Miriam Răducanu – an exhibition-archive with senZ. Opening reception and catalog launch

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For me, the art of dance has never, not even for a moment, been separated from senZ.
— Miriam Răducanu

A word that keeps coming up when working with Miriam is senZ. With a “Z.” That way of “saying it” was, on her part, perhaps unconscious, but a revealing combination of two concepts: that of senS—meaning, but also direction, vector—and that of senZație; and, why not, senZualitate as well…
— Gigi Căciuleanu

The exhibition is a reenactment of the archive that dancer and choreographer Miriam Răducanu has thoughtfully left behind—through photographic and video documents, as well as interviews—in the memories of those who danced with her, learned from her, or watched her as audience members. Seeking senZ in Miriam Răducanu’s archive means, first and foremost, discovering the original meaning of what Miriam sought to achieve in her work, but also revealing aspects related to the ephemerality and fragility of what remains after the dance, the role of archives in dancers’ lives, and their current potential for future generations. These documents are not mere traces; as we explore them, they become steps imbued with meaning.

The exhibition traces the choreographer’s artistic journey over half a century and brings together for the first time photographic and video documents recovered from both public archives in Romania and the private archives of those who have collaborated with Miriam Răducanu from the 1960s to the present, such as Gigi Căciuleanu, Raluca Ianegic, Liana Tugearu, and Ioan Tugearu, as well as from the choreographer’s personal archive.

Dedicating an exhibition to Miriam Răducanu today means taking the step of placing her within the lineage of modern dance, it means viewing her through a kaleidoscope of different research perspectives, which, rather than exhaustively revealing her artistic achievements, seek to reflect on her artistic trajectory and understand how her work has continually broken through the established order of things and bodies in both dance and theater. It means realizing that the act of looking back is always imbued with the present. Recovering the multiple fragments of meaning in Miriam Răducanu’s work highlights their resonance with what dance today embodies so vividly in its artistic and critical dimensions, as well as in the liveliness of the performative gesture and the thinking behind it. Guided by this approach, the exhibition is structured around the worlds that Miriam Răducanu opened up, rather than as a chronological sequence of artistic achievements. Miriam Răducanu is part of the infinite library of choreographic art, indispensable to any advancement in today’s performing arts.

The exhibition is the result of monographic archival research and projects aimed at revitalizing the choreographic cultural heritage, dedicated to the dancer and choreographer Miriam Răducanu, carried out over the past 15 years through individual or collective projects that the National Dance Center in Bucharest (CNDB) has consistently supported in order to recover and revive her artistic and pedagogical journey.

The exhibition was produced by the National Centre for Dance in Bucharest in partnership with Rezidența9I BRD in 2024 to mark the artist’s centennial. On October 17, 2026, Miriam Răducanu will celebrate her 102nd birthday.

During the festival, October 8–11, the public will be able to participate in a series of related events as part of the exhibition: a catalog launch, a performance, guided tours, a dance workshop, and a special film screening.

The exhibition will make its debut in Cluj on October 8, and the exhibition catalog will be launched at the opening, in the presence of coordinator Corina Cimpoieru, researcher and coordinator of the CNDB Media Library and Archive, and curator Suzana Dan, artistic director of Rezidența9 / Fundația9 | BRD. The exhibition’s opening also marks the start of the festival, and the exhibition will be open to the public through October 30, 2026.