BIO
Liviu Bulea lives and works between Turda and Berlin. For his BA and MA Liviu conducted artistic research on the diseased body, focusing on memories of spaces and objects from hospital oncology wards. He was awarded three Erasmus Scholarships, at the Freies Museum in Berlin, Katowice in Poland where he studied poster design and Hosek Contemporary, Berlin. His field of research extends from spaces of architectural memory to his involvement with the queer community. He is a PhD candidate at the University of the Arts in Cluj-Napoca, where he works on the relationship between art, architecture and the urban environment. Among others, he has exhibited his works at the Urban Nation Museum in Berlin, the Chrysalid Gallery in Rotterdam, the Cluj-Napoca Art Museum in Romania, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Mumok Vienna etc., while he has been hosted as a resident artist by several institutions across Europe.
"I can be considered “a social practice installation artist”. I recover seemingly useless material fragments that come from precise contexts. The hospital’s wall where I was treated when I had cancer (“About white”), the city’s sidewalk where I had grown up, and pieces of concrete from a mall that was built over a community.
My staging mechanism is very deep and requires further research. The concrete dust covering my hometown is transformed into a painting or sculpture that recalls the trauma of a community deeply affected by post-revolutionary changes in Romania. In Turda, when it rained, the vegetables turned into concrete because of the cement dust expelled in the atmosphere by the nearby factory. I depict the traumatic process into an emotion-making installation that creates unusual attention to some social processes lost in selective memory."
- Liviu Bulea
WEBSITE for non-QUEER ART
CV - LIVIU BULEA
Education and Training
2021 - ongoing - Erasmus internship at Hosek Contemporary, Berlin
2020 - ongoing - PhD Candidate at University of Arts and Design, Cluj-Napoca
2011 - 2013 - Graphic Arts, MA, University of Arts and Design, Cluj-Napoca
1 May - 31 July 2012 - Erasmus internship at Freies Museum Berlin
2011 - 2013 - Psychopedagogy and psychology of children, MA, University of Arts and Design, Cluj-Napoca
2008 - 2011 - Graphic Arts, BA, University of Arts and Design, Cluj Napoca
2008 - 2011 - Psychopedagogy and psychology of children, BA, University of Arts and Design, Cluj-Napoca
2009 - 2010 - Erasmus scholarship, ASP Katowice
2004 - 2008 - "Romulus Ladea", high school of fine arts, Cluj-Napoca
Work Experience
2021 - present - Editor for Gay45.eu
2016 - 2018 - Vice President for Visual Kontakt Gallery, Oradea & Cluj-Napoca
2015 - 2018 - Manager for Visual Kontakt Gallery, Cluj-Napoca
2015 - present - independent curator
2013 - present - event manager
2012 - present - freelance graphic designer
Residencies
2019 - AIR Urban Nation Museum & Stiftung Berliner Leben, Berlin
2018 - Styria-Artist-in-Residence, (St.A.i.R.), offered by Chancellery of Styria, Graz
- AIR Reactor de Creație și Experiment, Cluj-Napoca
2016 - AIR Kultur Kontakt Austria, offered by Chancellery of Austria, Vienna
2013 - AIR Visual Kontakt Gallery, Oradea
Personal Exhibitions (selection)
2021 - Homoreotic Revolution, Technopolis, Athens, curator: Alexis Fidez
2020 - Despre Gri, CAVE - French Cultural Institut, Cluj-Napoca
2019 - Berlin Street Stories, URBAN NATION, Berlin
2018 - Under The Grey Dust, Creart Gallery, Bucharest, curator: Răzvan Ion
- #808080 - Pfeiffer Vacuum Romania, Apahida, Cluj
