Aurora Király is one of the best-known Romanian artists of her generation, exploring how the mind record, relives, remembers. The artist works with photography and installation in a variety of media, at the intersection of photography with textile art, drawing or installations. She is particularly interested in exploring feminist theories in relation with identity-making and the status of women in society. Her works relates to complex connections between events, public and private sphere of experience.

During the 1990s and the 2000s, her projects explored the capacity of photography to record the quotidian, by combining auto-referential fragments with documentary aspects of day-to-day life (e.g. Melancholia, 1997 – 1999). The self-reflecting images have provided an interesting point of departure for further installations that included collage (Viewfinder 2014 – 2015 and Viewfinder Mock-ups, 2016 – ongoing), text (News Convertor, 2016 and News Remix, 2016 – 2017), textiles (Soft drawings, 2020), and even painting (Heroines, 2013 – 2015). Her most recent works question the sources or artistic inspiration depending on the context, the recent history as well as the references in art history of the status of women artists. Between 2001 – 2009 Aurora Király ran one of the most significant art-spaces for photography in Romania, Galeria Nouă and since 2007 she has been teaching at the department of Photography and Dynamic Image, at the Bucharest National University of Arts. Both roles have informed her artistic process focused on memory and the process of photography, actively supporting her peers and cultural workers in the emergent photography art scene in Romania through exhibitions, publications and artistic interventions.

Solo Exhibitions

2021 from somewhere other than myself, Galeria Anca Poterașu, București

2018 Conjecturi, Anca Poterașu Gallery / Spinnerei Galleries Leipzig, Germania

2018 Acea clipă când simțurile se intensifică…​, intervenție la RAFT Brașov – Universitatea Transilvania, Brașov

2017 Constructed Geometries: spațiu, timp, memorie, Galeria Anca Poterașu, Bucureşti

2016 Reality check, Galeria Calina, Timişoara

2015 Cut & Paste Histories, Alert studio, Bucureşti

2003 Duet, Galeria din cetate, Târgu Mureş

2000 Arheologie feminină, Centrul Internaţional pentru Artă Contemporană, Bucureşti

2000 Melancholia, Centrul Cultural Sindan, Cluj

2000 Melancholia, Fotogaleria GAD, Teatrul Naţional 3/4, Bucureşti

1999 Untitled, Centrul Internaţional pentru Artă Contemporană, Bucureşti

Group exhibitions

2024 RAD ART Fair 2024, Bucharest, Romania

2024 Ecology of the After Life, Anca Poterasu Gallery, Bucharest, Romania

2024 Touch Nature, /Sac, Bucharest, Romania

2024 Art Brussels 2024, Brussels, Belgium

2023 Back Stages, curator Mirela Baciak, Popa Soare 26 – ARAC Space, Bucharest

2023 Blue Sun. Conversations on art, science and ecology, curator Anja Lückenkemper, Timisoara, Romania

2023 Obselfed, Galerie Klemm’s, Berlin, Germany

2022 Paris Photo, Grand Palais Ephémère, Paris

2022 Artist in residence at Boghossian Foundation, Villa Empain, Bruxelles

2022 Open Doors, Galeria Anca Poterașu, București

2022 Omission Possible, contribution to the collaborative project at Sala Omnia, with Mutual Loop

2022 reUNIONS of Artists – Transmedia Peace Kit, Raiko Alexiev Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2021 L’Air du Temps, Paris Photo, Main Section

2021 Borrowed Memories, Waldburger Wouters, Bruxelles

2021 NADA x Foreland, Catskill, New York

2021 The Show That Never Was, Anca Poterașu Gallery, Bucharest

2021 Corsets – Then and Now, Zina Gallery, Cluj

2020 In Midst of the Worst, the Best of Times, Anca Poterașu in partnership with Litost Gallery, Prague

2020 A Room of One’s Own, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York

2019 In the Eye of the Storm, Anca Poterașu Gallery, Bucharest

2019 Ex-East. Past and recent stories of the Romanian avant-garde, in the frame of France-Romania Season, curator Ami Barak, organized by Art Encounters

2019 Mitologies, Cultural Center Neumünster, Luxemburg

2019 #Intersections, Interdisciplinary Laboratory for artistic practices, organized by Gabriela Tudor Foundation, in partnership with MNACR

2019 Feria ARCO, Madrid, Anca Poterașu Gallery

2019 Volta, Basel, Anca Poterașu Gallery

2018 Woman, All Too Woman, Art Museum, Timișoara

2018 Orient – Trauma & Revival: Contemporary Encounters, Kim? Laikmetīgās mākslas centrs, Riga / BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts,Brussels/Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej Bunkier Sztuki, Kraków

