Press release
Craiova Art Museum – Constantin Brâncuşi Center invites you on Friday, September 18, 2026, at 18:00 to the opening of the contemporary art exhibition Suspended Choreographies by Raluca Arnăutu and Matei Arnăutu, curator: Diana Dochia. The exhibition project is supported by Anaid Art Gallery Bucharest/Baden-Baden/Paris, in partnership with Craiova Art Museum.
The exhibition proposes a visual journey in which matter and everyday objects are liberated from their direct utilitarian purpose to become the medium of a dynamic stasis. The title of the project condenses a conceptual meeting between two seemingly opposite media: the movement suggested on plastic surfaces and the rigor of three-dimensional structures.
In Raluca Arnăutu’s discourse, the physical body disappears to make way for pure form. Starting from simplified and reorganized organic elements, the artist creates an autonomous visual alphabet — a static choreography in which repetition, line tension, and optical networks guide the gaze and re-signify the everyday object. In a complementary mirror, Matei Arnăutu explores the territory of utopian mechanics and inventions devoid of practical functionality. Adopting the industrial geometry of PPR pipes and standardized connectors, the artist builds static machines that question the ephemerality of art and visual memory.
Located in a space dedicated to the memory of Constantin Brâncuși — housing as testimony the original beams brought from the sculptor’s Parisian studio —, the project opens a subliminal conversation with the idea of simplification and essentialization of form. Without resorting to a direct citation, the exhibition revisits the modern concern for movement captured in matter: Raluca Arnăutu transforms the dynamics of dance into a static flight, while Matei Arnăutu converts mechanical energy into a mechanism of memory.
Raluca Arnăutu (b. 1977, Bucharest) is a well-known presence in the Romanian contemporary art landscape. A graduate of the National University of Arts in Bucharest, the artist has distinguished herself over time through large-scale textile installations, painting, drawing, and site-specific installations, developing a visual vocabulary concerned with organic structures, the hybridization of forms, and the reconfiguration of the everyday object. Her works have been exhibited in numerous galleries and art institutions in Romania and abroad, among which we mention: “Herbarium”, Altes Dampfbad@Anaid Art Gallery, Baden-Baden, Germany (2024); “Dream On”, Nicolae Minovici Museum, Bucharest, Romania (2023); "Aqua. La Vie dans L'eau" at Musée Thomas Henry in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France (2021); “Unfinished Piece in a Defined Frame”, Anaid Art Gallery, Bucharest, Romania (2020); “Invasion in Grass”, Anaid Art Gallery, Berlin (2020); "Deconstruction", Kahan Art Space, Budapest, Hungary (2018); “La rencontre des mondes”, L’Abbaye du Voeu, Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France (2017); “Daydreaming Heart”, Anaid Art Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2015). The artist represented Romania with the project “Beasts and Superbeasts” at the 3rd edition of the International Children's Carnival – “Tales and Thoughts”, Central Pavilion, Venice, Italy (2012). Raluca Arnăutu has been represented by Anaid Art Gallery Bucharest/Baden-Baden/Paris since 2011.
Matei Arnăutu (b. 1978, Bucharest) belongs to the generation of conceptual visual artists that emerged in the early 2000s. A graduate of the National University of Arts in Bucharest with a master's degree in visual arts, his artistic approach explores minimalist aesthetics, found objects, ephemeral installations, and the deconstruction of functional mechanisms. His works frequently challenge the utility of art, the limits of industrial materials, and the relationship between the physical object and its recorded memory. Over time, the artist has been invited to exhibit in major exhibitions organized by museums and cultural centers, among which we name the National Museum of Art of Romania, Eforie Cinematheque, Bucharest Biennale, and the Palatele Brâncovenești Cultural Center. Among his solo exhibitions, we mention: “Gicu”, Museum of Ages – Filipescu Cesianu House, Bucharest (2023); “Anonymous Opus Mannum Artificis”, Anaid Art Gallery, Bucharest (2020); “Rembo’s Dream”, Anaid Art Gallery, Bucharest (2012). Matei Arnăutu holds a PhD in visual arts and is a lecturer at the Faculty of Fashion and Fashion Design of the University of Art Bucharest. Matei Arnăutu has been represented by Anaid Art Gallery Bucharest/Baden-Baden/Paris since 2012.
The exhibition can be visited by the general public between September 19, 2026, and November 13, 2026, from Tuesday to Sunday between 10:00 – 17:00, with free admission on the first Wednesday of each month.
For additional information regarding visiting the exhibition, please visit www.muzeuldeartacraiova.ro and for additional information regarding the exhibited works, please visit www.anaidartgallery.com.
Curator: Diana Dochia
