Geta Brătescu is one of the pioneers of conceptual art in ancient Romania. During the communist regime, which became much more repressive in the 1970s, she worked as an illustrator and graphic designer for the cultural newspaper Secolul 20. Towards the end of the 1970s, in order to develop her artistic practice, she rented a studio that would become the stage for her temporary installations, performances and film productions. In the famous Atelierul (1978), Ion Grigorescu, another major figure of Romanian conceptual art, films the performance of the artist who intervenes with her body in the room, interacts with its decor, considering it as a living space, endowed with anthropomorphic qualities, with which she is in daily contact.
She thus draws objects, which she measures with her body. Her research in visual performative art gave rise to the series Towards White (1975), Self-Portrait, Towards White (1975) and From Black to White (1976), in which she occupies the position of lead actress in various theatrical sequences.

Natasa Petrešin‐Bachelez


Courtesy of The Estate of Geta Bratescu, Hauser & Wirth and Ivan Gallery Bucharest