“And
1 “And somehow, beyond the idea of art, a
Kleiner
Raum für
aktuelles
Nichts
IMPRESSUM
In Conversation II
Berlin, March 2023 Image Vlad Brateanu “Cake, homage to Mircea Nicolae”, 2023
Graphic Design Andrea Ruhland
Funded by Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa Berlin
www.kleiner-raum-fuer-aktuelles-nichts.de
fundamental thing exists, an even greater
stake in this discussion, and a very difficult
one, that is to just live your life.” Ionut
Cioana / Mircea Nicolae (1980-2020) –
Romanian artist, curator and art critic who
tragically passed away in 2020.
In December 2022 I received a very nice
and encouraging message from Nicoleta
Moise on Instagram. It was a message
regarding a photograph I took in 2017. “we
had all candies”, a snapshot taken with my
phone, with the flash of an empty package of
Toffifee candies.
I am grateful for her input, having reminded
me of work no. 5, part of Mircea Nicolae’s
“Gunoaie, resturi si ruine / Garbage, leftovers
and ruins” series (2012). I had forgotten about
this beautiful work, a delicate collection of
candy wrappers. Our message exchange
made me look closer into his work.
At that time, there was a running thread
in the back of my mind about a work I had
wanted to do for a long time, but I couldn’t
find the right moment and the right kind of
attention to make it happen. It was about the
percentage of public funding given to the arts
and cake statistics.
Mircea Nicolae’s work, Nicoleta’s kind
words and the invitation from Kleiner Raum
für aktuelles Nichts led me to finally finish the
work. “Cake, homage to Mircea Nicolae”, 2023
Vlad Brateanu: I wrote down some ideas
in preparation for our talk, referencing the
works of Ionut Cioana / Mircea Nicolae,
thinking about his approach, through very
subtle artistic gestures.
Nicoleta Moise: Why is Mircea Nicolae
important to us as an artist and how did we
meet him?
“You need
a certain kind
of presence,
otherwise you
cannot infuse
these useless
objects with
significance”
Translation: Irina Radu
A conversation between Vlad Brateanu and Nicoleta Moise
12.03.2023.
3 these useless objects with significance. You
VB: I had been familiar with his works for a
long time, but when I met him was during my
MA classes at UNArte in 2016, when he joined
Veda Popovici and Ovidiu Pop’s course. There
was a vast discussion about the position of
the Eastern European artist in relation to the somehow,
beyond the
West. After class I enthusiastically joined
Veda and Ionut for a falafel somewhere on
Magheru Boulevard. I vividly remember the
idea of art,
place, a lot of white and green painted on the
walls. That was the moment I met him. We
talked for a bit and he suggested we meet
again sometime for a beer, to which I agreed
with a shy “yes”. Then in 2017, artists Delia
Popa and Giles Eldridge organised studio
visits to several artists’ homes, to get to know a fundamental
thing exists,
each other better. I remember Mircea Nicolae
being very enthusiastic about the project
and coming to Giles’ place, where we talked
an even greater
for a bit more. I think the last time I saw him
was at Modern club, on Eminescu Street, in
the former Viitorul cinema. That’s when we
talked about music. Then I left the country
and didn’t keep in touch.
NM: Had you stayed in Romania, do you stake in this
discussion,
think you would have eventually contacted
him? You told me, at one point, that you
would have liked to have a conversation with
and a very
him about interventions in public space.
VB: I started working in public space during
my fellowship at WHW Akademija in Zagreb,
and I believe it was something latent, but I
hadn’t seen it until then. I think if he were still
alive, I would have definitely contacted him difficult one,
that is to just
after I moved to Berlin. It would have surely
happened because I’d started doing more
works in public space, I was more open and
live your life”
interested in the subject, and I would’ve had
the courage to talk to him about it.
NM: I heard about him through Simona
Dumitriu, during a photography course she
was teaching at UNArte. I remember she
showed us his blog and from that moment
2 his name stayed with me, as well as the story
about how he chose his pseudonym: Mircea
Nicolae. I believe the existence of this kind
of dialogue is important, as well as the fact
that the exhibition “Lucruri marunte, lucruri
pretioase / Small Things, Precious Things”,
organised by the curatorial collective of
Salonul de proiecte, is happening right now in
Timisoara, which will be followed by a second
exhibition in Bucharest, and a publication of
his works and texts at the end of this year. To
keep saying his name is just as important, or
to talk about him every time an opportunity
arises. Because this is what remains after
somebody disappears, right?
