sustainable collaboration frameworks for artists and cultural operators, as well as developing long-term partnerships between cultural and educational institutions and non-governmental organizations. She writes projects with the same passion she brings to doodling with children and believes that the best programs are born from a vibrant blend of resilience and humor.

Mariana Marian graduated from the Faculty of Law in Cluj-Napoca, completed a master’s degree in cultural management, and attended specialized courses in library and information science. She began her career in 1998 as a librarian in the children’s lending section and later worked in several departments, including cataloguing and document processing, marketing, cultural programming, and acquisitions. 

In 2021, she became the manager of the Sălaj “I.S. Bădescu” County Library, after previously serving as president of the “Friends of the Library” Association (founded in 2002). She has been involved in numerous local, national, and international projects and is a trainer for librarians and community members in Sălaj. In 2024, she outlined her strategy for her term as manager, aiming to transform the county library into a multicultural, educational, and community hub offering modern services, engaging projects, and local and international partnerships.

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The Sălaj “I.S. Bădescu” County Library is a major cultural and educational institution in the region, dedicated not only to preserving and disseminating information, but also to promoting reading as a living act of communication and cultural understanding. Through innovative projects, the library goes beyond the traditional role of book lending, bringing literature closer to people through interactive, artistic, and participatory experiences. 

A relevant example is the Travelling Library project, which offers a fresh approach to books by turning them into opportunities for readers, authors, and texts to meet. This travelling initiative brings literature into unconventional spaces—schools, cultural centers, churches, parks—providing the public not only with access to books, but also with performative encounters with texts. It features readings, creative workshops, and games in communities across Sălaj County.

Brandi Bates is a mother and the reader of two children, co-founder of the Noi Orizonturi Foundation, founder and librarian of a small community library for children (Biblioteca Copiilor „Din loc în loc” – “Place to Place” Children’s Library) in Lupeni, Hunedoara, and the initiator of Citim Împreună România (Reading Together Romania) – a national movement that promotes the benefits and beauty of reading among children and adults in Romania.

She is also the driving force behind Ziua Internațională a Cititului Împreună (International Read-Aloud Day) in Romania. Brandi is an American who has been living in Romania for 25 years, grew up in California, and holds a degree in Literature from Gordon College, Massachusetts, USA.

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The Din loc în loc Children’s Library in Lupeni, Hunedoara, gathers children, teenagers, and adults weekly to read, discuss, and create together. All families are encouraged and supported to take reading home with them and to make reading together a habit in their family culture. Each summer, they come together for a week-long book camp, reading around a particular theme with activities for all ages, from babies to adults.

Out of this Reading Together community, Citim Împreună România (CIR) was born in 2016. Programs developed and implemented at Din loc în loc in Lupeni were shared beyond the Jiu Valley with parents, libraries, and schools across the country through CIR’s workshops, training, and initiatives. Some of these initiatives include Summer Reading Programs (E vremea cititului), Baby Reading Groups (Bebe Café), programs encouraging fathers to read to their children (Tăticii citesc copiilor), and International Read-Aloud Day (Ziua Internațională a Cititului Împreună, ZICI).

Looking ahead, Brandi is developing new initiatives that directly address how literacy, reading, community, and culture are challenged by the early and addictive presence of screens in the lives of children and families, and how reading together can help young people stay connected to real people and grounded in the real world.

Teodora Trișcă is an English teacher at Lechința Technological High School, Sieut Secondary School, Sintereag Secondary School, and Saint Stelian Primary School in Bistrița-Năsăud. Over the years, she has taught at eight schools across Cluj-Napoca and Bistrița-Năsăud County. 

In addition to teaching, Teodora is actively involved in extracurricular and after-school activities. Her journey through schools — some located in city centers, others in suburban areas, and now in the countryside — has given her the opportunity to meet many children and parents from a wide variety of social backgrounds. 

For children who wanted to practice English, she organized online poetry and creative/dramatic writing sessions, and to respond to other needs and interests, she developed learning opportunities through dance, theater, martial arts, public speaking, computer science, rhythm, and percussion.

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School of Heart — the dance and creativity camp — was launched in 2019 as an extracurricular activity, supported entirely by donations. Step by step, School of Heart has evolved into a framework for educational activities, built together with children who want to participate, people from various fields who wish to teach, and those who provide financial support for the projects. 

The most recent event took place in August this year: the second edition of the Educational Theater Residencies, held with actress Iulia Dinescu at Lechința Technological High School in Bistrița-Năsăud. An essential member of the team is Andreea Gheorghe, who leads the fundraising efforts needed to make these activities possible. More information can be found at www.schoolofheart.ro.

Lavinia Ioana Sicoe is 15 years old and a 9th-grade student at “Avram Iancu” National College in Câmpeni, where she specializes in intensive English philology. She lives in Roșia Montană. Lavinia has loved reading since childhood, but only a few years ago did she truly discover her passion for literature. Inspired by this passion, she started moderating two reading clubs: one online (Cărți la Cataramă) with her friend Șiman Daria, and another in person (CititOra) with Larisa Cherechianu. 

In 2024, she began collaborating with publishers and authors to promote books. She is active on social media — on Instagram and TikTok as @laviniareads_29 — and on Goodreads as Sicoe Lavinia Ioana.

Georgiana Leșu is a museum curator and holds a PhD in History from “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași. Her areas of interest include cultural studies, historical discourse, and literature inspired by the history of the Romanian communist period.

She has been part of the team at the National Museum of Romanian Literature in Iași since 2015, where she is actively involved in organizing the International Literature and Translation Festival of Iași – FILIT. She coordinates logistical aspects and leads a team of enthusiastic volunteers who accompany the guest writers throughout the festival.
In addition to her work with FILIT, she contributes to the organization of the festival Șotron. The Childhood Festival and collaborates on various scholarship, residency, and museum education projects, working with community organizations and institutions to promote reading and the museum.

Recently, she joined the European project CELA – Connecting Emerging Literary Artists, a program dedicated to early-career literary translators and writers, where the Romanian partner is the National Museum of Romanian Literature in Iași, in association with ARTLIT – the Romanian Association of Literary Translators and AER – the Romanian Publishers Association.

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The National Museum of Romanian Literature in Iași was established in 1990, following the separation of the literature section from the “Moldova” National Museum Complex in Iași. The museum promotes Romanian literature nationally and internationally by protecting and showcasing Romania’s literary heritage, contributing to its integration into the circuit of European cultural values.

It organizes the International Literature and Translation Festival of Iași – FILIT, one of the most important literary festivals in Europe, which will reach its 13th edition in 2025. Over the five days of FILIT, dozens of events dedicated to the promotion of literature take place, including: literary encounters with world-renowned authors, all-night poetry and music events, professional workshops and round tables, concerts, public readings, and other activities.

Alongside FILIT, another major event organized by the museum with a strong impact on the community is Șotron. The Childhood Festival, a large-scale cultural and educational event dedicated to young audiences. The festival brings together activities designed to help children and teenagers discover culture, art, and science in an interactive and engaging way.

