Weekend calendar: Night of Museums, Dokstation, World Press Photo, Asia Food Fest, Shakespeare Festival in Craiova
From late-evening museum wanderings and documentary screenings to global photography and food discoveries, the weekend brings some of the season's most awaited events.
In Bucharest:
Night of Museums
May 23
More than 300 museums across 39 counties will open their doors for the event with exhibitions, guided tours and special events, most of them with free admission. More details here.
Dokstation
May 20 – May 24
The only festival in the country dedicated to music documentaries invites the public to enjoy a wide range of genres, from funk to electronic, experimental music, rock, punk, metal, jazz, world music, and the '80s new wave. More details on the program here.
Cinema Under the Moonlight
May 21 - May 29
TIFF is resuming its Cinema Under the Moonlight program at Promenada Mall, which will host four open-air screenings, taking place on Thursdays and Fridays starting at 8:00 PM. Admission is free. More here.
World Press Photo
May 19 – June 19
The free-entry exhibition, held in University Square, gathers the most striking stories of the past twelve months, on topics such as the overreach of power, the climate crisis, war and conflict, but also resilience, rebuilding, and the dignity of people who refuse to give in.
Bucharest Organ Fest Cantus Ecclesiae
Until May 24
The festival is dedicated to exploring the organ in its many artistic forms and features numerous international guests. More details here.
POiESiS
Until May 24
This mini-festival that brings together the visual and performing arts in a hybrid format covering exhibitions, poetry, live music, performance, and book launches. More here.
Open Streets
Until October 11
For 25 weekends, the capital’s central area will host various concerts, shows, parades, workshops for children, sports activities, and guided tours. Calea Victoriei becomes pedestrian again, and, as a novelty this year, the route is extended to Ion Brezoianu Street, which is included in the program for the first time. More info here.
Art Safari
Until July 19
The art event returns with another edition featuring exhibitions dedicated to Nicolae Vermont, Mihai Eminescu, and one gathering works by Felix Aftene. More details here.
Concerts @ George Enescu Philharmonic
May 21, 22
Gabriel Bebeșelea conducts the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra for a program of works by Chopin and Schubert. Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason is the soloist. More details here.
Vlad Nancă – Construction Time Again
Until June 6
Titled after a Depeche Mode album, the exhibition imagines the relocation of modernism onto another planet. Fragments of a promising future envisioned in the second half of the 20th century re-emerge in mosaics, sculptures, and subtle series of works on paper – not nostalgically, but as a new chance within a speculative universe. This is Vlad Nancă’s first solo exhibition with Gaep. More details here.
Liliana Basarab - Not Cruel, Truthful
Until June 26
Liliana Basarab’s solo exhibition, open at Sandwich Neurohope, welcomes the public with works that bring into focus “routines recovered through a drifting gaze, one that shifts from what is expected to be seen toward the peripheral, toward underexplored social niches.”
Ramon Sadîc – Supernova
Until June 26
Ramon Sadîc’s first solo exhibition in collaboration with Sandwich brings together a series of paintings through which the artist “probes his position within a context marked by social and political instability, constructing a visual meditation on contemporary uncertainty.”
Asia Food Fest
May 22 – May 24
Bucharest’s Titan Park hosts this event that will gather hundreds of exhibitors, dancers and creators for a meeting with Asian culture. More details here.
In the country:
More Real than Nature
Until May 31
This group exhibition, open at Jecza Gallery in Timişoara, explores the evolving relationship between the figurative and the abstract within the context of contemporary visual culture. More here.
Nona Inescu - Afterlife – Still Life
Until June 6
Nona Inescu's solo exhibition at Isho Office in Timişoara consolidates her practice of recent years, which includes photography, objects, installations, video and sound, and explores the relationship between the human body and the environment from a post-humanist perspective. More here.
Oláh Gyárfás - The Broken Corner of the Cube
Until June 6
Also on view at Isho Office, the exhibition explores the relationships between humans and the plant and animal world, using ecologically responsible production methodologies. More here.
Tears That Laugh, Laughs That Cry
Until June 21
The exhibition, open at NOCA Oradea, explores the multiple facets of crying and laughter by bringing together twenty intergenerational and multicultural artistic positions. More here.
Romanian Creative Week
Until May 24
For 12 days, Iași turns into a space of contemporary creativity, bringing together more than a thousand artists, designers, architects, cultural entrepreneurs, innovators, and content creators from Romania and abroad. More details here.
Craiova International Shakespeare Festival
May 21 – May 31
This year’s theme, Will Matters, is an invitation to discover “will as creative energy, in a city that, for eleven days, transforms into an open stage.” More on the program here.