I was thinking about how important and
emblematic that first moment becomes, the
first time we met a person that is no longer
among us. I feel that we are fiercely hanging on
to that moment and try our best to remember
every small detail, a thing we do not normally
do, but our memory kicks into full gear and we
try to remember even the most insignificant
details.
VB: This makes me think about the very
fragmented and small kind of memories,
scattered between the others. Small glimpses
of interaction that suddenly resurface and
become more colourful, so to speak, among
other memories.
NB: I’m thinking about the “Proteze /
Prostheses” (2010-2014) series, and about
the six colourful lollipop sticks collection that
he found on the street, to which he added
dried plants and flowers. This sort of attention
seems, to me, very similar to the gesture you
are talking about.
VB: Collecting ephemeral items to which he
gave a form. Such as “Un altar pentru fiecare
zi / An altar for each day” (2014) series,
for which he collected or gathered certain
objects that he would transform into small
monuments. Maybe this is what memory does
— attempts to create small monuments from
its register, offering them a place to occupy.
The “o suta de interventii / one hundred
interventions” series (2007-2010) comes
to mind – interventions he made in public
space and then documented through photos.
Artist Jirí Kovanda worked in a similar
way, with performative interventions and
simple gestures that would only survive as
documentation, without leaving any object
behind.
NM: Why is Mircea Nicolae’s practice
important to you, and how do you feel it has
influenced you?
VB: His sensitivity to everyday life is what
I admire in his practice. His works would not
catch your attention at first sight, but rather
invite you to be curious and come closer to
him.
NM: The fragility I keep coming back
to when I talk about his work is the most
monumental sensation one could have while
looking at the “Prostheses” series. That is
what I felt. A sort of calmness. I think there
are too few interventions or ideas that are
able to bring up this sensation in me; it’s
a sensation that I only experience maybe
somewhere in nature.
VB: I was thinking about the found objects
that we often overlook, because there is
always something more important or urgent
to do. I remember, throughout the few
conversations that we had, that I perceived
him as a very calm person. Our conversations
were calm and contained a certain precision
of language.
NM: I perceive many of his works as a
meditation process. There was something
ritualic about them, if you think about “An
altar for each day”. I think you need a certain
kind of presence, otherwise you cannot infuse
probably also need some sort of discipline, a
sort of consistency with yourself, rather than
something rigorous; a sort of ritual that would
allow you to think about things in his manner
of thinking and sequencing. The prosthesis
series is somewhere on the fine line between
loss and the healing process.
VB: I think of meticulousness and of his
video work “how bread is made” (2014),
documenting the process of making bread out
of advertising leaflets that invade mailboxes,
while explaining every step.
NM: After he passed away, I read in an
article written by Andra Matzal that he would
write and treat his art criticism texts for
Scena9 as artworks, questioning whether
to publish them under his real name, Ionut
Cioana or under his pseudonym, Mircea
Nicolae.
Now that I also write for the same
publication, I can confirm that you look at the
text as if it were an artwork. But many times
that isn’t exactly right. And I say this because
it is essentially not an artwork, but a text. Of
course you can call it an artwork because the
working process has a lot in common with the
methodology of what could become a work of
art.
VB: Maybe it’s related to the idea that
the immaterial has a certain impact, but it is
more subtle than a wall that you hit. A sort of
navigation through thoughts, references and
ideas.
NM: If you asked me to formulate an answer
regarding immateriality or nothingness, I
would answer with intervention number 47
— “For number 47 I decided to do nothing”,
from Mircea Nicolae’s one “hundred series”
(2007-2010).
VB: I would’ve liked his works to be exhibited
here at Kleiner Raum für aktuelles Nichts. I
think he would have enjoyed the place and the
curatorial program.
NB: But I think this is already happening,
right? By having this conversation.
VB: I was looking for a channel to get in
touch with him and I was moved by the letter
you wrote to artist Alina Popa (1982-2019)
in the article “The Real Line – A project with
multiple lives”, by the attempt to communicate
with somebody who isn’t here anymore. Our
Instagram message exchange, in December
last year, created this link to Mircea Nicolae.
NM: I see this timeline as three moments
that led us to have this conversation today,
March 6, 2023.
VB: Our conversation is another prosthesis.
NM: A prosthesis to a prosthesis to a
prosthesis.