The exhibition “Lia & Dan Perjovschi. DRAFT for a joint retrospective”

Lia and Dan Perjovschi, laureates of the Princess Margriet Award of the European Cultural Foundation, have exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, MoMA New York, and the Walker Art Center.

Eugen Cojocariu, 06.06.2026, 14:00

At ARCUB – Hanul Gabroveni, in the heart of the capital, one of the most anticipated exhibitions of 2026 has opened: “DRAFT for a Joint Retrospective,” signed by artists Lia Perjovschi and Dan Perjovschi. It is the first time these two emblematic figures of Romanian contemporary art bring their works together on Romanian soil, in a project marking four decades of artistic activity. The exhibition remains open until 26 July 2026.

Lia and Dan Perjovschi, laureates of the Princess Margriet Award of the European Cultural Foundation, have exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, MoMA New York, and the Walker Art Center. Yet, a joint retrospective in Romania had long been missing. Eugen Cojocariu spoke with artist Lia Perjovschi about the concept behind this retrospective and what visitors encounter: “A forty year career for each of us. What we observed locally, wherever we travelled, and perhaps the solutions we found for survival. Because in a way, we want to convey this message: that everything depends on us. We create our own reality, but it is important to know what we want. To choose, to be both the subject and the object of history. To be the subject means that you decide your life, your interventions, how you choose to be, to act, and what you want to do. To be the object means to be moved around by others who know what they want to do. Some are too dynamic and become negative, pushing you from place to place, while others simply have no time, being absorbed in what they believe they must do. So, with or without intention, you are pushed aside. The point is to choose to be the subject, to shape your own life. There are no advantaged or disadvantaged people. There are only people who work very hard and people who do not believe in their own power to change something. You must search for what suits you and create, because no one is here by accident. We all have something to do, and the more problems we face – now we are in a time of war, of major technological shifts that unsettle us – the more we must make sense of it through continuous self education.  Ignorance, in an age of the internet and endless access, is now a choice.”

What artistic elements does the exhibition include? Lia Perjovschi explains: “Videos, experiments in which we worked with the body because it was inexpensive and because we were curious how we could express ourselves without drawing. Postcards are more Dan’s territory. We both did mail art starting in ’85 – art sent through the post. We had a few addresses and imagined we were connected to the whole planet. And we can still use the post to send signs through it, while it still exists. In some countries it no longer does. There are objects, sculptures, paintings, fragments of projects. Dan has an immense CV, and each line in that CV represents an exhibition – drawn spaces, many rooms, or a single room, or a wall – and many images taken from the internet that carry, I believe, very useful information. Objects that suggest something, and I am sure visitors will understand if they ask themselves what they see and explain what they think. We are available to anyone. We will also have tours and invited guests.”

All the rooms of Hanul Gabroveni are activated by this dual artistic presence. On one side, mural interventions and incisive drawings by Dan Perjovschi—commentaries on political actuality and everyday social life. On the other, the installations and research based projects of Lia Perjovschi. An exhibition at the intersection of art, archiving, and knowledge. Artist Dan Perjovschi: “A retrospective of forty years of career. We have built a very rich international career. In fact, it is an exhibition in three CVs – Lia’s, mine, and one shared. You will see dozens and hundreds of exhibitions. We made a selection to show the world what it takes to perform today. It is very hard work. And that is visible in the exhibition – from around 1985 until today.”

Why the title “DRAFT for a Joint Retrospective”? Dan Perjovschi: “It is called DRAFT because it is one of the possible ways we can summarise a very rich activity. The ARCUB building is shaped like a U. One wing is Lia, one wing is me. And we meet upstairs, in a kind of shared room where we symbolically recreated our studio, which we had for twenty years in Bucharest and where, around a table, we discussed art and society for two decades. This exhibition shows different experiences, because even though we were born in the same city and met at ten years old, our paths were not identical. But they intersect from time to time. And so it is here. We may treat the same subject, but in very different ways. Visitors have the chance to see a more stereo view of the world. And if two artists, spouses, who have lived together for countless years – almost their golden wedding – see things differently, it means there are many other visions of the world. It is richer than we think. That is what we show here. But we had to make a selection – there are six rooms. There is a large cellar, a basement where we placed videos from before the fall of communism and immediately after. And as you go upstairs, you reach the present day, where she presents one of her installations gathering all her recent projects. It is called the Museum of Knowledge. And I create a kind of timeline of a work called Anthropograms, which begins as a drawing in 1986 and becomes performance, video installation, and finally sculpture in 2026. People can follow this trajectory. They can make their own path – small discoveries. Entering Lia’s space is like stepping into Alice in Wonderland. It is Mary Poppins at Lia’s. Objects bought from shops and museums around the world placed in dialogue with one another. A world of extreme curiosity. The exhibition has multiple speeds. You can see it in ten minutes if you rush, or spend ten hours if you have the time. We built it to offer each visitor the time they have. The entire exhibition is like a single artwork, a collage. It is unique; it will not be repeated elsewhere. We built it here; we did not bring it ready made. Our motto, visible in the exhibition, is: Do what you can with what you have, not with what you dream of having.” (EE)