The museum is also a partner in the European project CELA – Connecting Emerging Literary Artists, alongside ARTLIT – the Romanian Association of Literary Translators and AER – the Romanian Publishers Association. CELA, a project co-financed by the European Union’s Creative Europe program, aims to provide early-career literary translators and writers with the opportunity to build an international career and develop their professional skills. Throughout the year, the museum offers scholarships and residencies, organizes exhibitions, artistic projects, and interactive workshops for all age groups, working closely with the community for educational purposes and to promote literature.

Maria Gheorghiu has 15 years of experience in education and over 25 years in developing and implementing early childhood education programs for children from vulnerable backgrounds. Her innovative programs — Șotron Summer Workshops, Every Child in Kindergarten (scaled nationally through Law no. 248/2015), Every Child Deserves a Story, The Little Bag with Two Books, and Storybook Romania — have facilitated access to education and supported the development of thousands of children. She is the president of the OvidiuRO Association.Her educational philosophy is child-centred, combining innovation with literacy, and includes teacher training to ensure quality and accessible early childhood education. She is currently finalizing the implementation of the national program 100 Stories to encourage reading in kindergartens and families in Romania and the Republic of Moldova.

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Since 2004, the OvidiuRO Association has facilitated access to quality early education for children from vulnerable groups in Romania, transforming pilot projects into national programs that reduce inequities in education.

In 2010, the pilot project Fiecare Copil în Grădiniță (Every Child in Kindergarten) introduced social vouchers conditioned on daily attendance, thereby increasing enrollment and participation of children from disadvantaged families. This program was adopted nationally through Law no. 248/2015.

Between 2020 and 2024, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, OvidiuRO implemented Read Me 100 Stories, which equipped over 3,500 kindergartens and 500 schools with reading resources, trained 40,000 teachers, and distributed more than 725,000 books. In 2024, the program was expanded to the Republic of Moldova, becoming a national initiative there as well.

To prevent functional illiteracy, OvidiuRO collaborates with the All Children Read Association and the Ministry of Education and Research on the Early Literacy Development Plan, focused on teacher training and children’s access to quality educational resources.

Steli Grigore is a digital marketing and social media specialist with experience in content creation, strategy, and online community management. He has managed online campaigns on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok, as well as e-commerce projects through Shopify, Etsy, and Gomag. He has held roles as Social Media Manager, Online Community Manager, and Project Manager, developing strategies to increase the impact of collaborators with their target audiences. He has coordinated international volunteer projects, worked with migrant and refugee communities, and created strategic partnerships in the cultural and educational fields. He is actively involved in initiatives dedicated to public libraries in rural Romania.

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EduCaB is an international program, piloted in Romania in 2013 and officially launched in Nepal in 2014, which currently connects geographical and practice communities in over 13 countries, facilitating the circulation of knowledge resources (cultural, social, economic, civic, digital) at the local, national, and global levels. Its goal is to develop sustainable learning and civic engagement ecosystems that support individuals and communities in maximizing their potential. This process began by leveraging public and community libraries as development hubs, primarily in small and medium-sized communities.

With experience in behavior change strategies, organizational culture, community development, and interdisciplinary, inter-institutional, educational, social, and cultural entrepreneurship, Mihai Lupu will speak at this year’s Cultural Mediation Forum about the resources he is developing through EduCaB to support cultural mediation in public libraries and community centers nationally and internationally, helping them better serve their communities.

Ioana Irinciuc is a librarian at the “Marin Preda” Branch of the Bucharest Metropolitan Library. She has over 28 years of experience in libraries and strongly believes they can be more than simple reading spaces — they can serve as living connections between people, cultures, and communities.

After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Ioana became actively involved in supporting the integration of the Ukrainian community in Bucharest through Romanian language courses, children’s workshops, and multicultural events. She enjoys working with people of all ages, creating contexts for learning and connection, and believes that every encounter, every book, and every dialogue helps us discover that differences unite us rather than separate us.

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The “Marin Preda” Branch is part of the Bucharest Metropolitan Library, a public cultural institution with over 30 branches across all districts of the capital, offering free access to information, education, and culture. The Marin Preda Branch is an open space for learning, dialogue, and inclusion. Here, words bring together cultures, people, and stories, and reading becomes an opportunity for connection and transformation. Through Romanian language courses, creative workshops for children and teenagers, and multicultural events dedicated to Ukrainian refugees, the branch has strengthened its role as an educational hub and a space for intercultural dialogue.

Petronela Bordeianu is a geographer and educator with over 18 years of experience in education and international projects. Since 2014, she has been living in Berlin, where she works on participatory and integration programs. Her interests focus on promoting multilingualism, facilitating access to educational resources for children and families, and strengthening intercultural dialogue. She is professionally, civically, and politically involved in initiatives dedicated to the Romanian community and supports its visibility within Berlin society.

Since 2018, Petronela has been active in the association Koopkultur e.V., and since 2022 she has joined Romanian librarians in the diaspora, coordinating the Biblioteca Prichindeilor (Little Ones’ Library) in Berlin.

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“Biblioteca Prichindeilor” Association (https://bibliotecaprichindeilor.com/) is a voluntary, civic, and community-based initiative for non-formal education of Romanian children in the diaspora. Today, the association has 25 coordinators, is present in 23 locations, and holds more than 12,000 books available for free lending. In Berlin, the library supports over 200 families through book loans and monthly reading and play workshops in Romanian. This mobile library transforms the act of reading into an immersive experience, where the learning environment becomes part of the story.

Koopkultur e.V. (https://koopkultur.de/) is a non-profit association that, since 2018, has been developing and testing innovative concepts for multilingualism and education in public spaces — libraries, museums, and parks — in collaboration with Berlin’s state libraries. Koopkultur functions as a platform for positive change in education, bringing together artists, educators, activists, and researchers who collaborate to improve the lives of people with migration experience in Berlin. Within Koopkultur e.V., Petronela designs interdisciplinary mapping projects using her background in geography, as well as projects focused on the Romanian community and language.

Sorina Stanca is the Manager of the “Octavian Goga” County Library in Cluj-Napoca. She has embraced the librarian profession since 1996, and since 2003 she has been involved in numerous European as well as national projects in the field of library development.  She has strong expertise in project management and extensive experience in planning and organizing professional workshops and conferences.

Sorina is a member of the National Commission of Libraries, the national professional association, as well as the Europeana Network Association. She has published numerous articles on library and information science, helping promote the projects of the Cluj public library.

The “Octavian Goga” County Library is one of the largest and most important public libraries in Romania. Its collection holds over 600,000 documents — books, periodicals, audiovisual materials, electronic resources — as well as a significant set of Special Collections. The library staff develops numerous cultural programs and projects each year, strengthening its role as a cultural institution with wide public reach. The library has been a partner in many European projects, successfully mobilizing the professional community to create new library services modeled on international practices and aligned with the IFLA-UNESCO Public Library Manifesto.

Right after obtaining her Master’s degree in Language Didactics, at the age of 21, Solène left France to teach her mother tongue as a foreign language across Europe — and has never stopped since.  Teaching French became her second nature. She chose to settle in Cluj-Napoca after working as a lecturer of French at Babeș-Bolyai University for five years. 

