With a humanist background, Sorina Jecza is one of Romania’s most important cultural actors. Sorina Jecza has built a remarkable cultural network in Timișoara, with solid development directions, consisting of the Jecza House, the Triade Foundation and the Jecza Gallery, which have become landmarks in the cultural world. She initiated and coordinated more than 200 art exhibitions. Under the auspices of the Interart Triade Foundation, she edited and published, as editor, author or co-author, an impressive number of art catalogs, albums, monographs, literature books, and literary and art history books.

Angela Izvercian: You have spent over 20 years in the service of culture, during which time you have built a remarkable cultural network with solid development directions, comprising Jecza House, the Triade Foundation, and Jecza Gallery, which have become benchmarks in the cultural scene. It is truly an achievement. How would you describe this journey, the fruit of your devotion, consistency, and tenacity?

Sorina Jecza: The “cultural network” you mentioned was, for me, only a stable ground I wanted for myself, one as stable as possible. Perhaps it has to do with my character, the earth sign I was born under: I always need a stable zone from which, if I have a reason, I can then detach, fly as far away as I want…

Besides that, my life has been built organically, without significant constraints, feeling my way through intuitively, following the natural course of the moment, the best course of each moment, after careful consideration. It is a philosophy that was not driven by a tremendous anticipatory project but instead acted out in small steps taken one at a time. Like a woman who knows when to let the turnips dry in the sun by looking at the sky. If she sees storm clouds, she adjusts her plan. That is how my life was adjusted. I think I measure time in stages: I do something, I become involved in it with all my energy, I jump in, after which I need to withdraw. I evaluate. I draw lines, recover, and gather my strength to do it all over again… I cannot jump in, however, without making sure that I have firm, stable ground under my feet. I measure, calculate, weigh, and then, if I have a goal before me, nothing can stand in my way. I can move mountains.

The journey that traced my life’s path had only a few rules: the first was equal, constant, continuous labor, like “the movement of stars in the sky,” as Peter Jecza used to say. Without slacking off, without thinking about success for a moment, and instead doing what you know best as you know best… This way, my achievements began piling up, and my “cultural network” grew larger: the house, the Triade Foundation, and Jecza Gallery… And more: a publishing house with over 200 books, the sculpture park, and now the museum.

Together with work, there was another very important thing: my ability to give, to be able to share, to do something for others… Nothing is too much or too hard. This “calling,” however, had to come without a reason, a need, a feeling. Most reliably: love. I built with love, for I knew how to fight, give, and do. Love underlies everything I have done so far. Lover, husband, child, people around me that I felt I could help.

That is how I have always built things out of love, sharing it with others…

It has been over twenty years since Jecza House has been open to all who cross its threshold. It is nice that Jecza House has remained a space with soul, not a cold institution maintained through its functions all this time. Jecza House is still an inhabited, living, vibrant, animated space that reveals its soul as only a house can. That is what I started over 20 years ago, together with Peter Jecza. And those of us who remained at the house continue to give. It sounds quite idealistic, but it is true: beyond pragmatism, beyond any concept of efficiency, it must remain an ideal. The rest will follow as long as the house maintains its constructive force. Whether easily or with some difficulty, it will follow. “Like stars in the sky”…

A.I.: What motivated you when your projects stagnated or did not go in your desired direction?

S.J.: What motivated me when facing such obstacles? It might seem paradoxical, but fear has always been a suitable catalyst for me. The fear that you will not reach the end. The fear that you will not succeed, that you are alone on the path you chose, and the wolves might gobble you up… The greater the fear, the more active the inner resources you mobilize. And then you come up with new solutions. Thus, by encountering obstacles, you push your limits farther. You take a step forward. Only at the end, looking back, do you see how far you have come. And then you come to know your strengths. You know you can take on a new journey.*

*The interview can be read in full in the first printed issue of Empower Artists magazine, available for purchase online here, in Cărturești bookstores (physical and online), La Două Bufnițe, META Spațiu and Station Souvenir in Timișoara.