Ioana Georgeta Țurcan (1990.she/them.Romania) is a farmer, an interdisciplinary artist and cultural producer, sometimes working under the avis.arys.serdi. alias.
Ioana engages with film, experimental formats, sound, photography and performative media. She is creating works and exhibitions focused on ecosystem-related themes, including landscape-based identity, fragmented personal narratives, the regeneration and the process to adapt to different forms of ambiguous loss.
In recent years, Ioana co-developed local initiatives to enhance access to art education and cultural production, facilitating workshops on analog photography, creative writing, contact sports, and filmmaking.
Since 2021, she has been part of the duo uncertain space, focusing on caregiving rituals, ambiguous loss and physical dependency.
In 2022, she co-founded the transnational artist collective an office, developing site-specific activations for Documenta 15 (Germany), Fotograf Festival (Czech Republic), and Centrul de Proiecte (Romania).
Ioana is a 2014 Fulbright Alumna and a current fellow of the ArtsLink International: US Residency, hosted by SecondShift in Minneapolis.
EDUCATION
2023 Contemporary Art and Health, Gothenburg University, Sweden
2022 Veterinary Technician Course, Minister of Education and Labour, Romania 2018 post-MA, Critical Images: Dignity and Representation Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, Sweden
2017 MFA in Film and Video Production - Syracuse University, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse, NY, USA 2015 MA in Documentary Filmmaking - Babeș- Bolyai University, Theatre and Television Faculty, Cluj Napoca, Romania
2014 Choreography, Contemporary Dance Department - T. Jarda School of Arts, Cluj Napoca, Romania
2012 BA in Image for Film and TV - Cinematography, Photography and Media Department, Babeș-Bolyai University, Theatre and Television Faculty, Cluj Napoca, Romania
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 - MAPPING THE CITY FROM THE OUTSIDE, Câmpulung, Romania
2023 - 2024 SILENT VIDEO EDITION EMBASSY, The Wrong Biennale at
+ KÜHLSPOT EDITION PAVILION, Kuhlspot Social Club, Berlin
+ MOPOMOSO EDITION PAVILION, Vortex Jazz Club London
+ MOPOMOSO TV, online
2023 ZESTRE - House of European Institutes, Timișoara, Romania
REDUX OF DECOR, The Wrong Biennale, online Contemporary Artefacts
SIRENA PAVILION, #DUMPHAUS, The Wrong Biennale, Hong Kong
AI/AI Sunderland Pavilion of the Wrong Biennale, Priestman Gallery SR1 3PZ
VANISHING POINT - OM Choreographic Center, Cluj, Romania
COATINGS VideoArt Garden - Timișoara, Romania
Tell the story or it goes, MATCA ARTSPACE - Cluj, Romania
LIFELIKE:INVOKING GHOSTS, La Cave, French Institute, Cluj, Romania
SHARE, TAG or DYE AGAIN X SHOW itinerant at:
+ CAMERA, Cluj, Romania
+ LAPSUS, Timișoara, Romania
+ Centro Civic Pati Llimona, Experimental PhotoFestival, Barcelona, Spain
+ 2/3 Galeria, Bucharest, Romania
2022 DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT shape-shifting at:
+ DOCUMENTA 15, ruruHaus, Kassel, Germany as Perpetual Stew
+ FOTOGRAF FESTIVAL, Jeleni Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic as Practices of Belonging
+ CENTRUL DE PROIECTE, Timișoara, Romania as Collective Art Dating
DARLINGS TO KILL, DARLINGS TO KISS, SwitchLab, Bucharest, Romania
HOME: a world between forgetfulness and persistence, Bastionul Tăbăcarilor, Târgu Mureș
GESTURES OF CARE, White Cuib Gallery, Cluj - Napoca, Romania
CARE FOR CAREGIVERS, Demmers Teehaus, Cluj, Romania
2021 IT WAS, IT IS, IT WILL BE. IN PROCESS itinerant at:
+ Morawa Palace, Poland
+ Academy of Fine Arts, Wrocław, Poland
+ Entropia Gallery, Poland
PROGRES 2.0, ateliers S.T.P.T, Timișoara, Romania
2020 PARADIGMS SHIFTS, ateliers S.T.P.T., Timișoara, Romania
VREME 244’33’’ – IVA.lab, Cultural Centre of Belgrade, Serbia
2019 RESTLESS IMAGE, UNRESOLVED GAZE, Cultural Centre of Belgrade, Serbia
2018 REPRESENTATIONS, INTERRUPTED, Mejan Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
ROMANIAN DESIGN WEEK, The Institute/The Point Bucharest, Romania
ART FACTORY 4, Bucharest Romania
2017 HIBERNACULUM SHOW, The Works Visual Arts Society, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
20th INTERNATIONAL OPEN, Women Made Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
LET’S BE DRAGONS. Strangers in a Strange Land part of:
MFA SHOW Community Folk Art Centre Syracuse, NY & ArtHelix, Bushwick, NY
2016 GIRL ON GIRL: SPACE + zine – Spark Contemporary Art Space, Syracuse, NY
SPARK PERFORMANCE VOL. 7 – Spark Contemporary Art Space, Syracuse, NY
IDLENESS LABOURITORY. ATTUNING, Point of Contact Gallery, Syracuse, NY
2015 WHEN THE WORLD SLEEPS – Spark Contemporary Art Space, Syracuse, NY
EATING IS A CULTURAL ACT: Notes of Rhizomes, Deserts and Ugly Fruit – Random Access Gallery -, Syracuse, NY
GIRL ON GIRL: Generation XX - Spark Contemporary Art Space, Syracuse, NY
GRANTS/AWARDS
2024 ArtLink International Fellowship, USA
2023 Energie! Creation Scholarship - Timișoara, European Capital of Culture