A long-time collaborator with the French Institute of Cluj-Napoca, she has had the chance to teach a wide range of audiences, sometimes as a teacher trainer. She is also a translator from English and Romanian into French, a book nerd, a Potterhead, a sci-fi enthusiast, and the proud mother of an eleven-and-a-half-year-old little girl.

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“Bonjour Bébé” is an activity offered by the Media Library of the French Institute of Romania in Cluj-Napoca. It is intended for parents or guardians of children under two years old and has multiple objectives:

• Awakening language skills to the rhythms and sounds of the French language through play, song, and movement

• Activities inspired by the Montessori method (object permanence, transfer, rhythmic and sensory experiences, etc.)

• Introduction to LSF (French Sign Language)

• Socialization for toddlers

• Creating a space for meetings and discussions for new parents

• Familiarizing families with the media library and its books

• Building audience loyalty towards the activities organized by the French Institute.

Victor Miron is an idealist with initiative and a promoter of lifelong learning. He fell in love with reading in high school, and characters such as Don Quixote, The Little Prince, Prince Myshkin, and the Nearsighted Adolescent became his role models. He was involved in the family business, Iovi Auto Service, in the startups UseTogether and AppFavorites, and in 2014 he launched the reading campaign Cărțile pe Față. He has published seven books and performed spoken word poetry on Romania’s Got Talent. He is the curator of TEDxZorilor and the host of CreativeMornings Cluj.

The cultural association Cărțile pe Față has the mission of convincing people to read at least two books per month. It began its activity in 2014 and has since implemented dozens of projects, including free public transport for readers, free entry to the botanical garden if you carry a book, the Readers’ Gala, the Reading Class, the Neighbors’ Library, books on business cards, the mobile library BookTruck, and the Cărțile pe Față Community Centre. With the BookTruck mobile library, the Association visits schools in villages across Cluj County and lends books to children.

Carmen Tiderle writes quirky poems for children of all ages and puts on quite a show when she reads them. Think of any word, and in Carmen’s books you’ll find at least one verse about it — yes, she even has poems about astronaut cows! Her favorite color is summer, and her favorite animal is blue with polka dots. She has bangs, wears temporary tattoos, and believes that if people played more often like children (and like trees), the world would be a better place.

She is the author of 10 volumes of poetry, including Pe dos, poezii cu prostii pentru copii (Upside Down, Silly Poems for Kids), Selfie cu elfii (Selfie with the Elves), Cine a pus piper în mare? (Who Put Pepper in the Sea?), Trecere pentru pitoni (Crossing for Pythons), Homarul Homer (Homer the Lobster), and the winner of the 2024 Children’s Choice Award, Cărturino, Cornute Cosmonaute (Cosmonaut Cows). She also wrote the first children’s science book in verse — Călătorie în lumea energiei (Journey into the World of Energy), Engie, 2024.

She has a volume of poetry in English, Turvy-Topsy, published by Austin Macauley, and numerous poems featured in The Dirigible Balloon magazine in the UK. Her texts appear in Romanian language textbooks, and she holds poetry writing classes and reading workshops for children in schools. As a member of De Basm, the Association of Writers for Children and Teenagers, she has taken part in numerous creative camps and projects such as LittleLit, KitLit, and Povești în zbor (Stories in Flight).

Iulia Iordan is a writer and museum educator. She divides her working time between museums, libraries, and schools, where she is usually surrounded by children and young people. Through cultural projects, she brings them together with artists and studies the “chemical reactions” that occur between them. A partial conclusion of her research is that museums and contemporary literature enhance young people’s capacity for knowledge, making them more attentive to the world they live in and to themselves.

Iulia is the co-founder of De Basm – the Association of Writers for Children and Young Adults in Romania, a member of the Da’DeCe Association, and a researcher at the CESI Doctoral School.

More information is available at www.asociatiadadece.ro and www.debasm.ro.

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“KitLit – Playful Scenarios Inspired by Contemporary Children’s Literature” is a project of the De Basm Association, co-financed by AFCN, proposing an innovative approach to collaboration between writers, teachers, and children: the co-creation of 20 playful activity scenarios to be used in primary school classes, during Romanian language and literature lessons, as well as civic education, arts, or natural sciences.

As part of the project, De Basm designed and implemented a series of activities aimed at promoting contemporary Romanian children’s literature in the primary school environment. These included a series of workshops for children, a national webinar, teacher training sessions, and the creation of a comprehensive pedagogical kit consisting of educational scenarios inspired by the most well-known contemporary Romanian children’s books.

During the 40 workshops hosted by 10 schools across five counties, approximately 500 students had the chance to engage in dialogue with 20 writers and, moreover, to actively participate in the development of the scenarios included in the kit.

The outcome of these meetings is a pedagogical material of approximately 130 pages, containing creative teaching scenarios adapted for the primary school level and inspired by 20 valuable books by contemporary Romanian authors. The kit is to be published by Arthur Publishing House, will be available for online browsing on the debasm.ro platform during the project period, and will be distributed in 500 printed copies to partner schools, after which it will also be available for purchase nationwide.

Victoria Pătrașcu is a writer of children’s books and plays, and co-founder of De Basm – the Association of Writers for Children and Adolescents. She made her editorial debut with The Day Sleep Ran Away. This was followed by twenty other children’s books, including Ela cea fără de cuvinte (Ela the Wordless), included in the White Ravens catalog (2016) and translated and published in Turkey and Macedonia; the Zuralo and Zurali series, stories dedicated to Roma children; and the anthology Nesupusele (The Disobedient Ones) (co-author).

Her plays have been staged at Radio Romania and performed on stages across the country, with Lampio și grăuntele de lumină (Lampio and the Grain of Light) running continuously for over ten years at the Stela Popescu Theater in Bucharest, and more recently as an immersive show at MINA Bucharest – the Museum of Immersive New Art.

In 2017, she received the Award of Excellence for Children’s Literature from Radio Itsy Bitsy. Since 2018, she has been collaborating with other writers, members of the De Basm Association, on cultural projects dedicated to children and young people.

Raluca Selejan graduated from the Faculty of Letters in Timișoara, specializing in Romanian-English, and holds a master’s degree in Cultural Resource Management. She has over 10 years of experience in communication and cultural event organization and was the managing partner of the independent bookstore La Două Bufnițe (en: At Two Owls). Passionate about books and reading — i.e. an Owl by profession — she likes to bring children closer to reading through stories and workshops she has held at the bookstore and at other events dedicated to children’s reading.

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The independent bookstore La Două Bufnițe (The Two Owls) in Timișoara opened on December 2, 2016, on the initiative of two childhood friends, Oana Doboși and Raluca Selejan, who set out to create a cultural landmark for the people of Timișoara and the local artistic community, as well as for tourists visiting the city. With its selection of books and organized events, La Două Bufnițe is a warm and friendly place, recommended for its carefully curated selection, predominantly featuring Romanian and world literature, humanities, and art. In order to bring children closer to books, they also have a dedicated reading space for them. The bookshop is part of the European and International Booksellers Federation, has received national and international awards, has organized literary residencies, and has hosted and organized events with writers from Romania, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Croatia, France, Italy, Spain, the USA, and Iceland. La Două Bufnițe permanently closed on June 29, 2025, after almost nine years of activity.