- Installation for the performance: Body of Defiance, Reactor de Creație și Experiment, Cluj-Napoca
2017 - #808080 - Iaga Gallery, Cluj-Napoca, curator: Olimpia Bera
- BBTGOGIAWIA - Shelter Club, Amsterdam
2016 - Simulacrum - Parallel Vienna, Vienna
2015 - Crypto 2 - Make A Point Gallery, Bucharest, curator: Cătălin Vălean
2014 - Crypto 1 - Reactor de Creație și Experiment, Cluj-Napoca, curator: Cătălin Vălean
2013 - Sold Out - Visual Kontakt, Oradea, curator: Olimpia Bera
- Cancerilizare - Casa Matei Gallery, Cluj-Napoca
Group Exhibitions (selection)
2022 - The Coketown Effect, BOOMing Contemporary Art Show, Bologna, curators: ACME Art Lab
2021 - Simți ~ Aluneci ~ Cânți (1- 245), Combinatul Fondului Plastic, București, curators: KILOBASE BUCHAREST
- Art Behaviour, ZÖNOTÉKA, Berlin, curator: Luca Roxana-Emilia
- Leaving The Garden, National Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, curator: Olimpia Bera
- The Coketown Effect, The Others Art Fair (Iaga Gallery), Torino, curators: ACME Art Lab
- Le francais est ton atout, USAMV, Cluj-Napoca
- Fetish, The Ballery Gallery, Berlin, curator: Simon Williams
- Superheroes/Antiheroes, Art Safari, Bucharest, curator: Raluca Ilaria-Demetrescu
- Yes HOMO, Cosmic House, Cluj-Napoca, curator: Cătălin Bocîrnea
- We`re here, Faber, Timisoara, curator: Daniel Kozak
- Partial Decomandat, National Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, coordonted by Olimpia Bera, Aurel Codoban, Ioan Sbârciu
- Memoria Tăinuită a Locului, National Art Muzeum, Cluj-Napoca, coordonted by Prof. Ioan Sbârciu
- Lucas Art Fair, Italy, represented by Iaga Gallery, curator: Ilaria Bignotti
- Neo-Manifest Romantic, Galateca Gallery, Bucharest
2020 - Of Wondering Concrete And A Displaced Camera, Chrysalid Gallery, Rotterdam, curator: Marth Von Loeben
- Neo-Manifest Romantic, National Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, curator: Ioan Sbârciu
- Conversations, Iaga Art Gallery, Cluj-Napoca
- Pahllus Impudicus, Etaj - Artist Run Space, Bucharest, curator: Raluca Ilaria Demetrescu
- We`re here, NAG, Bucharest, curator: Daniel Kozak
- What If You Were In My Shoes?, National Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, curator: Ioan Sbârciu
- L'Art s'invite dans l'industrie 2.0, Energom, Cluj-Napoca, curator: Horea Avram
2019 - Re:start - National Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, curator: Horea Avram
- Seen in Berlin - POINT - Cultural Hub, Bucharest
- OBIECT. Călător prin istorii publice și personale - National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, V. Iancu & Vlad Viski
- Walter Koschatzky Kunst-Preis - MUMOK, Vienna
- Künstler*innenbücher von Stipendiat*innen des Landes Steiermark - Steiermärkische Landesbibliothek, Graz, curator:: Christiane Kada
2018 - BB8 after BB8 - CAC, LANDSKRONA, Sweden, curators: Nina Slejko Blom & Conny Blom
- BUCHAREST BIENNALE 8 - Bucharest, curators: Beral Madra and Răzvan Ion
- Diversitas - Reactor de Creatie si Experiment, Cluj-Napoca
- WOW - Visual Kontakt, Cluj-Napoca, curator: Eugen Rădescu
2017 - Dead Gardens - Visual Kontakt, Cluj-Napoca, curator: Olimpia Lazar
- Habitus - Iaga Gallery, Cluj-Napoca, curator: Sabina Dragomir
- War of Worlds - National Museum of Art, Constanta, curator: Eugen Rădescu
- War of Worlds - MORA Gallery, Bucharest, curator: Eugen Rădescu
- Mazipos - Laboratory VK, Oradea, curator: Carlos Carmomedina
2016 - Unnatural Circumstances - Visual Kontakt Gallery, Cluj-Napoca