Script Consulting Award, MidPoint Institute, Poland
2021 ERSTE Foundation Fellowship, Austria
CoCo Pitch Award granted at Transylvania Film Festival, Cluj, Romania
2020 Pitch Award Culturepreneurs, Cluj, Romania
2018 Fine Acts Fellowship, Art+Tech Hackathon, Sofia, Bulgaria
2017 Urboteca Fellowship Programme, Bucharest, Romania
Creative Opportunity Grant, Syracuse University, NY
2016 Teaching Assistant Award, Syracuse University, NY
League of Romanian Students Abroad, Nomination Special Award in the Arts
2014 Fulbright Junior Grantee Romania/USA
SELECTED RESIDENCIES & LABS
2023 New Draft Screenwriting Residency, Bucharest, Romania
2023 ECHO III Bucharest Residency, Romania
2022 Home at Hundorf Residency, Hundorf, Romania
2021 Salzburg Summer Academy, ruangrupa course, Austria
Mind and Life Summer Research Institute, USA
2020-21 Culturepreneurs, Cluj Cultural Center, Romania
EDU-ART course of contemporary art and curating, Republic of Moldova
2019 Eso Doc Social Documentary Module Training, Norway, South Tyrol, Lithuania
Torino Film Lab Documentary Extended – Torino, Italy
Sarajevo Talents – Sarajevo Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2018 Pride X Power Lab, Sofia Pride Film Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria
Fashion Film Lab, Bucharest Fashion Film Festival, Bucharest, Romania
2017 Pustink Script Writers Residency, Port Cetate, Dolj, Romania
Interdoc Documentary Film Campus, Film TEET, Belgrade, Serbia
2016 International Filmmaking Academy, Bologna, Italy
Portfolio Weekend, WARP Contemporary Art Space and Frans Masereel Center, Antwerp, Belgium
2013 VerzioDoc Lab, Human Rights Film Festival, Budapest, Hungary
FESTIVALS/SCREENINGS
2024
Norwich Queer International Film Festival, England
2023
Biennale of Western Balkans, Greece;
The Wrong Biennale, multiple locations
Simultan Festival, Timișoara;
art200 international queer culture festival, Bucharest;
Festival of Poetry, National Museum of Literature, Bucharest
2022
Feminist Film Festival - Romania;
The Unprecedented Cinema, online
International Film Festival of Short Film - Estonia;
Buzău International Film Festival - Romania;
Premiile Sofia Nădejde - București, Sibiu, Brașov;
Drim Short Film Festival, North Macedonia;
Câmpulung Film Fest, România;
50th Festival of Nations, Upper Austria;
SiciliAmbiente, Italy;
Contis Film Festival, France;
Transilvania Shorts, Romania;
ShorTS International Film Festival, Italy;
Construir CINE, Festival Internacional de Cine Sobre el Trabajo - Argentina;
Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival, USA;
ClujShorts Film Festival, Romania;
European Short Film Festival of Bordeaux, France
Short Film Breaks - touring NGO sector and local communities in Nepal, Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, Romania, Senegal and Guatemala
2021
SCAD Savannah Film Festival, USA
Holly Shorts Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA
Indy Shorts Film Festival, Indiana, USA
Kitzbühel Filmfestival, Austria
Anonimul International Film Festival, Sfântul Gheorghe, Romania
Noaptea Albă a Filmului Românesc, Bucharest, Romania
2019
Girls on Film, National University of Cinematic Arts, Bucharest, Romania
Society for Photographic Education Media Festival, Cleveland, OH, USA
2018
Altered Estetics, USA
The Unstitute, Un[dis]criminate (site 2) - online platform
Bucharest International Dance Film Festival, Romania - Best Romanian Film Award
BIEFF - Romanian Cinematic Experiments, Bucharest, Romania
Media Art Festival, Arad, Romania
Balkans Beyond Borders, Novi Sad, Serbia
Filmul de Piatra, Piatra Neamț, Romania
Spune pe scurt, Romania
Contemporary Art Festival VideoPark, Uzice, Serbia,
A4Activism part of Romanian Design Week, Bucharest, Romania
2017
AVIFF Cannes Art Film Festival Catalogue, France
Access Code Film Festival, India
Filmmette Film Festival, New York, USA
2016
Golden Apricot International Film Festival, Armenia
Tres Court Film Festival, Cluj, Romania
Video Art, Oradea, Romania
Film Lux Fest, Luxembourg
Videocontainer, Milano, Italy
China Women Film Festival, 14th Vision Youth Awards, China
Avant Edge Film Festival, Chicago, USA
Toamna la Voroneț, Voroneț, Romania
Docu Art, Bucharest, Romania
Newark Film Festival, New Jersey, USA
TIF Video Challenge, Cyprus
Balkans Beyond Borders “Tagged in a changing world” Sofia, Bulgaria
European Film Festival (mainstream&underground), Moscow, Russia
Sudan International Film Festival, Sudan
Socially Relevant Film Festival, NY, USA
2015
Gopo Awards, Bucharest, Romania
Festival Transterritorial de Cine Underground, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cannes Film Festival, Romanian Short Waves Program, France
Euroshorts, Short Film Festival, Warsow, Poland
Les Films de Cannes a Bucarest, Romania
Les Courts de Cannes a Chișinău, Republic of Moldova
Cinemawomen Biannual, Berlin, Germany
FFest, Cluj Napoca, Romania
Republica Moldova TV screening
Filmul de Piatra, Romania
Syracuse International Film Festival, New filmmakers showcase, NY; USA
Flux Short Film Festival, Minneapolis, USA