Claudia Șerbănuță is a researcher, information science specialist, and community developer. She holds a PhD in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and served as the interim director of the National Library of Romania between 2014 and 2016.

Currently, she is the president and co-founder of the Communities of the Future Association, where she supports communities in addressing emerging challenges through education projects, skills development, and the strengthening of civic and public organizations.

Claudia is involved in research projects at Lucian Blaga University and the Făgăraș Research Institute. In 2021, she was recognized as a “Mover & Shaker” by Library Journal, and in 2023 she became a Marshall Memorial Fellow.

Alex Moldovan is a writer, translator, playwright, and screenwriter. He became known for the “Olguța” series, wrote the young adult novel Casa (The House), and his most recent children’s book is Dani G. and the Castle of the Three Donkeys. He writes for the magazine Familia and has a weekly newsletter with children’s book recommendations. In 2024, he won the Romanian Writers’ Union Award. 

He has published articles on children’s literature in cultural magazines, translates children’s books and adult fiction, and organizes creative writing workshops for students, with a focus on play, imagination, and storytelling. He has collaborated with schools, festivals, and educational projects to bring literature closer to children and teenagers.  His texts are included in several school textbooks, and his books have been translated in Macedonia and Hungary.

Raluca Iacob is a cultural manager and public policy specialist with over 15 years of experience in cultural project management, monitoring and evaluation, strategy, analysis, and guidance on cultural practices and policies. Since 2013, she has supported partnerships between schools and cultural actors, as well as cultural mediation, through consulting, project coordination, analysis, and documentation of practices and policies. 

In 2023, she contributed to the design of the Creative Schools funding program, managed by the Centre for Projects of the Municipality of Timișoara. 

She is currently focused on cultural mediation practices that emphasize reflection, analysis, and dialogue—approaches that not only bring us closer to culture but also foster the development of our critical thinking skills.

Corina Bucea is a cultural manager with experience in project coordination, artistic production, cultural policies, and cultural mediation. She is the cultural development director at Cluj Cultural Centre, where she coordinates, since 2018, The Academy of Change, a program dedicated to increasing the capacity of the cultural sector. She was one of the founding members of the contemporary art space The Paintbrush Factory (2009), where she worked as a manager in the first years of activity. She coordinated or collaborated with various projects representing Romania at the Venice Art and Architecture Biennale (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022). Between 2021 and 2023, she was part of the Timișoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture’s curatorial team as an education and mediation & Power Station strategy expert.

Corina Bucea is a cultural manager with experience in project coordination, artistic production, cultural policies, and cultural mediation. She is the cultural development director at Cluj Cultural Centre, where she coordinates, since 2018, The Academy of Change, a program dedicated to increasing the capacity of the cultural sector. She was one of the founding members of the contemporary art space The Paintbrush Factory (2009), where she worked as a manager in the first years of activity. She coordinated or collaborated with various projects representing Romania at the Venice Art and Architecture Biennale (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022). Between 2021 and 2023, she was part of the Timișoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture’s curatorial team as an education and mediation & Power Station strategy expert.

After debuting with literature for adults, Adina Rosetti discovered that what she enjoys most is inventing stories for children. She has published 13 children’s books, many of them award-winning and adapted for the stage. Miss Tomorrow, one of her best-known characters, appears in several stories for different age groups: sometimes as a curious and spoiled little girl (Miss Tomorrow and the Game of Time, Miss Tomorrow’s Christmas), and other times as a rebellious teenager (the trilogy The Chronicles of Miss Tomorrow).

Adina has a passion for witches, dragons, and elves, explored in Why Do Witches Fly on Broomsticks? and Why Did the Dragon Lose His Tablet?. Her experience running storytelling workshops with a group of Roma children inspired The Story of the Lost Kendama, a tale about the magic of friendship that can change the world, awarded by the Writers’ Union of Romania. She is also the co-author of The Unruly Ones. 100 Women for 100 Years of Modern Romania. Among her most recent works are My First Pioneer Word, A Story with a Taste of Kiwi, and the young adult novel The Final Challenge (Arthur Publishing).

Adina Rosetti teaches storytelling and creative writing courses for children and is a founding member and president of the De Basm Association.

După ce a debutat cu literatură pentru adulți, Adina Rosetti a descoperit că cel mai mult îi place să inventeze povești pentru cei mici. A publicat 13 cărți pentru copii, multe dintre ele premiate și dramatizate. 

Domnișoara Poimâine, unul dintre personajele sale cele mai cunoscute, se plimbă prin mai multe povești, pentru diferite vârste; câteodată e o fetiță curioasă și răsfățată (“Domnișoara Poimâine și joaca de-a Timpul”, “Crăciunul Domnișoarei Poimâine”), alteori o adolescentă rebelă (trilogia “Cronicile Domnișoarei Poimâine”). Adina are o pasiune pentru vrăjitoare, dragoni și spiriduși, așa că a scris despre toate acestea în “De ce zboară vrăjitoarele pe cozi de mătură?” și “De ce și-a pierdut balaurul tableta?”. 

Experiența atelierelor de storytelling cu un grup de copii de etnie romă s-a transformat în “Povestea Kendamei Pierdute”, o poveste despre magia prieteniei care poate schimba lumea, premiată de Uniunea Scriitorilor din România. 

Este co-autoare a volumelor “Nesupusele. 100 de femei pentru 100 de ani de Românie modernă.”  Printre cele mai recente apariții sunt “Întâiul meu cuvânt de pionier” , “O istorie cu gust de kiwi” și romanul pentru adolescenți “Ultima provocare” (Ed. Arthur). 

Adina Rosetti predă cursuri de storytelling și scriere creativă pentru copii și este membru fondator și președinte al Asociației De Basm. 

Drawing on documentary practices, his work, which combines sculptures, films and
performances, aims to explore and make real the hypothesis of entirely different worlds.
From 2014 to 2022, he worked in collaboration with artist Raphaël Siboni on the series The
Unmanned, a protean historical epic made up of multiple episodes retracing an alternative
history of humanity over three seasons. In 2026, Fabien Giraud and curator Anne Stenne will
launch the Le Féral project, a collective work set in the Limousin region of France, to be
completed a thousand years later in 3026.

He has exhibited at Mona (Australia), the Liverpool Biennial (England), the Lyon Biennial
(France), the Okayama Triennial (Japan), the Palais de Tokyo (Paris) and the Casino
Luxembourg (Luxembourg).

In 2022, Fabien Giraud and Raphaël Siboni published The Unmanned, a first monograph on
their joint work, available from Mousse Publishing.
Born in 1980. He lives and works in Paris.

She is curator and art historian, co-founder of The Naked Room, Kyiv.
Lizaveta received her MA degree in Art History at the National Academy of Fine Arts and
Architecture in Kyiv. In 2016, she received a PhD degree in Art History there. In 2016, she
was placed as a curator-in-residence at Liverpool Biennial, supported by British Council
Ukraine. In 2015, together with Olha Balashova, she published a book The Art of Ukrainian
Sixties (republished in English in 2021), and in 2017 they co-edited Decommunised:
Ukrainian Soviet Mosaics book.

