a delicate performance
Our presence in other people’s minds is a performance. Once we enter someone else’s mind, that performance can only change if the relationship itself is renewed. This immaterial ambassador is taken over by the minds of others, where it continues to perform every day on the stage of memory, alongside thousands of other internal avatars. We cannot control its setting, duration, or impact, as it is shaped by circumstances to which we once contributed. Over time, this avatar deteriorates and becomes increasingly detached from our own self-image. Can we control how we are represented in the inner theatre of others? How might we bring our ambassador closer to who we are in the present?
Jean-Lorin Sterian is an artist, writer, and researcher. Between 2008 and 2015, he founded and ran lorgean theatre, Romania’s first living-room theatre, and in 2014 he launched HomeFest, a festival dedicated to performing arts in domestic spaces. He holds a PhD in Anthropology, proposing a new field of study: homemade culture. He is the author of the novels Lorgean (2007) and Whoreshop (2019), as well as several collections of short stories and poetry, the latest being shutApp (2025). As a performer, he participated in two projects at the Venice Biennale: The Sinthome Score (Dora Garcia, 2015) and An Immaterial Retrospective of the Venice Biennale (Pirici & Pelmuș, 2013). In 2015, he left dirty socks in every national pavilion as part of the independent project The Parasite Socks Project. His solo exhibitions include Exuviation (Vienna, 2022; Sofia, 2026) and World Sees You as It Is (Zagreb, 2023). Since 2024, he has been living in Timișoara as part of his plan to turn the rest of his life into a sabbatical year.
A Delicate Performance is part of the public programme of the exhibition feels like it stopped raining, curated by Diana Marincu and Mihai Toth. The exhibition brings together works by Dan Cebotari, Ciprian Ciobanu, Anca Adina Cojocaru, Gloria Grati, Lucian Indrei, Mirela Ivanciu, Raluca Micula, musz, Imminent detour, and Szabó Anna-Mária, exploring the subtle transformations that occur when something shifts within us. The guided tour and performance offer an opportunity to experience the exhibition from a new perspective, through a dialogue between artworks, the body, and presence.
The exhibition is open until 1 August, Thursday through Saturday, 12:00–6:00 PM.
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The exhibition is co-funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN) and supported by Banca Transilvania as strategic partner, Catena as exhibition partner, ISHO Timișoara and Ploom as event programme partners. The educational programme is developed in partnership with the Faculty of Arts and Design – West University of Timișoara (UVT).
Media partners: Revista Arta, Radio România Cultural, Empower Artists, RFI România, Contemporary Lynx, Zeppelin, Igloo, Radio Guerrilla, and Propagarta.
This project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN). AFCN is not responsible for the project’s content or for the way its results may be used. These remain entirely the responsibility of the funding recipient.
