Biographies

Mihaela Drăgan (b. 1986) is an actress and playwright who lives and works in Bucharest. Her performances focus on the connection between theatre, Roma identity and social justice. In 2014, she founded Giuvlipen Theatre Company, together with other Roma actresses. She studied acting and collaborated over the years with Logos Theatre and Theatre for Few in projects that focused on expressionism, eurythmics and acrobatics. Giuvlipen’s performances in which she performs have a feminist agenda and are speaking about Roma women: Del Duma: Tell Them About Me (four real stories of Roma women facing early marriage), Sara Kali: The Dark Madonna (invocation of the Roma saint Sara Kali against anti-gypsyist hate speech), Razzing (about evictions of Roma people in Bucharest, written and performed together with evicted Roma women), Gadjo Dildo (about the hypersexualization of Roma women by non-Roma men, heteronormativity and sexuality issues in Roma communities) and Iovan (about traditional Roma families, arranged marriages and the desire of young Roma women). In 2015 she played in the feature film Aferim directed by Radu Jude, Silver Bear-winning film for directing at the Berlin International Film Festival. Her last theatre show, The Journey/Drom is co- produced by GORKI Theater Studio Я, Berlin (2016). She is nominated for the 2017 The Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award from New York which acknowledges the exceptional work of theatre women around the world.

Nona Inescu (b.1991, Bucharest, Romania). After studying at the Chelsea College of Art & Design in London (2009-2010) and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (2010-2011), Nona Inescu completed her studies in the summer of 2016 at the National University of Arts in Bucharest (Photography and Video Department). Her art practice is interdisciplinary and encompasses works that incorporate poetic and historical references. Recent solo exhibitions include: Her latent image, Kube Musette, Bucharest (2016); Hands don’t make magic, Sabot, Cluj-Napoca (2015). Her work has also been included in group exhibitions including: Gestures of Tomorrow, Kunstverein Nürnberg – Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft (2016); Künstlich, natürlich!, Sabot, Cluj-Napoca (2016); Events without a cause (II), part of Biennial of Contemporary Photography and Dynamic Image “Camera Plus”, Iasi (2016); Objects of Desire, Sabot, (2015); Megatron, Romanian Cultural Institute, Vienna (2015).

Veda Popovici (b. 1986) works as a political artist, engaged theoretician and local activist. Her interests permeate these fields of action focusing on interventions in the politics of representation of collective identities, decolonial and feminist practices and the possibilities of creating the common. Her political work develops on local urban struggles and communitarian organizing of life and work. Recently, she finished her PhD thesis on nationalism in Romanian art of the 70s and 80s and held a course on decoloniality in the Romanian context, both at the National University of Arts in Bucharest. She lives and works in Bucharest.

Mircea Nicolae (b. 1980) has developed a body of work researching the economical and socio-political structure of Bucharest. Through anonymous interventions in public space, he reflects on the social consequences of consumption, urban legislation and architectural production. In his latest work, Nicolae investigates the urban identity of a city in constant cultural and economic shift either by bringing outside public space inside the museum, or through means of serial photography produced with the help of a large format camera. He was awarded the Special Prize and the People’s Choice Prize at the Future Generation Art Prize in 2010. Recent group shows include Pink Caviar at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek and One Sixth of the Earth: Ecologies of Image at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Leon. In 2011, he exhibited during the 54th Venice Biennial.