Since 2014, Lizaveta has been working with Maria Lanko as a curatorial collective. The duo
organised more than 30 exhibitions in Ukraine, including National Art Museum of Ukraine,
Mystetskyi Arsenal, Goethe-Institut, British Council, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ukrainian
Institute. In 2015, they opened a show in Badischer Kunstverein Karlsruhe, as a part of Kyiv
Biennial–School of Kyiv project. In 2017 Maria and Lizaveta co-curated (together with
Kateryna Filyuk) Festival of Young Ukrainian Art at Mystetskyi Arsenal, the first all-Ukrainian
biennial for contemporary art. Since 2020, Maria and Lizaveta have been teaching at
Skvot.IO on-line school, System of Contemporary Art course. In 2021 their project with the
artist Pavlo Makov (co-curated by Borys Filonenko), Fountain of Exhaustion. Acqua Alta
was chosen to represent Ukraine at 59th La Biennale di Venezia. Beside the national
pavilion, in 2022, Lizaveta co-curated Piazza Ucraina project and Decolonising Art.
Beyond the Obvious interdisciplinary programme as part of International Art Exhibition.
Lizaveta is currently working on a book about wartime art exhibitions and curatorial practices
in Ukraine since 2022 (IST Publishing, 2024).
Lizaveta lives and works in Kyiv.

Recognized for his eclectic and interdisciplinary approach, Pierre Bismuth engages in a
critique of perceptual regimes by disrupting the cultural, media, and social structures that
shape our relationship to the world. Through minimal interventions, he questions the logics
of appropriation and authenticity, exploring the systems of symbolic production that structure
contemporary Western culture.
Born into a family of doctors, he is marked by a symptomatic approach to the world, in which
observation and analysis of signs precede any interpretation. This sensitivity resonates with
structuralist and poststructuralist thought, which influenced his formative years and led him
to conceive art not as a creation ex nihilo, but as a dialogue with preexisting forms and
narratives, inscribed in dynamics of memory and forgetting that shape our subjectivities. He
thus allows contingency and context to influence the form and content of his works, revealing
how technique shapes perception.
In a world saturated with information and emotion, where affective intensity has become a
driving force of politics, entertainment, and art, Bismuth favors a radical economy of means.
Faced with this amplification of affects, which favors immediate reactions over critical
reflection, he adopts a form of distance, achieved both through the sobriety of his
interventions and through the use of humor, conceived as both a shield and a revealer.
Indeed, rejecting any dogmatic or didactic stance, his work questions the mechanisms of
cognitive capitalism without reproducing its activist codes. Humor, often used as a strategy
of concealment, plays a paradoxical role here: while masking the critique, it also becomes its
instrument, unsettling what seems self-evident and opening up the possibility of a new gaze
upon the imperatives of cultural industries.

In 2005, Bismuth received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay alongside
Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).
He made his directorial debut in 2016 with the feature film Where is Rocky II?, which won
several awards at international festivals.
Bismuth’s work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, including at the Centre
Pompidou (Paris), Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna), Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Queensland Art
Gallery (Brisbane), CAC Vilnius, and Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam (formerly Witte de
With).

Malak Helmy is an artist and writer based in Cairo. Spanning a variety of media, her practice
traces changing relationships between nature, technology, and perception during minor
historical events. Her practice over the last decade has been thinking through the time and
space that opens during ruptures in semiotic frameworks (after a crisis), and the erotics,
ethics, group and material choreographies that arise in that gap—how to transcribe, translate
and work with that knowledge has been her area of study.

She has exhibited and published widely, most recently she is the editor/curator of Software
Upgrade (2023) with Gypsum Gallery/Books; a contributing author to the anthology I Hear a
Future: Producing Time and Meaning Through Music in Egypt and Beyond (2022), published
by Mada Masr; curator of Medrar’s Cairo Video Festival 10’s program A Former Shadow of
Myself (2021), and co-curator of Meeting Points 8: Both Sides of the Curtain (2015-17)
produced by Mophradat. Her current project …one more time (but with conviction). (2025) on
tuning practices, mental images and modes of address was most recently supported by a
residency with ProHelvetia.

Tarek Atoui is an artist and electroacoustic composer, working within the realm of sound
performance and composition. He engineers complex and inventive instruments as well as
arranges and curates interventions, concerts, performances, and workshops. His work often
revolves around large-scale, collaborative performances that develop from extensive research
into music history and instrumentation, while exploring new methods of production. Using
custom-built electronic instruments and computers, Atoui references current social and
political realities, revealing music and new technologies as powerful aspects of expression
and identity. Education and social connection are also integral aspects of Atoui’s practice.
He has exhibited at numerous major institutions such as Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan
(2025); TBA21, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Madrid (2025); Kunsthaus Bregenz
(KUB), Bregenz (2024); Cukrana Gallery, Ljubjana (2024); S.M.A.K, Ghent (2024); IAC,
Villeurbanne (2023); MCA, Sydney (2023); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2022); Fondation
Serralves, Porto (2022); The Contemporary Austin, Austin, Texas (2022); the FLAG Art
Foundation, New York (2022); the Fridericianum, Kassel (2020); Sharjah Art Foundation,
Sharjah (2020); NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (2018); Fondation Serralves,
Porto (2018); Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (2017); Bergen Assembly (2016; Tate Modern,
London (2016); Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (2015); Fondation Louis
Vuitton, Paris (2014 and 2015).
Important group exhibitions also include the 17th Istanbul Biennial (2022); Bourse du
Commerce – Pinault Collection, Paris (2021); 13th Gwangju Biennial, South Korea (2021);
the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2019); the 58th International Art Exhibition, Venice
Biennial (2019); Schirn Kunsthalle, Francfort (2019); Garage Museum of Contemporary Art,
Moscow (2018); Para Site, Hong Kong (2017); Fondazione Prada, Ca’ Corner della Regina,
Venice (2014); dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel (2012); Performa 11, New York (2011); New
Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2010); the Ninth Sharjah Biennial (2009); the
Mediacity Biennial, Seoul (2010); Haus Der Kunst, Munich (2010).
Tarek Atoui’s works have joined the collections of the Solomon R.Guggenheim Museum,
New York; LUMA Foundation, Zurich; Pinault Collection, Paris; Tate Modern, London;
Nouveau Musée de Monaco, Monaco; IAC, Villeurbanne; Serralves Museum, Porto; Sharjah
Art Foundation, Sharjah;  The Saradar Collection, Mar Chayia and the CNAP, Paris.

I’ve been living in an orchard for the past 14 months, away from the city for the first time in my 41 years of growing, learning and weaving a web of urban friends and projects. Coming into the city has become a deliberate decision. I have become more mindful of how I bring myself, my contribution and what nourishes me. Sometimes my visits are about my software engineering professional experience and entrepreneurship, sometimes they are about culture and art, but most of the time I come back for education, caring and living in common. People introduce me most often as an environmental activist, but I consider myself an activist of conviviality looking towards the future with hope and trust that our collective intelligence and diversity are our best survival strategy.

