Nona Inescu
Nona Inescu (b. 1991) lives and works between Athens, Greece, and Bucharest, Romania. Her interdisciplinary practice spans photography, sculpture, installation, and video, and is informed by sustained theoretical and literary research. Across these media, her work investigates the evolving relationship between the human body and its environment, with a particular focus on post-human perspectives and ecological entanglement.
Inescu completed her studies at the National University of Arts in Bucharest in 2016 (Photography and Video Department), following periods of study at Chelsea College of Art & Design in London (2009–2010) and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (2010–2011). These transnational experiences continue to shape a practice attentive to translation between disciplines, bodies, materials, and systems of knowledge.
A central concern in her work is the body understood as a mediating structure rather than a stable subject. Bodies function as interfaces through which the world is sensed, absorbed, and reconfigured, often through affective and material processes. This approach situates perception and vulnerability as key modes of engagement, emphasizing the body’s embeddedness within broader biological, geological, and technological systems. Geological time and environmental interrelation play a significant role in Inescu’s practice. By engaging with deep temporal scales and ecological processes, her work questions anthropocentric narratives and linear conceptions of history. Her installations and sculptural works frequently employ materials and forms that suggest exposure, preservation, or transformation. Through these strategies, Inescu explores how environments leave traces on bodies and how bodies become sites where ecological, cultural, and temporal forces intersect.
BORN 1991 IN ROMANIA
LIVES AND WORKS BETWEEN ATHENS AND BUCHAREST
EDUCATION
- 2016
National University of Arts, Bucharest, Photography and Video Department
- 2012
Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Fashion Design Department
- 2013
Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts, London
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
- 2026
Afterlife – Still Life, Art Encounters Foundation, Timisoara, RO
- 2025
Ecuator Nocturn, Galeria Catinca Tabacaru, Bucharest, RO
- 2024
Preservers (Case for the Earth), Orto Botanico di Palermo, Palermo, IT
- 2023
Grey Gardens, Centre d’Arts Plastiques, Saint-Fons, FR
Offerings, KVOST, Schaufenster, Berlin, DE- 2022
Relics. Quarries. Reliquaries, Peles Empire, Berlin, DE
- 2021
Venus Trap, Fiac!, SpazioA, Paris, FR
Waterlily Jaguar, SpazioA, Pistoia, IT- 2019
Corporealle, Künstlerhaus Bremen, curated by Nadja Quante, Bremen, DE
Verterberries, Liste, Sabot Gallery, Basel, CH
Acumen, Porcino, curated by Jesi Khadivi, Berlin, DE- 2018
An animal that was once thought to be a plant that transformed into stone, SpazioA, Pistoia, IT
- 2017
Lithosomes, Exile, Berlin, DE
- 2016
Conversation with a stone, SpazioA, Pistoia, IT
- 2015
Hands don’t make magic, Sabot Gallery, Cluj, RO
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- 2026
Have No Doubt of the Omnipotence of a Free People, Art Basel Paris w/ Catinca Tabacaru, curated by Raphael Guilbert, Paris, FR [Forthcoming]
In the Mood for Love, Trotoar Gallery, curated by Tevz Logar, Zagreb, Croatia [Forthcoming]
Have No Doubt of the Omnipotence of a Free People, Zimbabwe House, curated by Raphael Guilbert, London, UK [Forthcoming]
