Imagined Organisations: Practices of Artistic Research Moving Across Semiperipheries
April 2026 – 15 November 2026
@tranzitiasi and @unuplusunu,
Sf. Atanasie 25, Iași
We are pleased to introduce Imagined Organisations: Practices of Artistic Research Moving Across Semiperipheries — a year-long programme of exhibitions, residencies, online seminars, and an international gathering in Iași and Chișinău, unfolding between April and November 2026 at tranzit.ro/Iași and 1+1.
The programme brings together artists, curators, and theorists to exchange practices and perspectives on how artistic organisations face the new challenges raised by the transformative impact of artistic research.
The practice and discourse of contemporary art have undergone profound changes with the emergence of artistic research, one of the most important factors that has shaped established practice in the field. Furthermore, artistic research has presented an entire set of new challenges and pressures on the institutional forms through which both state and non-state actors support artistic development. This has not been a uniform development, but one that has different characteristics across various political geographies. While in the former East, these changes overlapped with the major geopolitical shifts of the 1990s, in the former West, the rise of artistic research was strongly driven by the internal discourses and practices of universities and arts academies. It is now clear that, in both geopolitical contexts, the new demands on institutional structures arising from the need for change generated by the specific challenges of artistic research have not been fully resolved.
The programme is anchored by two key actions in its opening weeks. From 26 April to 6 May, theorist and curator Maria Hlavajova is in residence at 1+1 and tranzit.ro/ Iași under the question What kind of art institutions do we need, and why don't we have them? On 2 May, the first exhibition of the programme opens - Ghenadie Popescu's Childhood memories. Siberia 1941–1960 - gathering, for the first time, three components of his decade-long work on the testimonies of those deported from Bessarabia to Siberia.
Further into the year, the programme continues with Andrei Trager's exhibition Dima at tranzit.ro/Iași space (6 June – 20 July), an online seminar on 10 June, the research residency of Minna Henriksson and Sezgin Boynik, Iskra, in Iași and Chișinău (7 June – 15 June), and Baran Caginli's exhibition and performance Lost and Found, in July. After the summer, a second online seminar takes place on 26 August, and, in October, with Cristina David's exhibition Postcards from Mars at tranzit.ro/ Iași, opening for the Night of the Galleries (NAG 2026).
The central public moment of the programme is the international gathering and summer intensive Imagined Organisations, taking place from 22 to 27 July 2026 in Iași and Chișinău. A six-day event organised by tranzit.ro/ Iași, 1+1 Association, and Oberliht Association in association with CAPIm, it begins with a public programme in Chișinău before continuing in Iași, and brings together contributors including Charles Esche (NL), Djordje Balmajović (RS/SI), Andrei Trager (MD), Minna Henriksson & Sezgin Boynik (FI/RKS), Vitalie Sprînceană (MD), Cristina David (RO), Mick Wilson (IRL/SE), Stine Hebert (DK), Ioana Florea (RO), Maria Hlavajova (NL), Ghenadie Popescu (MD), Baran Caginli (TR/FI), Vladimir Us (MD), and others. The gathering is free and open to the public; detailed programme and booking information will shortly be available here and here.
Imagined Organisations is realised in partnership with: tranzit.ro/ Iași; 1+1 (RO); Oberliht Association, Chișinău (MD); the Doctoral School of Visual Arts, "George Enescu" National University of Arts, Iași (RO); HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design, University of Gothenburg (SE); and the Centre for Art and Political Imaginaries, CAPIm (SE).
This is a cultural project co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN). The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or for the way the project results can be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.
The main partner of tranzit.ro is the ERSTE Foundation.