Diana Marincu is curator and art critic, Artistic Director of the Art Encounters Foundation Timișoara, member of AICA and IKT. She received her PhD at the Bucharest National University of Arts in 2017, at the Art History and Theory department, with a research on the curatorial discourses about identity and From 2012 to 2018 she worked with the Plan B Foundation from Cluj and with the Paintbrush Factory. Between 2015-2017 she co-curated with Anca Verona Mihuleț the project in six parts The White Dot and The Black Cube, The National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest. 

In 2017, Diana Marincu curated with Ami Barak, the second edition of the Art Encounters Biennial in Timișoara, Life: A User’s Manual, that introduced a few themed chapters inspired by the novel referenced by the title of the edition, with more than 100 invited artists. In addition to the main exhibitions, the two curators dedicated a complementary section to the independent art spaces in Romania. In the framework of the Romania-France Cultural Season 2018-2019, she curated two exhibitions in France, accompanied by catalogues: Persona, MUCEM – Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, Marsilia (2019); Manufacturing Nature / Naturalizing the Synthetic, Frac des Pays de la Loire (2018).

Within the programs created for Art Encounters Foundation, Diana Marincu aims to strengthen the link between the regional artistic scenes, to establish artistic connections based on co-production, and to support the young generation of artists. 

Corina Bucea is a cultural manager with experience in project coordination, artistic production, cultural policies, and cultural mediation. She is the cultural development director at Cluj Cultural Centre, where she coordinates, since 2018, The Academy of Change, a programme dedicated to increasing the capacity of the cultural sector. She was one of the founding members of the contemporary art space The Paintbrush Factory (2009), where she worked as a manager in the first years of activity. She coordinated or collaborated with various projects representing Romania at the Venice Art and Architecture Biennale (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022). Between 2021 and 2023, she was part of the Timișoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture’s curatorial team as an education, mediation and Power Station strategy expert.

Tevž Logar (1979) works as an independent curator, editor and author. He has curated or co- curated a number of group and solo exhibitions and collaborated with institutions, galleries, collections and publishers, such as: Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Łódź; Moderna galerija, Ljubljana; The Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Kunsthalle Praha; TBA21,  Vienna; The Ovidiu Șandor Collection, Timișoara; Kunsthalle, Bratislava; Biennial of Graphic Arts,  Ljubljana; Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka; Ludwig Museum, Budapest; James  Gallery, New York; VOX, Montreal; Cooper Gallery, Dundee; American University Beirut; CAC  Geneve; Kontakt Collection, Vienna; National Gallery of Kosovo; Galerija Gregor Podnar;  Suprainfinit, Bucharest; Mousse Publishing, Milan; Routledge, New York; and Artforum, New  York. For the 55th Venice Biennial (2013) he worked as a curator of the Slovenian pavilion, while  for the 58th Venice Biennial (2019), he worked with the Pavilion of Republic of North Macedonia  as curatorial consultant and the Pavilion of Republic of Kosovo as a writer. From 2009 to 2014,  he was the artistic director of the Škuc Gallery in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and a lecturer in 20th  

Century Art History at the Academy of Visual Arts (AVA) in the same city. He was the  screenwriter of the full-length documentary Project Cancer: Ulay’s journal from November to  November (2013) and is a co-founder of the Ulay Foundation (2014) in Amsterdam, where he  now sits as a member of the Advisory Board. Since 2023 he acts as a president of the acquisition  board of NLB Bank SEE Collectionin Ljubljana, Slovenia. In 2014, he was nominated for the Gerrit  Lansing Independent Vision Award (Independent Curators International) in New York. He lives in  Rijeka, Croatia.

Ami Barak is an independent curator based in France. He has initiated numerous projects and exhibitions in France and abroad and has published numerous texts in the press and in catalogues. He was co-curator of the Romanian pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2011, co-curator of Life A user’s manual, Art Encounters Biennale Timisoara 2017 and curator of What Does the Image Stand For? Momenta, Biennale of Contemporary Image, Montreal, Canada and of Daegu Photo Biennale, South Korea in 2018, Ex-East, past and recent histories of the Romanian avant-garde, Espace Niemeyer, Paris 2019, Curated_by A causal loop, Charim Gallery Vienna, 2019, Mythos & Logos – Jecza Gallery Paris Photo, 2023, Diasporic, Cluj-Napoca, Centrul de Interes, 2023, Gardening lessons – 10 Tips for an organic garden, Casa Isho Art Encounters Timisoara 2024, Mimosa Echard, Sporal, Comenduirea Garnizoanei, Timișoara, 2024, Julije Knifer – Meanders without bonds, Casa Isho Art Encounters Timisoara 2024

Currently Artistic director (by interim) Art Encounters Foundation, Timisoara, Romania.

Former president of IKT – International Association of Contemporary Art Curators.

Raimundas Malašauskas has co-written an opera libretto (Cellar Door by Loris Greaud, Palais de Tokyo, 2008), co-produced a television show (CAC TV, Vilnius, 2004 – 2006), served as an agent for dOCUMENTA (13), released Paper Exhibition, the book of his selected writings (Sternberg Press, 2012), co-curated 9th Baltic Triennial of International Art (Vilnius, 2005), 9th Mercosul Biennal (Porto Alegre, 2013) and 9th Liverpool Biennale (2017). Another recent project was trust & confusion, an eight month long live art exhibition at Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2021). From 1994 – 2006 he worked as a curator at The Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius. Following his departure from CAC Vilnius he curated various projects worldwide: The Last Piece by John Fare (gb agency, Paris, 2007), Paper Exhibition (Artists Space, New York, 2009), Repetition Island, Centre Pompidou (2010), Into The Belly of a Dove (Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, 2010), Satellite Series 4 (Jeu de Paume, Paris, 2011), oO, the Lithuanian and Cyprus pavilions at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013), Fusiform Gyrus (Lisson Gallery, London, 2013), Meeting Points 8 (Brussels, Beirut, Cairo, 2016 – 2017), On Campus (Monash University, Melbourne, 2017), Rosalind Nashashibi, a solo show at Melly (Rotterdam, 2018). etc. Hypnotic Show has been his longest-lasting project (from 2008 on), an exhibition that takes place through hypnosis. The Clifford Irving Show dealt with notions of truth, identities and play — it lasted for 2 years: 2008 – 2010.

Marie Hélène Pereira is a curator and cultural practitioner from Dakar, Senegal. She was Director of Programs at RAW Material Company where she organized exhibitions and related discursive programs including the participation of RAW to “We face forward: Art from West Africa Today” Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; ICI Curatorial Hub at TEMP, New York; The 9th Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai; MARKER Art Dubai (2013).

She co-curated Scattered Seeds in Cali-Colombia (2015-2017) and curated Battling to normalize freedom at Clarkhouse Initiative in Mumbai, India (2017). Pereira was a co-curator of Canine Wisdom for the Barking Dog – The Dog Done Gone Deaf. Exploring The Sonic Cosmologies of Halim El-Dabh at the 13th edition of Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African art (2018), as well as Still Present! – the 12th edition of Berlin Biennale (2022).

In 2021 she was selected as a recipient of the ICI Curatorial Research Fellowship – a Marian Goodman Gallery initiative conceived by artist Steve McQueen – in honor of the late Okwui Enwezor.

Pereira has a strong interest in politics of identity and histories of migration.  