Atrium Durazzi, curated by Marta Cereda, Milano, IT [Forthcoming]
Paradise, Displacement, Phaistos Archeological site, curated by Panos Giannikopoulos, Crete, GR [Forthcoming]
Insular Animisms, Foundation of Anargyrios & Korgialenios School of Spetses, curated by Eva Vaslamatzi, Spetses, GR
Forensic Logic, Mara Projects x Galerie Filser & Graef, Munich, DE
Ecological Translation, Goethe Institut, curated by Asya Yaghmurian, Athens, GR
Biopersistence, Galerie UM, Prague, CZ
- 2025
Momies, Musée de l’Homme, Paris, FR
Have No Doubt of the Omnipotence of a Free People, Galeria Catinca Tabacaru, curated by Raphael Guilbert, Bucharest, RO
Louder, Taller, Uglier – Learning from Weeds, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin, DE
Why We Should All Be Feminists, /SAC, curated by Sabine Fellner & Alex Radu, Bucharest, RO
Afterlife, Haus N, curated by Amalia Vekri, Athens, GR
And the Ground Begins to Breathe, Galleria FuoriCampo, curated by Giacomo Pigliapoco, Siena, IT
Splashhh!, Point, curated by Medina Pop, Bucharest, RO
Basel Social Club w/ Catinca Tabacaru, Basel, SC
Constellations Warsaw, Gunia Nowik Gallery x Catinca Tabacaru, Warsaw, PL
Touch Nature, Lentos Kunstmuseum, curated by Sabine Fellner, Linz, AT
Imagine Climate Dignity, Künstlerhaus, curated by Barbara Holler and Simon Mraz, Vienna, AT
- 2024
The Mountain Touch, MUSE (Museo delle Scienze di Trento), curated by Andrea Lerda, Trento, IT
Ruined, Sylvia Kouvali x Import Export, Condo, London, UK
Control, Goethe Institut Bukarest, curated by Catinca Tabacaru & Raphael Guilbert, Bucharest, RO
Touch Nature, SAC, curated by Sabine Fellner, Bucharest, RO
In the mood for Interruption, Kandlhofer Galerie, curated by Tevz Logar, Vienna, AT
Earthcake, Salina Târgu Ocna, curated by Living Content (Adriana Blidaru), Târgu Ocna, RO
Like Plants, Salonul de Proiecte, curated by Anca Rujoiu, Bucharest, RO
Subjunctive mood, Lokayata Art Gallery, New Delhi, IN
NADA Miami w/ Catinca Tabacaru, Florida, USA
- 2023
Matrix Bodies, Kunstraum Niederösterreich, curated by Frederike Sperling, Vienna, AT
rooted, AKINCI Gallery, Amsterdam, NE
Wannseewandeln, Wannsee Contemporary, Berlin, DE
I constantly wonder what time it is where you are, Sector 1 Gallery, curated by Hana Ostan Ožbolt, Bucharest, RO
DER BIO-ADAPTER, Contemporary Fine Arts (CFA), Berlin, DE
Gems for the Garden, Botanical Gardens of Bucharest, curated by Adriana Blidariu, Bucharest, RO
State of Emergence, NADA East Broadway, curated by Lesia Kulchynska & Catinca Tabacaru, New York, USA
Mental Pictures, Import/Export, Warsaw, PL
- 2022
Plant Kingdom, Budapest Galeria, Budapest, HU
Aliens are temporary, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, DE
Devenir Fleurs, MAMAC, curated by Helene Guenin & Rebecca Francois, Nice, FR
Entangled Life: The Forest as Neural Network, RADIUS, curated by Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk, Delft, NE
- 2021
You sit in a garden, Centre Clark, curated by Chris Andrews, Montreal, CA
Ducato Prize, Volumnia Space, Piacenza, IT
How to be together, 4th Art Encounters Biennale, curated by Kasia Redzis and Mihnea Mircan, Timișoara, RO Musikprotokoll, Steirischer Herbst, Graz, AT
- 2020
Flow, SpazioA, Pistoia, IT
touch, Peles Empire, Berlin, DE
Olev Subbi: Landscape from the End of Times, Tallinn Art Hall, curated by Àngels Miralda, Tallinn, EE
Walking In Ice, HUA International, curated by Justin Polera & Jesi Khadivi, Berlin, DE
- 2019
