Galeria Nicodim

Nicodim Gallery opened in 2006, in Los Angeles and, in 2012, in Bucharest. Since September 2016, Nicodim Gallery has moved into 1000 sqm fabulous place at Combinatul Fondului Plastic. The space belongs to the Romanian Artists Union who, 26 years after the fall of communism, managed to provide an appropriate function to it.

This is the third headquarter – and the biggest so far – after the one located on Academiei street (2012-2014) and Cantacuzino Palace (Victoriei Road 2014-2016) where Nicodim Gallery has moved into. Isn’t it an act of courage to move a gallery so far away from Bucharest’s center, in a city that is so lazy? 

Cantacuzino Palace shall go into capital repairs, so we had to move out. We have enjoyed the Palace very much, but it was almost impossible for us to organize exhibitions there. The space would always limit our exhibitions, we were not able to display large artworks, we couldn’t hang heavy pieces on the walls and the ceilings were not supporting any interventions because of it being a historical building. We were always under the impression that the space was imposing strict conditions and limiting the curator’s vision. Even the photographs were supposed to be taken into a particular manner; and after an exhibition all we are left with is the documentation, therefore professional photos are extremely important. Moving out the Canatacuzino Palace wasn’t an easy thing and I believe that we took the final decision when, after moving the “Black Man” exhibition from Bucharest (June 18 – July 7, Bucharest) to Los Angeles (August 6- 20, Los Angeles) we realized that the same exhibition organized in two distinct places can look so different. Here, in the new headquarter, in this huge barn, we will be able to build exactly the exhibitions that we desire. There will be no artistic collaboration between the gallery and the Plastic Artists Union; we are only renting a space from them. We have erected some additional 9 meters tall walls and the space was shaped up; we shall open on September 30 with a personal show by Teodor Graur. We are not scared by the distance to the center because nobody comes here anyway (laughs). We had only one gallery in the center of the city capital, in a palace located on Victoriei Road, the most important boulevard of Bucharest and yet the public would only come at the opening events. The people walking on boulevards are not just popping by, accidentally into an art gallery; they don`t have this curiosity. I got used to this, and what we want right now is to build a special vibe for our exhibition and an architectural freedom for each of our shows.

——————————————————————————————————————————–

Continue reading in The Art of Living no. 16, an issue dedicated to contemporary art. DOWNLOAD