Ioana Leca is a curator and cultural strategist, currently active as Artistic Director of Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (GIBCA), where she is looking into testing possibilities for the biennial format to closely respond to its site and be a generous experimentation platform for artists and curators. Recent projects include the editions in 2017, 2019 and 2021 of the biennial, together with curators Nav Haq and Lisa Rosendahl, a series of public programmes on remembrance and memorialization in public space and in public discourse, as well as the contribution to the publication Biennials as Sites of Historical Narration (Mousse Publishing, 2022).

Curator, producer and cultural strategist, she was previously Director of NAU Gallery in Stockholm, and programmer at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Stockholm. Together with Hanna Lundborg she founded the nomadic curatorial platform Konstkontoret.

From from 2018 to 2023, Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy (she/her) was director of Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam, the institution formerly known as Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art. In 2023, she was also a Mellon Visiting Lecturer in the Art History Department at CUNY Graduate Center in New York. Sofía regularly participates in jury panels and advisory committees. Among these are the 2023 Frieze Tate Acquisition Fund in London, the 2018 Hugo Boss Prize at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award in 2017, and the 55th Venice Biennial in 2013. Since 2022, she is a board member of International Manifesta Foundation.

Previously, Sofía was the curator of contemporary art at Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, a foundation with offices in New York and Caracas. She has also been director at Museo Tamayo in Mexico City; held curatorial positions in New York at Art in General and Americas Society; and worked as the artistic director and chief curator of the 9a Bienal do Mercosul (2013) in Porto Alegre. Additionally, Sofía has guest-curated exhibitions at several spaces and museums internationally, including CCA in Vilnius, Kadist Art Foundation in Paris, and MALBA in Buenos Aires.

Sofía was born and raised in Baja California, Mexico.

Cosmin Costinas (b. 1982, Romania) is the Senior Curator of Exhibition Practices at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, HKW, Berlin (since 2022). He was co-Artistic Director of the 24th Biennale of Sydney (2024); Director of Para Site, Hong Kong (2011–22); Artistic Director of Kathmandu Triennale 2077 (2022); co-curator of the Romanian Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale (2022); Curatorial Adviser of the Aichi Triennale (2022); Curator of Dakar Biennale 2018 – La Biennale de l’Art africain contemporain-DAK’ART (2018); Guest Curator at the Dhaka Art Summit (2018); Co-curator of the 10th Shanghai Biennale (2014); Curator of BAK – basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht (2008–11); Co-curator of the 1st Ural Industrial Biennial, Ekaterinburg (2010); and Editor of documenta 12 magazines, Vienna/Kassel (2005–07), among others. He has edited and contributed his writing to numerous books, magazines, and exhibition catalogues and has taught and lectured at different universities, art academies, and institutions across the world. 

Robertina Šebjanič (robertina.net)  is an artist whose work explores the biological, geo-political and cultural realities of aquatic environments and the impact of humanity on other organisms. In her analysis of the Anthropocene and its theoretical framework, the artist uses the terms “aquatocene” and “aquaforming” to refer to the human impact on aquatic environments. Her works received award, honorary mentions  and nominations at Prix Ars Electronica, Starts Prize, Falling Walls., Re:humansm.

 She exhibited/performed at solo and group exhibitions as well as in galleries and festivals, biennales, triennials, and museums (selection): ZKM (Karlsruhe), CCCB (Barcelona), ISEA2024 (Brisbane), Gallery Cukrarna (Ljubljana), Matadero (Madrid), WRO Bienalle (Wroclaw), Ars Electronica (Linz), Tribeca Immersive – Mercer lab (New York), Art Laboratory (Berlin), Eastern Bloc (Montreal), Laboratorio Arte Alameda (Ciudad de Mexico), MSU – Museum of Contemporary Art (Zagreb), MSUB – The Museum of Contemporary Art (Belgrade), MONOM (Berlin), La Gaîté Lyrique (Paris), Le Cube (Paris), +MSUM Museum of Contemporary Art (Ljubljana), Eyebeam (New York), Kikk Festival (Namur), CAAM – Atlantic Center of Modern Art (Grand Canaria) CCD – Centro de Cultura Digital (Ciudad de Mexico) re:publica (Berlin), a.o…

She lectured / talked / presented her works at events/venues (selection): Ocean Space – TBA21 (Venice), Stanford University (Palo Alto), UCLA- ArtiSci Center  (Los Angeles), UNAM – The National Autonomous University of Mexico  (Mexico City), ISEA2023 (Paris), Mare Conference (Amsterdam), Kikk Festival (Namur), ITMO University (St. Petersburg), Aalborg University (Aalborg), School of Arts – University of Nova Gorica (Nova Gorica), Re:publica (Berlin) a.o.

Loredana Peca is a researcher with 20 years of experience in molecular biology and training in genetic counseling. Passionate about spirituality, Dana is also a yoga instructor. The Covid-19 pandemic inspired her to spend more time in nature, organizing guided tours around Cluj, where she lives. These tours often include specialists from various fields, such as botanists, entomologists, and ecologists. Additionally, Dana works at a Montessori school, leads outdoor yoga classes, and explores the beneficial effects of spending time in nature on overall well-being.

Irina is part of the Academia Schimbării team, the platform of the Cluj Cultural Center aimed at enhancing the capacity of the cultural sector. She has experience in brand management and cultural communication, working with museums, art galleries, and publishing houses. Irina founded a Contemporary Art Circle at the high school in Târgu Ocna in collaboration with Asociația 37, where for 6 years she brought contemporary artists and designers, partnering with organizations like The Bauhaus Archive, the Museum of Design in Berlin, and the “Support Culture in Education” platform. She is convinced of the importance of cultural mediation, experimenting with various forms alongside the team at Asociația Da’ De Ce.

She is interested in creating consistent and easily accessible funding mechanisms for artists and cultural operators, as well as fostering long-term collaborations between cultural, educational institutions, and NGOs. She writes projects with the same passion she brings to fieldwork.

Bogdan became an activist when he realized that the current model of development (extractivist, productivist, consumerist, speculative) is pushing the ecological limits of the planet and placing human society on a “trajectory of overshoot-collapse.” He declares that he is convinced that the destruction of ecosystems, the extinction of biodiversity, the disruption of the climate system, and the depletion of natural resources (water, forests, soils) will transform social progress, cultural evolution, and democracy into illusory aspirations for humanity.

Therefore, he sees himself as a partner to all those seeking an alternative, sustainable, and resilient development culture that can respond to the real and legitimate needs of societies without compromising the “livability” of the planet.

Gavril Pop (born 1998) is an artist and cultural worker from Timișoara, Romania. He is interested in visualizing cognitive processes and knowledge formation practices. He is engaged in working with diverse audiences and researching archives and marginal histories. Together with various cultural organizations, he develops educational programs in the field of visual arts and natural sciences. As an artist, he has collaborated with independent spaces and other artistic platforms such as INDECIS, Kunsthalle Bega, Art Encounters Foundation (Timișoara), Galeria IVAN, Institutul Prezentului (Bucharest), and Niki e.v (Hannover).

