Opening of the new MNAC exhibition season, Autumn–Winter 2026, 05.11.2026 – 17.01.2027 © photo: Radu Mocanu / MNAC Bucharest
Opening of the new MNAC exhibition season, Autumn–Winter 2026, 05.11.2026 – 17.01.2027 © photo: Radu Mocanu / MNAC Bucharest
Opening of the new MNAC exhibition season, Autumn–Winter 2026, 05.11.2026 – 17.01.2027 © photo: Radu Mocanu / MNAC Bucharest
The process
The last days before the opening were super busy: 163 pieces of cardboard to glue for the characters’ Unité d’habitation, panels to hang, labels to write. It was a team effort, with Alexandra (our curator), George (our photographer), Ruxi (our architect), Dana (our project manager) and Hera (our communication coordinator), and we also had a lot of help. Thank you above all to Matei Emanuel, who helped us assemble and carry everything, to Nicoleta Coman and the MNAC team, to Mirel Biriș, who helped us bring some materials, and to Axi, who helped us cut the cardboard pieces.
The book
“The Resilience of the Forgotten Fairy Tale: Modernism” brings together the photographs of our sixteen mediator characters, three texts and three games that challenge you to go out and play in your own city. Architect Ruxandra Antal reads modernism as architectural history, curator Alexandra Elisabeta Moț as a way of looking, and I read it as a method. It’s bilingual, Romanian–French, and we printed only 100 copies.
Book launch: this Friday
Friday 13 November, 19:00, French Institute in Bucharest, Atrium hall, 77 Dacia Boulevard. Free entry, in Romanian. Thank you to the French Institute in Romania, and especially to Ioana Alexandru and Mélanie Martini, for hosting us and for their support throughout the project.
And a discussion
With architect Ilinca Pop Galațianu (MuzA), visual artist Bogdan Gîrbovan and me, moderated by Karin Ungureanu, the book’s translator. We’ll talk about mediating modernist heritage, about utopias as past forms of the future and why they matter to a new generation, about play as a way of understanding critically, and about the distance and closeness between Romanian and French architecture. We’ll have a few copies of the book there.
Take a character with you
At the exhibition you’ll find cardboard characters you can take home. Walk them around the city, take a photo and send it to us or tag @miculhaos. We’ll print it and add it to the exhibition.
Workshop for teenagers
Sunday 22 November, 11:00–14:30, at MNAC: “Re-cuceriri urbane: Cinema Patria”, for ages 15 to 18, free, 20 places, in Romanian. Sign up. A second workshop follows on 5–6 December.
The exhibition is open until 17 January 2027 at MNAC Bucharest, Palace of the Parliament, wing E4 (entrance from Calea 13 Septembrie).
Keep playing,
Maria & the team
Organised by Asociația Laborator Artistic. Partners: the French Institute in Romania, MNAC Bucharest, De-a Arhitectura Association, Institutul Jocului. Media partner: Zeppelin. Film developing: Isopatrusute.
The cultural project “The Resilience of the Forgotten Fairy Tale: Modernism” is co-funded by the National Cultural Fund Administration. The project does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Cultural Fund Administration. The National Cultural Fund Administration is not responsible for the content of the project or for how the project's results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the grant recipient.