2017 Artissima – Torino, Dialogues section (with Olivia Mihălțianu), Anca Poterașu Gallery

2017 Viața – Manual de utilizare, Bienala Art Encounters, Timișoara-Arad

2016 Ex Future, Arcub Gabroveni, Bucharest

2016 No brushes, Atelier 030202, Bucharest

2016 Our History about the Others. A City through four lenses, in the frame of No Man’s Land, White Night of the Galleries, Bucharest

2016 Brain Tatoos – A Map of Obsessions, ICR Lisbon, Portugal

2015 Arts in Bucharest, Centrul Artelor Vizuale, Bucharest

2015 Blouse roumaine, femme roumaine, ICR Lisbon, Portugal

2014 WHAT ABOUT Y[OUR] MEMORY, MNAC, Bucharest

2014 c.a.r.reloaded@artvictoria.ro, Bucharest

2014 Contemporary Art Ruhr, Essen, Germany

2013 Eu, En, Ich II – Mituri, Victoria Art Center, Bucharest

2013 Good Girls – Memory, Desire, Power, MNAC, Bucharest

2012 Femart, Centrul Artelor Vizuale, Bucharest

2012 Body World. Traveling the Distance between Subject and Object, Victoria Art Center For Contemporary Cultural Production, Bucharest

2011 Body Under Surveillance, Victoria Art Center For Contemporary Cultural Production, Bucharest

2002 RDV roumaine – l’espace En Cours, Paris, France

2001 Woman’s room / Woman’s view, Galeria Paromlin, Zagreb, Croatia

2001 Photo Documents, Galeria Nouă, Bucharest

2001 The Dream of My Life, National Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

2000 In Full Dress, Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, Romania

1997 The Shadow, Hungarian Museum of Photography, Kecskemet, Hungary

1996 Una Finestra sull’Est, Galeria San Filippo Neri, Torino, Italy

1996 Project 2000 Contest, Palazzo Bricherasio, Torino, Italy

1996 Experiment in Romanian Art between 1960-1990, Artexpo Galery, Bucharest

1995 Mediawave Festival, Györ, Hungary

1994-1997 Member of the artistic duo2D (with Mirela Dăuceanu)

1991 cARTe, The Art Collection Museum, Bucharest

Publications

2022 from somewhere other than myself, Anca Poterașu Gallery

2019 ȘAPTE. Art Politics. Vol. VII, trilingual book (romanian/english/german), Editura Kettler, Dortmund/ Bönen

2017 Education in real time: paths in space and time, 2017, ISBN 978-606-720-094-2, UNARTE Publishing House, Bucharest

2017 Bucharest, layers and perspectives, between reality and fiction, ISBN 978-606-720-093-5, UNARTE Publishing House, Bucharest

2017 Proiecte recente / New Projects, ISBN 978-606-720-092-8, Anca Poterașu Gallery și UNARTE Publishing House, Bucharest

2017 Viața – mod de întrebuințare / Life – a User’s Manual, Art Encounters 2017 – Catalogue, Art Encounters Foundation, ISBN 978-606-93957-8-3, p. 124, bio p. 253

2012 Photography in Romanian Contemporary Art after 1989. A chronology, in Arta magazine # 6-7, published by the Romanian Union of Fine Artists, 2012, ISSN 0004-3354, pp.44-51

2011 Co-editor of the publication CitiesMethodologies І Bucharest, together with Ger Duijzings and Simona Dumitriu, published by Galeria Nouă at UNArte Romanian Union of Fine Artists, ISBN 978-606-8296-22-7, pp.6-12

2009 Body World – Travelling the Distance between Subject and Object, UNArte Publishing House, ISBN 978-606-8296-34-0, pp.136-137

2006 Editor of the bi-lingual book Photography in Romanian Contemporary Art. Trends in Romania after 1989, published by Galeria Nouă at Unarte Publishing House, ISBN 973-87493-7-9

Curatorial project

2016 I like / I don’t like… through art, Museum of Art Constanța, organized by Da’DeCe Association in partnership with MNAC, with the financial support of AFCN

2012 Witnesses XXI – Revisiting the Past / A Collection of Video Interviews – exhibition, Platforma – MNAC Moșilor, Bucharest, Romania

2012 StartPoint Prize Romania, Victoria Art Center, exhibition co-curator (together with Petru Lucaci), Bucharest, Romania

2010 Exhibition co-curator (together with Simona Dumitriu) CitiesMethodologies І Bucharest, National University of Arts Bucharest, Scarlat-Ghica House, Bucharest, Romania

2008 curator of Open access pRO_ARCHIVE exhibition, Karlin Studios, Praga, Czech Republic

2008 curator of Bucharest between Melacholia and Hysteria. A Few Artistical Perspective over Urban Space, Czech Center Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic

2008 project coordinator – On Curatorship in Contemporary Art, supported by AFCN. Guests: Maria Rus Bojan (MB Agency, Amsterdam), Matei Bejenaru (Vector, Iaşi), Irina Cios (CIAC, Bucuresti), Dora Hegy (Transit, Budapest), Bucharest, Romania

2008-2012 counsellor for selecting the Romanian participants at Startpoint Prize competition, Czech Republic

2001-2008 curator for the following exhibitions presented at Galeria Nouă Contemporary Art Space, Bucharest, Romania:

05.03.2008-23.03.2008 gute aussichten, – new german photography

05.12.2007-06.01.2008 Christmas 07, – Eugenio Percossi

14.11.2007-30.11-2007 Making Movies, – Krassimir Terziev

06.12.2006-21.01.2007 Last Supper / Last Words, – Artists: Bigert & Bergström

22.11.2006-02.12.2006 Persona, – Teodor Graur, Exhibition realized in partnership with the European Cultural Center Sinaia

04.10.2006-27.10.2006 Staged, – Štěpánka Stein/Salim Issa & Dita Pepe/Petr Hrubes, Exhibition realized in partnership with the Czech Center

05.04.2006-30.04.2006 Your Money or Your Life, – Jan Kotik, Exhibition realized in partnership with: Futura Gallery (Prague) and Czech Center Bucharest

01.03.2006-01.04.2006 Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, – Călin Dan

12.10.2005-26.11.2005 Documenting Their Dream, – Alexandra Croitoru

13.07.2005-31.07.2005 I am Always Someone Else, – Jozsef Bartha

06.04.2005-15.05.2005 Sharing Solitude, – Frederico Câmara,Exhibition realized in partnership with Akademie Schloss Solitude and Goethe Institut Bucharest

02.03.2005-27.03.2005 Strawberry Fields Forever, – Matei Bejenaru

16.02.2005-27.02.2005 Portfolios Review #4, – Artists: Ana Alexandra Blidaru, Ana Bănica, Vlad Eftenie, Andrei Fărcăşanu, Wanda Hutira, Helen Jilavu, Alina Şomăndroiu, Roxana Tomescu

12.01.2005–06.02.2005 The People / Boborul, – Radu Vasile Igazság & Visual Art Foundation

15.12.2004–09.01.2005 Superbooks 2004 – The Most Beautiful Books from the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain and Romania, Organizers: British Council, The German Book Center, Idea Foundation, Czech Center, Association of Romanian Publishers

27.10.2004–21.11.2004 Public Spaces / Public Bodies, – Karen Kipphoff

06.10.2004–24.10.2004 Monumente, – Misha Pedan, Partners: Swedish Embassy, Swedish Institute

06.09.2004–03.10.2004 Maybe Next Time, – Gheorghe Rasovszky

07.07.2004-27.07.2004 Blue Moon, Black Sea, – Peter Terezakis, Exhibition realized with the support of: American tural Center of the U.S.A. Embassy, Project DCM Foundation and The Suitcase Fund of Dance Theater Workshop in NYC

09.06.2004–30.06.2004 Recent Photographs, – Ion Grigorescu

24.03.2004–02.05.2004 The Marshalling Yard, – Artists: Mariana Celac, Iosif Király, Marius Marcu, Exhibition realized with the support of the Swiss Cultural Programme in Romania

25.02.2004-14.04.2004 Black-out, – Alexandru Patatics

21.01.2004–14.02.2004 Portfolios Review #3, – Artists: Vlad Boşoancă, Adrian Budritzan, Valentin Chincişan, Dina Dancu, Maria Drăghici, Vilhelem Jozsef Hunor, Ioachim Ciobanu, Alexandru Dragomir, Dorijan Milovanovik, Ilinca Nanoveanu, Igor Naumov, Pal Antal, Bogdan Panaitescu, Bogdana Pascal, Horea Pascu, Raul Skopecz, Roxana Szel, Sebastian Zsemlye

10.12.2003–17.01.2004 Human Interaction, – Irina Botea

05.11.2003-06.12.2003 Reconstructions, – Iosif Király

08.10.2003–02.11.2003 Transformative Urbanism. From Almere to Caracas, – Artists: Sabine Bitter & Helmut Weber (Austria), Exhibition realized in partnership with WienKultur

10.09.2003–05.10.2003 Connected Ideas, – Artists: Raluca Băraru, Valentina Belea, Ioana – Teodora Chirtoacă, Mirela Crăciun, Alexandra Dondera, Raluca Dumitru

09.07.2003–27.07.2003 Portfolios Review #2, – Artists: Adrian Armanca, Alex Axinte, Luminiţa Cochinescu, Cătălina Ionescu, Raluca Noveanu, Dana Postolea, Cătălin Rulea, Anda Runtag, Maria Stan, Cristina Toma

04.06.2003–06.07.2003 Selected Works, – Ola Pehrson, Exhibition realized in partnership with Swedish Embassy, IASPIS

