Artists from Romania and the Moldova, at four European urban art festivals
Murals, installations and street interventions created by eight artists from Romania and the Republic of Moldova are presented at some of the most important European urban art festivals: Wallz Festival (Pilsen, July 23-27), 167B Street (Lecce, August 2-6), Helsinki Urban Art (Helsinki, September 1-5) and Amsterdam Street Art – ASA (Amsterdam, September 15-20).
The artists are OCU, Alex Baciu, IRLO, Raluca Ilaria Demetrescu, Delia Cîrstea, Roper, Denis Nanciu and Dima Potapov. They also participated in the Millerntor Gallery Festival #13, which took place in Hamburg from June 27 to July 4.
Their participation is part of the international cultural exchange program Artist on the Go, funded by the Romanian Cultural Institute through the Cantemir Program. ICR is not responsible for the content of the project or how its results may be used.
The relationship between language and reality
Under the theme “How real is REAL?”, artists present murals, installations and street interventions that explore the relationship between language and reality in a social context marked by fake news, visual manipulation and fragmented perceptions. Through linguistic games and typographic compositions, the works creatively integrate ambiguous words or “false friends” – terms that, although identical in form in two languages, have different meanings. Thus words such as “no” (Romanian: negation; Dutch: now) or “tot” (Romanian: complete; German: dead) become pretexts for artistic reflection and intercultural dialog.
Artist on the Go creates a platform for artistic mobility and transnational collaboration in which street art becomes a tool for questioning reality and social cohesion. Each stage of the project will be documented and promoted online, and the creative process will be presented to the public in a final exhibition and conference, organized between September 25 and 30, 2025.
The project marks an important moment for the urban art scene in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, representing the first step towards the establishment of an international network of cultural exchanges in this field. At the same time, it gives visibility to diverse artistic voices and opens new directions of aesthetic and social exploration.
This year, the Romanian Cultural Institute is funding 20 international projects under the Cantemir Program, with the theme “Culture matters!”, on four continents, in 22 countries. The total budget allocated is 2 million lei, distributed equally between performing and visual arts. The Cantemir Program, through its co-financing mechanism, supports the promotion of Romanian culture in the international environment and facilitates partnerships between Romanian cultural operators and prestigious institutions abroad.