2015 - Local Municipalities - Laboratory VK, curators: Olimpia Bera and Carlos Carmomedina
- Muian - Visual Kontakt Gallery, Oradea, curator: Alina Staicu
- Genesis - Jurmala City Museum, Jurmala, Latvia, curator: Edmunds Lucis
2010 - Poster/Plakat - ASP Katowice, curator: Roman Kalarus
- 4th edition of the international Student Biennale, Novi Sad
Lectures/ Artist Talk
2020 - Artist talk for Pride Romania, Online via Facebook
- Lecture (about my art practice) at Royal School in Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca
2019 - Lecture (about my art practice) at the University of Arts and Design, Photo-Video department, Cluj-Napoca
2018 - Artist Talk (about my art practice) at HTBLVA Graz Ortweinschule, Austria
- Artist Talk “HOME” at Atelier Schillerstrasse, Graz, part of Styria Artist in Residence
- Bucharest Biennale - artist talk at Creart, Bucharest
- Queer Art, artist talk at Fundația Rațiu, Turda
- Art Debate - Art Safari, BB8, RDW at Creart, Bucharest
- Lecture (about my art practice) at the University of Arts and Design, Photo-Video department, Cluj-Napoca
2017 - Lecture - Dead Gardens exhibition at University of Arts and Design, Cluj-Napoca
- Lecture - WOW exhibition at ARCUB, Bucharest
- Lecture (about my art practice) at Art High School "Romulus Ladea", Cluj-Napoca
Curator
2021 - A Safe Place, artist: Claudia Chelaru, Reactor de Creație și Experiment, Cluj
- Smaller Side room, international exhibition, 21 artists, Faber, Timisoara
- Smaller Side Room, international exhibition, 21 artists, Reactor de Creație și Experiment, Cluj
2018 - Diversitas - artists: Odeta Catană, Virginia Lupu, Remus Țiplea, Reactor de Creație și Experiment, Cluj
- The Garden - artists: 6 female artists, Visual Kontakt Cluj
- Gradual Decline - artists: Andreea Chirică, Razvan Ion, Visual Kontakt Cluj
2017 - Pleasure Hunt - artist: Corina Olaru, Visual Kontakt Cluj
- Inside - artists: Odeta Catană, Sasha Bandi, Visual Kontakt Cluj
- Smee - artist: Anna Olenicenco, Visual Kontakt, Cluj
- Alter Ego - artist: Celina Cordoș, Reactor de Creație și Experiment, Cluj
2016 - A Journey Through Slavic Prints, 30 artists from Slavic countries, curated with Rada Niță, Visual Kontakt, Cluj
2015 - Mater Familias - artist: Oana Maria Pop, Casa Tiff, Cluj
Collections
Private:
Italy: Verona
Germany: Berlin, Munchen
Switzerland: Lausanne
Austria: Graz, Vienna
France: Bois Colombes
USA: San Antonio, New Jersey, Las Vegas, Salem, West Hollywood, Vermillion, New York City, Kernersville
Romania: Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest, Oradea
Ukraine: Kiev
Spain: Tenerife
Institutions:
1. Accept Organization, Bucharest, Romania
2. Schwules Museum, Berlin, Germany
3. Urban Nation Museum, Berlin, Germany
4. Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria
5. Tom Of Finalnd Foundation, Los Angeles, USA
6. Visual Kontakt Gallery, Oradea, Romania
Publications
2021 - Mein Heimlisches Auge - Das Jahrbuch der Erotik XXXVI, edited by Claudia Gherke & Uve Schmidt, Konkursbuch
- Revista Steaua nr.7
- Exhibition Catalogue; CATALOG NEO-MANIFEST ROMANTIC. IDENTITĂŢI ALE ŞCOLII DE LA CLUJ, Galateca Gallery
- Pornceptual Magazine, FUCK 2020
2020 - Haus Magazine, Political Issue 4
- Mein Schwules Auge, Body Issue by Rainaldo Hopf & Fedya Ili, Konkursbuch,
2019 - Walter Koschatzky Prize 2019 Catalogue,
2017 - Catalog, #808080, Liviu Bulea, Iaga Gallery
2016-2017 - KulturKontakt Magazine, winter 2016/2017
- Tribuna, Timp, Spatiu si Degradare de Eugen Cojocaru
2010 - 4th World Biennale of Student Poster Catalog, Novi Sad