Women at Work — Crossroads, Rhythms, and Continuities
- Multichannel video installation,
- Performative lectures
- Recommended age: 12+
45 min.
07.11.2026
Saturday
17:00
Info
Women at Work — Crossroads, Rhythms, and Continuities is an evolving archive initiated in 2023 by Simona Deaconescu (choreographer and director) and Flor Firvida Martin (choreographer and researcher). The project, comprising a multi-channel video installation, a performative reading, and a participatory space open to visitors, will be exhibited at the National Museum of Contemporary Art of Romania from November 5, 2026 to January 17, 2027.
“How can we archive movement that becomes a witness to the work we do within the social context in which we live? In 2023, Simona Deaconescu and Flor Firvida Martin began a video and movement archive, documenting conversations with women and trans and non-binary people from countries across Eastern Europe and Latin America. Women at Work – Crossroads, Rhythms, and Continuities becomes a work that continuously grows through encounters between the artists and the different communities they engage with. Overlapping, intersectional identities – shaped by socio-economic and cultural status, race, class, sexual orientation, and identity – converge in the activation of personal experiences of discrimination or privilege. Through this lens, the artists reject the idea of a single form of femininity, identification, or experience of being a woman in the world. Flor Firvida Martin and Simona Deaconescu situate the project at the intersection of performance and video installation, integrating the two media to create multiple layers of interpretation and a cultural and social panopticon of the relationship between labour and the body. In this sense, performativity remains a connecting element – whether we are referring to the self-performativity of the women being filmed or to the way in which the artists interact and generate new choreographic propositions based on the video documentation.
Women at Work – Crossroads, Rhythms, and Continuities becomes an essential gesture because the artists give voice to women from Mexico, Ecuador, Romania, and the Republic of Moldova – some of whom already have strong voices through activism and endurance, while others remain silent within the communities in which they build their lives. Behind these conversations lies the need to tell their stories and the desire to respond to questions concerning work, the body, their roles within family and society, the challenges they face, and how these challenges are experienced. They are women, trans people, and non-binary people whom feminist theorist Silvia Federici identifies as essential within an anti-capitalist context – not (only) through the work they perform, but also through their relationship to care, subsistence, and a relationship with a world that acknowledges nature and connections to ancestral roots.”
(Alexandra Mihali, curator)
By: Simona Deaconescu & Flor Firvida Martin
Biographies
Simona Deaconescu (b. 1987) is a choreographer and experimental film director working across performance, installation, and cinema. Through temporal ambiguity and the dissociation of meaning, she creates tense choreographic compositions as a critical response to the world we live in. Exploring conflicting human desires in relation to nature, history, and technology, her projects have received support from international networks including Moving Digits, MODINA, biofriction, and Forecast. She has been nominated as an Aerowaves and Moving Balkan artist, received the CNDB Award, and was appointed an associated artist of The National Center for Dance Bucharest.
Her works have been presented across Europe, the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In 2026, she presents recent works at festivals including Tanz im August (Berlin), tanzmainz festival (Mainz), and Bazaar Festival (Prague), alongside further performances in Romania and Spain, while developing new premieres with her long-term collaborators Flor Firvida Martin and Vanessa Goodman.
Flor Firvida Martin (b. 1985) is a choreographer, researcher, and curator based in Mexico City. Her practice moves between choreography, performance, and audiovisual media, engaging with expanded formats such as installation and performative lectures. Through situated approaches, she explores the tense relationships between body, territory, and community, intertwining choreographic thinking with social and political imaginaries. She holds a BA in Choreographic Composition from UNA, Buenos Aires, and a Master’s degree in Social Sciences and Humanities from UAM, Mexico. Her work has been presented across Latin America and Europe. She has co-led platforms for urban experimentation and residency programmes, and currently teaches in the LIMINAL diploma programme at UANL and co-leads the CUICLi collective residencies. She is regularly invited to lead workshops and seminars on public space and choreographic thinking. She writes about the intersections of art, politics, and aesthetics, understanding theory and writing as embodied practices.
Schedule
Exhibition opening: November 5, 6:00 p.m.;
Performative readings: November 5, 7:00 p.m. & November 6–7, 5:00 p.m.
Participation
Admission to the exhibition opening on November 5 is free.
Admission on November 6 and 7 requires a museum admission ticket.
The exhibition and performative readings Women at Work — Crossroads, Rhythms, and Continuities are part of the multi-year programme Body Narratives. Collective Actions (2025–2026), coordinated by Tangaj Collective Association and co-funded by Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN).
The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN). AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or for the manner in which its results may be used. Full responsibility for these lies with the funding beneficiary.
Iridescent 2026 partners
Institutional Partners
Ministry of Culture · Aerowaves · Moving Balkans · European Union · Onassis Stegi · Greek Embassy in Bucharest · Hellenic Union of Romania · Italian Cultural Institute in Bucharest · MNAC – National Museum of Contemporary Art of Romania · “I.L. Caragiale” National Theater · “Grigore Antipa” National Museum of Natural History
Cultural Partners
LINOTIP – Independent Choreographic Center · /SAC @ Berthelot & Malmaison · Tangaj Collective Association · Cărturești · Cinema Union · Terapie Pentru Mișcare · Petec Association · O2G Association · Theaters
Main Media Partner
Radio Guerrilla
Media Partners
Zile și Nopți · Matca Magazine · Scena Magazine · Arta Magazine · ELLE · TVR Cultural · Munteanu Recomandă · AGERPRES · VisitBucharest · Radio România Cultural · Haute Culture · Liternet · The Institute · Ceașca de Cultură · Daily Magazine · Modernism · Zeppelin · Iscoada · B-Critic · România Pozitivă
05.11.2026
Thursday
18:00
Thursday
18:00
05.11.2026
Thursday
19:00
Thursday
19:00