MIRCEA NICOLAE - ALL ALONE
29.01.2025

Salonul de proiecte
Palatul Universul, Corp B, Etaj 1
Actor Ion Brezoianu 23-25, București

Book launch: Wednesday, January 29, 2025 / 18.00

Salonul de proiecte invites you to the launch of the bilingual publication which focuses on Mircea Nicolae / Ionuț Cioană’s artistic practice, while also presenting a variety of texts he had written over the years. Although the division of this artistic practice into categories such as interventions, objects, and photography may appear artificial, it is how he himself categorized his artistic preoccupations, providing a structure that avoids a strictly chronological sequencing (which in his case would have shown its limitations quite quickly). The book’s editors (Alexandra Croitoru, Magda Radu, Ștefan Sava) provide a brief introduction to each section, and the presentations of the artworks are frequently accompanied by the artist’s own explanations, all the more since he constantly analyzed and contextualized his work.

The majority of the essays that follow the section devoted to the artworks have been written by authors who were personally acquainted with Ionuț in different contexts. Anca Oroveanu, the coordinator of his doctoral research, takes the video work entitled How Bread Is Made as a starting point, insisting on the processuality and materiality of Ionuț’s art, which she situates within a theoretical framework that establishes links between artistic and culinary endeavors. Jacob Mikanowski, the only one with an outside perspective, comments a selection of works that he situates against the backdrop of the history of modernity in Eastern Europe, occasionally drawing parallels between them and his own life experiences as well as memories of this region, to which he has a strong attachment. For Veda Popovici, the essay serves as a pretext for bidding farewell to Ionuț, and is interspersed with poetic passages and a subjective reflection on their collaborative projects, characterized by a polemical intensity that makes it impossible to separate the political dimension from affect. Both Raluca Voinea and her virtual double Sharon attempt to evoke the artistic personality of Mircea Nicolae, the former from a more objective professional perspective, while the latter is seeking to access memories and emotions that paradoxically transcend the boundaries of an impersonal entity existing in the digital world. Ștefan Tiron also resorts to a fictional strategy; he imagines a dialogue with a paranoia-stricken Ionuț in which topics of mutual interest are discussed, including reflections on artworks and various episodes from Ionuţ’s artistic activity.

Ionuț Cioană (1980-2020), who worked as an artist under the name Mircea Nicolae, studied Literature at University of Bucharest (1998-2002) and completed an M.A. in the Anthropology of the Sacred Space at the ‘Ion Mincu’ Institute of Architecture and Urbanism (2002-2004). For his Ph.D. at the Bucharest National University of Arts, he was preparing a thesis on artistic work and freedom in the context of the Romanian arts scene between 1944 and 2010. From 2010 to 2020, he produced a series of works showed in various contexts and venues, including Salonul de proiecte, Bucharest (2019); tranzit.ro/ bucurești (2018); Ivan Gallery, Bucharest (2017); Electroputere Gallery, Craiova (2015); Vienna Biennale (2015); Spațiul Platforma, Bucharest (2015); MUSAC, Leon (2012); Pinchuk Art Centre, Kyiv (2011); 32 Edgewood Avenue Gallery, New Haven (2011). His work as a curator included the exhibition Mattis Teutsch. Avant-Garde and Constructive Realism, at the Rezidența BRD Scena9, Bucharest, in collaboration with Szilárd Miklós (2019), and as an art critic he regularly published texts on the Scena9 editorial platform from 2016 to 2020.


Mircea Nicolae — All Alone is published by Salonul de proiecte in partnership with PUNCH, being designed by Larisa Sitar.

Special thanks: Carmen Constantin and Irina Cios, Carmen Constantinescu, Suzana Dan, Anca Drăgoi, Cosmina Frîncu, Radu Leșevschi, Corina Oprea, Anca Oroveanu, Cristiana Tăutu

Editorial project co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund, Romania

This project does not necessarily reflect the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. The Administration of the National Cultural Fund is not responsible for the content of this project or the ways in which the results of this project might be used. These are solely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.

The project is part of the National Cultural Program “Timișoara – European Capital of Culture in 2023” and is funded through the Inside Timișoara 2023 program, conducted by the Timișoara Center for Projects, with funds allocated from the state budget, through the budget of the Ministry of Culture.

With the financial support of: Fundația9

Sponsor: BRD – Groupe Société Générale