Observation Practices – Alina Andrei (RO) & Mauricio Gamboa (NO)

Contemporar is hosting a residency featuring two artists—Alina Andrei (RO) and Mauricio Gamboa (NO).

Their collaboration takes inspiration from Sophie Calle’s Ghosts, which uses personal stories to reflect on artworks that are no longer present—whether damaged, stolen, or otherwise removed from public view. Similarly, Alina and Mauricio’s project will explore memory and storytelling within Cluj’s local art scene. While Sophie Calle revives the memory of lost artworks, Alina and Mauricio will create a subjective portrait of the local scene through personal accounts of artworks that have impacted artists, curators, and other cultural voices.

During the residency, the artists will engage with members of Cluj’s art community to collect stories about artworks that have lingered in their minds. These works, remembered for their emotional, conceptual, or historical significance, will help piece together an intimate and nuanced view of the city’s recent artistic evolution.

Rather than a formal archive or historical timeline, the result will be a collection of fragmented memories—a mosaic of how art resonates in individual lives and shapes the identity of a community. By focusing on the narratives surrounding artworks rather than the works themselves, the project examines how art is remembered, shared, and experienced on a deeply personal level.

Through this collaboration, Alina and Mauricio aim to craft a project that not only highlights Cluj’s vibrant art scene, but also celebrates the act of remembering as a shared, creative process. Personal yet relatable, their work underscores the enduring power of art to connect people and define a cultural moment.

About the artists

Alina Andrei is an artist, curator, and custodian who lives and works in Cluj, Romania. Since 2017, she has been the curator of the White Cuib art space. Together with George Roşu, she also curated Raft Cluj (within the Paintbrush Factory) and Raft Braşov (within the Multicultural Center of Transylvania University).

Alina Andrei writes and photographs. Sometimes, she tells stories for grown ups, using paper characters or cement objects. In recent years, she has been creating photo installations. These stories are often exhibited in galleries or published in limited-edition fanzines. In 2020, she illustrated the poetry book Expectativa luminoasă by Andrei Dósa, published by the Cluj-based OMG publishing house.

Mauricio Gamboa is a multimedia artist with more than 30 years of experience in creating art, posters, events and live concerts. His main focus is photography, videography and CG-animation but he is also a DJ, VJ and event manager. His creativity and eagerness sets him apart and his social skills have enabled him to easily produce a wide range of collaborative events, both big and small. He currently lives in Bergen, Norway with his girlfriend.