HISTORY
Vlad Nancă (1979) lives and works in Bucharest. Artist and sometime curator Nancă studied photography and video at the University of Arts in Bucharest. Drawing on the environment and influence of Bucharest life, he documents urbanity through his photography. He was the founder of Bukres blog and from 2003 was actively involved in the progression of the city art scene hosting ‘home galleries’ (2020 homegallery from 2003 to 2007, Apartamentul 17 in 2008) and curating exhibitions (Wait… 2006, Back to the future/Cu Spatele la Viitor 2007, at Galeria Noua, Bucharest) to encourage and support local artists by offering a platform to show their work.
SPECIFIC
Utilizing different mediums his varying personal projects employ political and cultural symbols, often using word-play to evoke nostalgia and referencing Romania’s recent history and challenging the social and political climate. Nancă successfully collaborated with other artists as with Janek Simon in Remix (Raster Gallery, Warsaw, Poland), with Mircea Nicolae and Nicoleta Esinencu for two site specific installations in Chisinau, Moldova (part of Inteventii 3 festival) in 2008 and with Nona Inescu for the Hyphen performance in London, England in 2009. In parallel with his early art practice he was an active participant in the coagulation of the young artist scene in Bucharest, Romania. In 2003 he was one of the founding members of 2020 initiative, under which among other events, he hosted the Home Gallery (with exhibitions of Liliana Basarab, Ioana Nemes, Mona Vatamanu and Florin Tudor, Janek Simon, etc), started the “incepem” emailing list (currently “artacontempoana”) and the “incepem” fanzine. Utilizing different mediums his varying personal projects employ political and cultural symbols, often using word-play to evoke nostalgia and referencing Romania’s recent history and challenging the social and political climate. Vlad Nanca’s recent interests evolve around (public) space and its use and functions, materializing in sculptures, objects and installations.
ROMANIAN DESIGN WEEK APPEARANCES
2014 // WOOD&WOOL capsule exhibition // Tripod on Wheels
With an immaculate design, simple and clean, almost precious in the precision of details, with neutral amorphous material qualities used for their painterly virtues, with an inner playful nerve that does not exclude functionality but dislocates it, these ingenious devices manage to turn the ordinary object into a singular object. Vlad Nancă is a constant observer of the public space and routinely documents the transformation of the city scape through his photography. One of his main interests is the common practice among Bucharestians to intervene in the public space by placing a certain type of objects (most commonly something that resembles a trestle) whose main purpose is to keep a parking spot occupied. These ready-made sculptural constructions are specially built in order to be versatile on multiple levels. On one hand they need to be small and rather easy to handle but at the same time they have to keep occupied as much space as possible around the spot they are being placed. These characteristics are the key of Nancă’s interest in these objects and have inspired him in his practice and Tripod on wheels (2010).
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Vlad Nancă (1979) lives and works in Bucharest. Artist and sometime curator Nancă studied photography and video at the University of Arts in Bucharest. Drawing on the environment and influence of Bucharest life, he documents urbanity through his photography. He was the founder of Bukres blog and from 2003 was actively involved in the progression of the city art scene hosting ‘home galleries’ (2020 homegallery from 2003 to 2007, Apartamentul 17 in 2008) and curating exhibitions (Wait… 2006, Back to the future/Cu Spatele la Viitor 2007, at Galeria Noua, Bucharest) to encourage and support local artists by offering a platform to show their work.
SPECIFIC
Utilizing different mediums his varying personal projects employ political and cultural symbols, often using word-play to evoke nostalgia and referencing Romania’s recent history and challenging the social and political climate. Nancă successfully collaborated with other artists as with Janek Simon in Remix (Raster Gallery, Warsaw, Poland), with Mircea Nicolae and Nicoleta Esinencu for two site specific installations in Chisinau, Moldova (part of Inteventii 3 festival) in 2008 and with Nona Inescu for the Hyphen performance in London, England in 2009. In parallel with his early art practice he was an active participant in the coagulation of the young artist scene in Bucharest, Romania. In 2003 he was one of the founding members of 2020 initiative, under which among other events, he hosted the Home Gallery (with exhibitions of Liliana Basarab, Ioana Nemes, Mona Vatamanu and Florin Tudor, Janek Simon, etc), started the “incepem” emailing list (currently “artacontempoana”) and the “incepem” fanzine. Utilizing different mediums his varying personal projects employ political and cultural symbols, often using word-play to evoke nostalgia and referencing Romania’s recent history and challenging the social and political climate. Vlad Nanca’s recent interests evolve around (public) space and its use and functions, materializing in sculptures, objects and installations.
ROMANIAN DESIGN WEEK APPEARANCES
2014 // WOOD&WOOL capsule exhibition // Tripod on Wheels
With an immaculate design, simple and clean, almost precious in the precision of details, with neutral amorphous material qualities used for their painterly virtues, with an inner playful nerve that does not exclude functionality but dislocates it, these ingenious devices manage to turn the ordinary object into a singular object. Vlad Nancă is a constant observer of the public space and routinely documents the transformation of the city scape through his photography. One of his main interests is the common practice among Bucharestians to intervene in the public space by placing a certain type of objects (most commonly something that resembles a trestle) whose main purpose is to keep a parking spot occupied. These ready-made sculptural constructions are specially built in order to be versatile on multiple levels. On one hand they need to be small and rather easy to handle but at the same time they have to keep occupied as much space as possible around the spot they are being placed. These characteristics are the key of Nancă’s interest in these objects and have inspired him in his practice and Tripod on wheels (2010).