14.05.2003–31.05.2003 Portfolios Review #1, – Artists: Nataşa Andreska, Andrei Calangiu, Iulius Costache / Andrei Iancu, Cristina David, Olivia Mihălţianu, Oana Manta, Bogdan Marcu, Catinca Mattice, Doru Popescu, Raluca Spataru, Laura Todoran

22.01.2003–16.02.2003 Beyond Photography… the Painting, – Artists: Raluca Noveanu, Sabina Spatariu, Dragoş Burlacu, Răzvan Neagoe

14.12.2002–12.01.2003 There is Fiction in the Space Between, – Artists: Harald Scherz (Austria), Casa Gontz (Romania), Hannes Böck (Austria)

27.11.2002–01.12.2002 Omulan , – Matei Branea

23.10.2002–24.11.2002 The Black Square, – Hélène Binet (Great Britain),Exhibition realized in partnership with New Europe College, British Council

02.10.2002–20.10.2002 The New Painting, – Elina Brotherus, Exhibition realized in partnership with: Finnish Embassy and FRAME – Finnish Fund for Art Exchange

25.09.2002–29.09.2002 [number one], – Artists: Adrian Armanca, Andrei Calangiu, Ştefan Cosma, Alexandra Croitoru, Nicu Ilfoveanu, Răzvan Ion, Iosif Király, Vlad Nancă, Ioana Nemeş

17.07.2002–4.08.2002 Interviewing the Cities, – At the Next Station – subREAL

15.05.2002–09.06.2002 Sight & Site / Tracks & Strikes, – Anne-Lise Dehee & Eve Couturier (France) here, now – Ştefan Cosma, Alexandra Croitoru, Ioana Nemeş

27.03.2002–26.04.2002 Walk, – Teodor Graur

27.02.2002–24.03.2002 Interactive Scenes – Zambacalamba net v.2 / Pointview / Pyramidal, – Alexandru Antik & Dragoş Ştefan

05.12.2001–31.01.2002 Five Stories, – Artists: Anca Benera / Irina Bucan Botea, Anca Ignătescu, Dilmana Iordanova, Mihaela Kavdanska, Lila Passima

05.11.2010—25.04.2011 11 artists in Balkon, – Artists: Mircea Cantor, Ştefan Cosma, Alexandra Croitoru, Aurora Dediu, Cosmin Grădinaru, Adrian Ilfoveanu, Daniel Knorr, Zoltan Kovacs, Vlad Nancă, Ioana Nemeş, Gabriela Vanga

Cultural management & artistic counselling

2017 project coordinator:, Art in context: trends and curatorial practices in contemporary art, organized by Joana Grevers Foundation, Bucharest, with the financial support of AFCN

2014-2008 selection for StartPoint Prize, Romania

2013 ACOFIN, – ART.CONSUMPTION.FINITUDE, artistic adviser, supported by AFCN

2012 project coordinator Visual Art in Romania, – Documentary Ressources, National University of Arts Bucharest, supported by AFCN

2012 project coordinator How to Understand Contemporary Art, – workshops for children between 8-14 years, realised by Galeria Nouă in partnership with MNAC, supported by AFCN

2012 member in the working team concerning the financial field no. 17, – Promoting the spanersity in culture and art in the field of cultural heritage, Financial Mechanism SEE (Romanian Government – European Foreign Affairs), representative of the Cultural Operators Association, Romania

2008-2012 project coordinator of Witnesses XXI, – Revisiting the Past / A Collection of Video Interviews project, produced by Galeria Nouă with the support of Erste Stiftung, AFCN and MNAClab

2008-2011 coach for the Swiss artists invited in AiR programme, organized by United Experts with the support of Pro Helvetia Zürich

2010 project coordinator CitiesMethodologies І Bucharest, supported by AFCN

2007 co-organizer of Are You Experienced?, curators: Nicolas Bourriaud and Paolo Falcone, presented at Galeria Nouă and MNAC

Lectures, presentations, symposia

2017 A Learning Process, in the frame of the programme ARTISTHETEACHER, coordonated by Alina Cristescu and Bogdan Rață, Calina Contemporary Art, Timișoara

2011 lecture on Cities Methodologies Bucharest in the frame of the international symposia Urban Games, ENSAD, Strasbourg

2011 lecture on Cities Methodologies Bucharest in the frame of the international project Cities Methodologies 2011, Slade Research Centre, London

2006 lecture, Global Photography – The Balkans, Tate Modern, London

2004 lecture, Bucharest Days in Vienna, Wien Kultur la Kunsthalle Wien Project Space

Awards

2018 Award of the Romanian Union of Fine Artists for the exhibition Constructed geometries: space, time, memory, 2017, Anca Poterașu Gallery

2014 Award of the Painting Department, Romanian Union of Fine Artists