The Long Term You Cannot Afford. On the Distribution of the Toxic, Savvy Contemporary, curated by Antonia Alampi, Berlin, DE
Taking Root, Kunst Im Tunnel (KIT), curated by Jurriaan Benschop, Dusseldorf, DE
The invisible inhale of an oceanic carbon breath, Etopia Centro de Arte y Tecnología, curated by Cristina Ramos, Zaragoza, SP
Rethinking the Image of the World – Projects and Sketches, EUROPALIA, Le Mill, curated by Cristian Nae & Adrian Bojenoiu, La Louviere, BE
Interconnection: On Bodies of Water, Swimming Pool Projects, curated by Veronika Čechová & Tereza Jindrová, Sofia, BG
Imbroglio (or the ability to incorporate possibilities), Like a Little Disaster, Polignano a Mare, IT
What remains is what the poets found, PS120, curated by Jesi Khadivi & Justin Polera, Berlin, DE
- 2018
Manufacturing Nature / Naturalizing The Synthetic, Frac des Pays de la Loire, curated by Diana Marincu, Carquefou, FR
Sometimes I can see it all perfectly, Soy Capitan, curated by Alisha Danscher, Berlin, DE
Flood-Tide, Love Unlimited, Glasgow, UK
10 Years of Love, SpazioA, Pistoia, IT
Blood, Stop, Space, Gold, Jose de la Fuente Gallery, curated by Diana Marincu, Santander, ES
The Inhabitant, Polansky Gallery, curated by Christina Gigliotti, Prague, CZ
- 2017
Life A User’s Manual, 2nd Art Encounters Biennial, curated by Ami Barak and Diana Marincu, Timișoara, RO
Becoming an Apricot…, Survival Kit 9, curated by Inga Lace, Jonatan Habib Enqvist, Solvita Kresse, Riga, LT
Notes on a shell, curated by Tiago Abreu Pinto & Sergio Verastegui, Marseille, FR
Monsone, Suprainfinit Gallery, curated by Domenico de Chirico, Bucharest, RO
Grotto Capitale, Exile, Berlin, DE
Notes on the Afterlife, Salonul de Proiecte, curated by Rokolectiv, Bucharest, RO
Aerial Roots, Trapez, curated by Nikolett Eross, Budapest, HU
- 2016
Gestures of Tomorrow, Kunstverein Nuernberg – Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, curated by Judith Grobe, Nuernberg, DE
Camera Plus, Biennial of Contemporary Photography and Moving Image, Iasi, RO
The Disappearance of Technology, ODD x Atelier 35, curated by Mircea Nicolae, Bucharest, RO
Künstlich! Natürlich!, Galeria Sabot, Cluj-Napoca, RO
- 2015
14 × 14 – Survey of the Danube Region, National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC Anexa), Bucharest, RO
Objects of Desire, Galeria Sabot, Cluj-Napoca, RO
RESIDENCIES
- 2026
Anargyros Art Residency, Spetses, GR
- 2023
Ad occhi chiusi… Fondazione Merz & ZACentrale, Palermo, IT
- 2022
Cite internationale des arts, Paris, FR
- 2018
XXXII Ateliers Internationaux at Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, FR
AWARDS
- 2022
Premio Ad occhi chiusi… Fondazione Merz & Artissima
- 2021
- Ducato Prize for Contemporary Art
PUBLICATIONS
Have No Doubt of the Omnipotence of a Free People, Galeria Catinca Tabacaru, Mousse, 2026
Touch Nature, Vellant, 2026 Romania
Momies, mémoires révélées, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, 2025 France
Romanian Contemporary Art 2010–2020, Rethinking the Image of the World: Projects and Sketches, Hatje Cantz, 2020
Olev Subbi: Landscapes from the end of Times, Lugemik & Tallinn Art Hall, 2020
COLLECTIONS
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE
Institut d’art contemporain Villeurbanne / Rhône-Alpes (IAC Villeurbanne), Lyon, FR
Frac des Pays de la Loire, Nantes/Carquefou, FR
Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) – Artothek collection, Berlin, DE
Zentral und Landesbibliothek Berlin – Artothek collection, Berlin, DE
MARe/Muzeul de Artă Recentă, Bucharest, RO