Muzeul National de Arta Contemporanea

MIRCEA CANTOR
Q.E.D
10 April 2013 - 13 April 2014

Curators: Raluca Velisar, Mihai Pop
Architecture: Attila Kim

Mircea Cantor (b. 1977) is one of the most important young artists to emerge on the international art scene over the last decade. The title of his 1999 photograph, All the directions is premonitory for his artistic biography: the artist doesn’t identify himself with any particular culture or region, he works with a variety of artistically means (video, photography, drawing, sculpture) and he often refers to the concept of uncertainty to compensate the need to control specific to our times.
Quod Erat Demonstrandum (which was to be proved): Cantor’s auto-ironic title of the exhibition counterbalances the artist’s ambition to create unique, universal pieces, to operate artisti¬cally within the domain of irrefutable statements. His minimal, poetic, and metaphysical works can be viewed and interpreted in various ways because they reflect the modern world and the human contradictions.

Mircea Cantor: Q.E.D. will be on display for one year. Special events and a rotating program of video works are scheduled for early September. Eyes Starring to My Absence can be seen at the entrance of the building only on Mondays and Tuesdays, when the museum is closed to the public.

The guest room, a space integrated in the exhibition, will host each month a work by an artist or an acquaintance Cantor shares affinities with: Rudolf Bone (April), Geta Brătescu (May), Gabriela Vanga (June), Ion Grigorescu (July), Corneliu Brudașcu and Andrei Șerban (August), Victor Man (September), Oanea Vasile and Ioan Opriș (October), Ciprian Mureșan and Old Clown Wanted by Matei Vişniec, directed by Geo Balint, with Eliza Noemi Judeu, Nina Ionescu and Adelaida Perjoiu (November), Adrian Gagiu (December), Victoria Berbecaru (January), Miklós Onucsán (February), Pavel & Tudor (March).

Works in the exhibition (April – September 2013):
Unpredictable Future, 2004; Deeparture, 2005; Ciel Variable, 2007 – 2013; Threshold Resigned, 2012; DNA Kiss, 2008; Diamond Corn, 2005; All the Directions, 2000; Wind Orchestra, 2012; Vertical Attempt, 2009; Double Heads Matches, 2002-2003; The Origin of The World (After Courbet), 2008; I Sell My Spare Time, 2009; Europe Supported by Africa and Asia, 2009; More Cheeks Than Slaps, 2011; Holy Flowers, 2010; Fishing Fly, 2011; Eyes Staring to My Absence, 2008; SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI, 2012 – 2013; Business Class Worried, 2013; I decided not to save the world, 2011; Rainbow, 2010; With a Free Smile, 2007; Hymn For a Big Day, 2012.

Works in the exhibition (September 2013 – April 2014):
Unpredictable Future, 2004; The leash of the dog that was longer than his life, 2009; Ciel Variable, 2007 – 2013; Threshold Resigned, 2012; DNA Kiss, 2008; Diamond Corn, 2005, All the Directions, 2000; Wind Orchestra, 2012; Vertical Attempt, 2009; Zooooooom, 2006; The Origin of The World (After Courbet), 2008; I Sell My Spare Time, 2009; Europe Supported by Africa and Asia, 2009; More Cheeks Than Slaps, 2011; Easy, 2008; Fishing Fly, 2011; Eyes Staring to My Absence, 2008; SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI, 2012 – 2013; Tracking Happiness, 2009; Business Class Worried, 2013; I decided not to save the world, 2011; Rainbow, 2010; With a Free Smile, 2007; Color Silent, 2010 – 2013.

Mircea Cantor was born in Romania in 1977. He lives and works “on earth”.
His major solo exhibitions include Mircea Cantor, Centre Pompidou (2012); Sic Transit Gloria Mundi, MACRO Museo di Arte Contemporanea, Roma, (2012). More Cheeks Than Slaps, Le Crédac, France, (2011); Wise as a Serpent and Innocent as a Dove, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Monchengladbach, Germany, (2010). Mircea Cantor solo show, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich (2009), The Need for Uncertainty, Modern Art Oxford and Arnolfini, Bristol and Camden Arts Centre, London (2008-2009); Ciel Variable, Fonds Régional d ́Art Contemporain Champagne Ardennes – FRAC, France (2007); The Title Is the Last Thing, Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA (2006). And group shows: Our Magic Hour – Yokohama Triennale, Yokohama, Japan (2011); Airs de Paris, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2007); and 4th Berlin Biennale (2006).

He won the Marcel Duchamp Award, Paris in 2011 and the prize of the Fondation d'entreprise Ricard, Paris in 2004.