Iulia Toma
b. 1974, Romania
Lives and works in Bucharest
Iulia Toma mainly works with the textile medium, as study, backdrop for textile collage or sewn drawing, as well as in mixed-media installations, photography, text and performance. The fabrics netted in her works come from various sources, be them fragments of clothes, accessories or carpets collected by the artist, used as such or in an altered manner. Iulia Toma traces and weaves powerful, heavy, striking characters and narratives on a mount considered to be ‘feminine’, frail, perishable, from her interest in expanding the conventional limits of the medium through social issues such as feminism, women’s rights, the interpersonal relations of closed communities, the materiality of urban living, social justice, etc.
Iulia Toma lives teaches in the Department of Art & Design, Textile section at the National University of Arts Bucharest, her pedagogical and artistic activity coming together into a harmonious mix. Among the recent exhibitions she participated in there are: in 2022 “Favourite Games”, Ivan Gallery, in 2021 “Things we sense about each other”, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, “Fotbal. Realismul jocului”, Sala Floreasca, Bucharest, a project by CORNER football + society and tranzit.ro / București, in 2020 “Nodes of Resistance”, Ivan Gallery (solo show), “On Adornments”, Ivan Gallery at Spike Berlin, „Home/ward Bound/less”, Budapest Galéria, and in 2019 “Rethinking the image of the world”, MILL, La Louvière, Belgium, “Displacement and Togetherness”, Cultuurcentrum Strombeek Grimbergen, Belgium, and the 3rd Art Encounters Biennial, Timișoara, Romania.
Education
2008–present – PhD, Assistant Lecturer in the Textile Art & Design Department, Faculty of Decorative Arts and Design, The National University of Arts Bucharest
2005–2007 – The National University of Arts Bucharest, Painting Department (MFA)
2000–2004 – The National University of Arts Bucharest, Textile Art & Design Department, Decorative Arts and Design Faculty (BFA)
Solo exhibitions:
2020 – Nodes of Resistance (Ivan Gallery, Bucharest)
2016 – Dura Europos (Ivan Gallery, Bucharest)
2015 – Kinder. Küche. Kirche (Călina Gallery, Timișoara)
2014 – Untitled Fighter (Ivan Gallery, Bucharest)
Selected group exhibitions
2022 – Favourite Games (Ivan Gallery, Bucharest)
2021 – Things we sense about each other (Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe); Fotbal. Realismul jocului (Sala Floreasca, Bucharest, A project by CORNER football + society, Organized by tranzit.ro / București); Secret Language (Ivan Gallery, Bucharest)
2020 – On Adornments (Spike Berlin, organised by Ivan Gallery); Home/ward Bound/less (Budapest Galéria, Budapest)
2019 – Rethinking the image of the world (MILL, La Louvière, Belgium, part of the Europalia Arts Festival Romania); The Web of Fabric (Ivan Gallery, Bucharest); Displacement and Togetherness, (Cultuurcentrum Strombeek Grimbergen, Belgium, part of the Europalia Arts Festival Romania, curated by Salonul de proiecte); Art Encounters Biennial, (3rd edition, Timișoara, Romania, curated by Maria Lind and Anca Rujoiu); After the Canal, there was only “our” world (City Gallery – Mestna galerija, Ljubljana); Cercetări artistice asupra plantelor/ Artistic Enquiries into Plants (tranzit.ro/București, Bucharest)
2018 – At Different Angles (MNAC – The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest); Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear (Eastwards Prospectus, Bucharest)
2017 – In situ, B5 Studio (ArtEncounters Timișoara, Romania); Augumented Space Agency. Visualizing the Sound 2017 (WASP, Bucharest)
2016 – The Lesson of Nature (tranzit.ro, part of Bucharest Art Week 2016); Worker’s Day (MAGMA Contemporary Art Space, Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania); Доброе утро, Варвара Степанова /Buongiorno, Varvara Stepanova (duo show, with Claudiu Cobilanschi, GALLLERIAPIÙ, Bologna, Italy)
2015 – Mapping Bucharest: Art, Memory, and Revolution 1916-2016 (Vienna Biennale 2015, MAK Vienna); Twilled Connections (tranzit.ro, Bucharest)
2014 – Participation in Weekendul artistului dependent / The Dependent Artist’s Weekend (Arad, Romania); Working Title (MAGMA, Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania)
2013 – Dear Money (Salonul de proiecte at Viennafair); Schimbul 1, schimbul 2 și tura de noapte / Shift 1, Shift 2 and the Night Shift (Spațiul Platforma, Anexa MNAC, Bucharest)
2012 – Echilibru Tactil 2 / Tactile Balance 2 (UNAGaleria, Bucharest); Atelier in tranziție / Studio in Transition (Galateca Gallery, NAG#6); What We Destroy and Celebrate at the Same Time (Salonul de Proiecte, Bucharest); Cultura ca sistem de operare / Culture as Operating System (public space installation, Cluj, Romania)
2009 – Ruse Art Destination, Outside Viewpoint (Bulgaria)
Artistic residencies
2016 – Artist in residence at Quartier21, Museum Quartier Vienna (with Claudiu Cobilanschi)
2016 – Artist in residence at Casa Tranzit, Cluj-Napoca, Romania