Corina Bucea is a cultural manager with experience in project coordination, artistic production, cultural policies, and cultural mediation. She is the Director of Cultural Development at the Cluj Cultural Center, where, since 2018, she has been coordinating the Change Academy program, dedicated to increasing the capacity of the cultural sector. She was one of the founding members of the contemporary art space Fabrica de Pensule (2009), where she worked as a manager during its early years. She has coordinated or collaborated with various projects representing Romania at the Venice Biennale of Art and Architecture (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022). Between 2021 and 2023, she was part of the curatorial team for Timișoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture, as an expert in education and mediation & Power Station strategy.

Mimi Ciora is an artist and cultural operator with a multidimensional vision of art and education. A graduate of a master’s program in visual arts, specializing in Graphic – Material and Concept, at the Faculty of Art and Design in Timișoara, Mimi co-founded the independent artistic space Indecis in 2020, where she takes on the role of cultural manager.

Indecis is a creative, non-profit, and non-hierarchical refuge dedicated to promoting contemporary art and supporting artists from various fields, alongside implementing non-formal educational programs. Mimi’s artistic practice focuses on the delicate interactions between flora, fauna, fungi, and bacteria in relation to humans, highlighting the impact of human intervention on the environment and underscoring the subtle connections that unite us.

A graduate of the Faculty of Organic Chemistry at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, the first part of her career focused on research, during which she also obtained the title of Doctor in synthetic organic chemistry. For the past 14 years, she have dedicated herself to the non-governmental sector. As the executive director and vice president of the Tandem Association and the C.S. Tandem Arena Association, she have designed and led over 15 social projects aimed at promoting the inclusion of vulnerable groups in society. In these projects, she have worked with and for visually impaired individuals, developing inclusive projects through art (theater and dance) and education, and creating audio and tactile materials accessible to both children and adults. During this time, she have gained extensive experience in interacting with blind individuals, establishing effective and empathetic communication with them, and understanding their needs and expectations.

Bianca Băilă is a grant manager and communications officer for Ştiinţescu Timișoara, a funding program developed in Timișoara and managed by the Timișoara Community Foundation since 2018. She is also a communications officer for the largest philanthropic fundraising event with a sports component in the western part of the country, Timotion – Timișoara Moves! An artist and urban gardener, Bianca views grant management as a laboratory with plenty of room for creativity, where connections are made between material resources and knowledge, and where courage is instilled where it is most needed to create positive change in education and for communities.

Marlene Herberth is an anthropologist and memory archivist. She showcases affective associations in projects aimed at disseminating ancient wisdom in contemporary culture while highlighting contemporary societal issues. Herberth works as a cultural producer and imagineer, curating interdisciplinary exhibitions at the intersection of craft, art, design, and architecture. Together with Alex Herberth, they are the creators of KraftMade Research & Lab, utilizing heritage techniques as a potential framework for a regenerative future. Focusing on woodworking, food, and textiles in restoration projects, historical reconstruction, performative objects, and storytelling mediums, she offers workshops and cultural sustainability experiences in rural Transylvania and internationally.

Eva Stein is an educator and curator. She studied German literature and journalism at Freie Universität Berlin and has been working at HKW since 1990. She was the initiator of the HKW programs Future Storytelling, 2014, and The Whole Earth Catalogue, Berlin Edition, 2013; editor-in-chief of Kultur öffnet Welten or Kompetenzverbund kulturelle Integration und Wissenstransfer (KIWit); director of three editions of Schools of Tomorrow, 2017-21; and co-curator of Reading Bodies!, 2019.

Tibor Hartel is a researcher at Babeș-Bolyai University, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering. Professionally trained as an ecologist, his research focuses on population and community ecology, landscape ecology, and biodiversity conservation. He initiated the ‘Remarkable Trees of Romania’ project, which culminated in a database of ancient trees in Romania and Law 97/2023 for the protection of Remarkable Trees in Romania. He has been among the top 2% of cited scientists in the world (2020, 2021, according to ‘Stanford University & Elsevier’). Recently, he launched a YouTube channel titled ‘Nature and People with Tibi Hartel,’ where he popularizes the science he practices.

Orsolya Gál has a background in architecture, fine arts, scenography, and puppetry. She is the co-author of the Selfie Automaton project, which represented Romania at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016. In 2018, her video performance Short Essay on Uncertainty received a special award for image and sound design at the Incanti Festival in Turin. In 2014, she began an experimental project with moving plants, which materialized in the short film Etudes from an Inner Garden. Her recent projects focus on human relationships with the natural and material environment.

Maria Balabaș is a radio broadcaster at Radio România Cultural, a sound artist, and currently a PhD student at CESI focusing on ways of listening. She is a co-founder of the MINIMORUM Association, which initiates projects dedicated to the intersections of performing arts, ecology, and education.

Raluca Iacob is a cultural manager and public policy specialist with over 15 years of experience in cultural project management, monitoring and evaluation, strategies, analysis, and guiding cultural practices and policies. Since 2013, she has been involved in supporting partnerships between schools and cultural actors and in cultural mediation through consultancy, coordination of dedicated projects, conducting analyses, and documenting practices and policies. In 2023, she contributes to the design of the Creative Schools funding program, managed by the Timișoara Municipality Project Center, with which she has been collaborating since July 2022 as the coordinator of monitoring and evaluation processes for the Timișoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture program.

In the past 15 years, Sabina has been involved as a cultural manager and communicator in numerous projects within the creative industries: she worked in PR at Green Hours and the Jazz in Church festival, coordinated the ShortsUP short film festival and the film education projects One World in Schools and EducaTIFF, founded Romania’s first material library and a regional creative industries festival (CreativeEst), and was involved as an independent expert in the development of Bucharest’s cultural strategy 2016 – 2026.

For some time now, she has been super interested in generating conversations about the climate crisis through cultural projects. The coolest initiative on this topic is CULMEA: an environmental film festival for children and young people in Brașov, Romania, which reached its second edition this year.

Alina Teodorescu studied Art & Business in contemporary art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London, interior design at the European Institute of Design in Milan, and interior architecture and furniture design at Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest. She has participated in art and design projects in countries such as Mongolia, France, Thailand, China, England, Israel, Lebanon, Brazil, India, and Greece.

Initiated in 2017, In Context (www.incontext.art) is today a transdisciplinary learning laboratory through art and science as complementary ways of exploring the world. Here, projects have been developed in parallel, including contemporary art residency projects on themes related to the impact of humans on nature (generating a permanent international collection of 36 works), an experimental music festival (two editions), a permanent upcycling workshop for fabrics and furniture (www.lacentrala.com), and two of the resort’s abandoned buildings were converted into creative spaces.

Corina Bucea is a cultural manager with experience in project coordination, artistic production, cultural policies, and cultural mediation. She is the Director of Cultural Development at the Cluj Cultural Center, where, since 2018, she has been coordinating the Change Academy program, dedicated to increasing the capacity of the cultural sector. She was one of the founding members of the contemporary art space Fabrica de Pensule (2009), where she worked as a manager during its early years. She has coordinated or collaborated with various projects representing Romania at the Venice Biennale of Art and Architecture (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022). Between 2021 and 2023, she was part of the curatorial team for Timișoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture, as an expert in education and mediation & Power Station strategy.