The contemporary art scene in Romania has been revitalized by Arsmonitor, a new art gallery that is now celebrating its first anniversary. Established a year ago in one of Bucharest's iconic Soviet-era buildings, originally constructed in the 1950s, Arsmonitor has quickly become a hotspot on the Romanian contemporary art map.
Arsmonitor is a private initiative founded by Mia Munteanu, an entrepreneur in the creative industry and Silviu Pădurariu, an independent curator. The gallery initially launched in 2021, during the pandemic, as an online platform dedicated to archival prints and limited editions. In 2023, Arsmonitor expanded into a physical space of over 2,150 square feet within Casa Presei Libere, now featuring exhibition areas, offices and storage facilities. The gallery takes an unconventional approach, diverging from the gallery model that has dominated Bucharest since the 2000s. On one hand, Arsmonitor engages a diverse audience, drawing from various creative fields. On the other, its exhibitions are the product of close collaboration between curators and artists, with each project critically exploring themes related to visual studies and the phenomenon of the iconic image. Arsmonitor's curatorial program centres on debating the issues of imagery in contemporary times, fostering a dialogue between artists and audiences.
On September 14, Arsmonitor will celebrate one year since its inaugural exhibition. To date, the gallery has hosted six exhibitions, with the seventh marking the beginning of a new exhibition year-a solo show dedicated to one of Romania's most important contemporary artists, Gili Mocanu. Arsmonitor's first exhibition, Abziehbild Unapplied Arts, showcased a curated selection of works by some of the most representative Romanian contemporary artists, charting the evolution of local art over the last 30 years. This exhibition featured key artists from different decades, including Gheorghe Rasovszky, Carmen Rasovszky, Victoria Zidaru and Marian Zidaru from the '80s-'90s; Dumitru Gorzo, Gili Mocanu, Sorin Neamțu and Radu Comșa from the 2000s; and Maxim Liulca and Radu Pandele from the post-2010 period. The exhibition sought to connect iconic images and artists from the '80s to the present, drawing from the contemporary art scenes of Bucharest, Cluj and Timișoara.
The gallery's program continued with a series of duo exhibitions, including Rubin's Vase: Sorin Neamțu and Radu Comșa, Two Gorzo: Ioana Gorzo and Dumitru Gorzo, and Common Body: Magdalena Pelmuș and Bogdan Pelmuș. A solo show titled Sinegrafia was dedicated to the photography of Răzvan Neagoe. Each of these projects has solidified Arsmonitor's position as a leading gallery in Bucharest. Notably, Two Gorzo marked the first joint exhibition of the Gorzo siblings, drawing over 600 visitors to its opening, while Common Body featured one of the largest installations by the artist couple Magdalena and Bogdan Pelmuș.
The current exhibition, Table et Tableau, presents the work of twelve artists: Grațian Gâldău, Dumitru Gorzo, Ioana Gorzo, Teodor Graur, Nicu Ilfoveanu, Gili Mocanu, Răzvan Neagoe, Radu Pandele, Ilie Pavel, Magdalena Pelmuș, Bogdan Pelmuș and Mircea Suciu. This exhibition challenges traditional notions of authorship by showcasing a series of objects selected from the artists' studios. These items, presented as a "living archive," are meant to be touched and explored by the public, contrasting with the typical, untouchable museum archive. The exhibition's title references an idea by Georges Didi-Huberman, where the arrangement on a researcher's desk forms the "tableau" or narrative through which we understand history. Exhibition ends on September 12.
Over the past year, Arsmonitor has also begun managing several estates, including that of Pavel Ilie, a prominent artist of the 1960s-1970s. Ilie had numerous international exhibitions, including at the Nuremberg Biennale in 1969, alongside Group 111, and in Scotland at the Richard Demarco Gallery. He emigrated to Switzerland in 1975, where he became a professor at Collège de Saussure in Geneva and passed away in Canada in 1995.
The new exhibition year at Arsmonitor will continue with a solo show dedicated to Gili Mocanu, a leading figure of the 2000s, scheduled to open on September 19, 2024.
