On Thursday, May 26, a new season of exhibitions was opened at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC).
MNAC launched the new season with seven new exhibitions dedicated to Tiong Ang, Marion Baruch, Cătălin Bălescu, Maria Mandea, Vasile Mureșan-Murivale and Elena Scutaru.

Tiong Ang & Company: “The Second Hands“
Concept and execution: Tiong Ang
Curator: Henk Slager
Architecture: Andrés Novo

In the parking lot and archive space of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Tiong Ang & Company presents The Second Hands, “a performative and collaborative investigation based on the turbulence of physical exchange and mutual discomfort, as a journey across European borders, a tribute to freedom of movement and resistance through a complex social constellation of different artistic perspectives.” (Tiong Ang)

Tiong Ang was born in 1961 in Surabaya, Indonesia, but grew up in the Netherlands. Initially, he did painting, and from the mid-90s Tiong Ang expanded his artistic practice, including experimental film, video, installations, and collective performances. Recurring themes are centered on the influence of mass and digital media on individual and collective memory, and the anxieties caused by globalization. His works have been shown in important international exhibitions, including at the 2001 Venice Biennale. He currently lives and works in Amsterdam.

Marion BARUCH: ”Endless going trying to say”
Curator: Noah Stolz

On the ground floor and in the Marble Hall can be visited an ample retrospective dedicated to Marion Baruch, a nonagenarian artist who was recently rediscovered by the international artistic environment and brought back to the public’s attention through a series of retrospectives organized at important museums in France, Italy, and Israel. With a diverse artistic practice from painting to sculpture and installations, Marion Baruch’s art is constantly pointed towards the future.

Born in 1929, in Timisoara, Marion Baruch emigrated to Israel in 1949, where she continued her studies in painting at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. She settled in Italy in 1957, after three years of study at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. She currently lives in Gallarate, Italy, and continues to be active, focusing mainly on textile installations.

“LEVIATHAN. În măruntaiele Colecției/ LEVIATHAN. In the Gut of the Collection”
Concept: Calin Dan
Curated by: Irina Radu
Architecture: Raluca Vişinescu & Ioana Marin

The museum’s deposit opens to the general public who now have the opportunity to step into a sacred space, usually reserved for specialists, and discover the eclectic art collection inherited by the museum. For 6 months a series of conferences and educational workshops for adults and children will be organized in this space. The art deposit can be visited at the second floor.

Cătălin BĂLESCU: “Proiecții Manieriste/Mannierist Projections“
Curator: Calin Dan
Assistant Curator: Nicoleta Coman

The exhibition ” Proiecții Manieriste” reflects the relationship developed over time by the artist Cătălin Bălescu with Mannerism, an important artistic current in the history of art. In the Cătălin Bălescu ‘s vision, postmodernism is a new form of manifestation of Mannerism. Initially, Mannerism was interpreted as a fracture with the ideals of harmony promoted in the Renaissance. Today, however, Mannerism is presented as a continuation of the searches and achievements of representative artists of the Renaissance. The exhibition can be visited at the third floor.

Cătălin Bălescu (b.1962) is a visual artist, UAP member, and professor at the National University of Arts Bucharest, painting department where, since 2012, he holds the position of rector. He has participated in numerous exhibitions in the country and abroad, the most recent of which are: Mannerism – Ilfoveanu-Badea Foundation, Pitesti (2020), Mannerism as a State – Art Museum of Craiova (2018), Studies for Mannerism – Timisoara Art Museum (2016), Memory and Dream – 6th, International Biennale Beijing, China (2015).

Elena SCUTARU: “Temporary shelter“
Curator: Alexandru Oberländer–Târnoveanu

On the 4th floor of the museum is shown the installation “Temporary shelter”, created by the artist Elena Scutaru for MNAC. The work, a product of continuous explorations during the pandemic, reveals to the viewer a timeless landscape populated with primitive forms of shelter, with totemic figures and archetypes of femininity made from organic matter and materials, revealing the artist’s constant interest in ecology.

Born in 1964 in Galați, Elena Scutaru studied sculpture at the National University of Arts in Bucharest, where she is currently a teacher (lecturer univ. dr.). She has participated in numerous artistic residencies and group exhibitions both in the country and abroad. Her artistic practice spans a wide array of media from sculpture, and painting, to collage, assemblage, installation, photography, and drawing.

Maria MANDEA: “Rousseau Game“
Curator: Maria Mandea

In the Auditorium Hall, located on the 4th floor of the museum, the artist Maria Mandea welcomes visitors with a game installation inspired by a quote from the book Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Mankind, written by the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

«The first man, who after enclosing a piece of ground, took it into his head to say this is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. How many crimes, how many wars, how many murders, how many misfortunes and horrors, would that man have saved the human species, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, “Beware of listening to this impostor; you are lost, if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.” »

(Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Mankind, Part Two)

Maria Mandea (b. 1991) is an artist and designer. In 2017 she graduated from the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism, Product design Department, and is currently researching playful design at the Doctoral School at UNArte Bucharest. She is the co-founder of Super Serios design studio (2017) and Știrbei47, a participatory art space (2021). She has participated in national and international festivals such as Romanian Design Week 2019, 2020, and Timisoara Architecture Biennale 2020.

Vasile Mureșan-MURIVALE: “Marinică, băiatul meu/ Marinică, My boy”
Curator: Mălina Ionescu

The artist Vasile Mureșan-Murivale proposes a site-specific intervention consisting of 400 portraits of his friend, Marian (recently disappeared), along with the portraits of the museum team. Portraiture remains a constant in his artistic practice. The installation can be seen on the western scale of the museum.

Vasile Mureșan-Murivale (b. 1957, Arcalia) is a painter and member of the Union of Fine Artists of Romania. Over time he received numerous awards and exhibited both locally and abroad. He is appreciated and loved by the Romanian artistic environment, and his works can be found in private collections and museums in Bucharest and in the country.

Most of the exhibitions can be visited until September 25. To check the duration of each exhibition we recommend to access the official page of the museum: https://www.mnac.ro/home

Location: Izvor Street, no. 2-4, Palace of Parliament, Wing E4, Bucharest, Romania.