Plan B
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Galeria Plan B opened in 2005 in Cluj, Romania, initiated by Mihai Pop and Adrian Ghenie. Plan B functions as a production and exhibition space for contemporary art; at the same time it is a research center focusing on the Romanian art of the last 50 years, by revealing works of remarkable artists without previous international exposure.
The name of the gallery—Plan B—is a reference to the general situation of the insufficient public resources supporting art spaces in Romania and the constant need to find alternative solutions. The ‘plan B’ strategy is animated by individual involvement, a different understanding of the institutional, and a coherent managerial policy.
In 2008 Plan B opened a permanent exhibition space in Berlin and is coordinated since then by Mihai Pop and Mihaela Lutea.
The gallery was initially located in a former industrial space near Hamburger Bahnhof Museum and in March 2012 relocated to a ground floor space in Potsdamer Strasse, in the former Tagesspiegel building complex, now housing several art galleries.
In 2009 Plan B was one of the initiators of the project Fabrica de Pensule / The Paintbrush Factory in Cluj. Plan B Cluj is undertaking a process of redefining itself towards a documentation center hosting an archive of the Romanian art from the last decades and a program of research and artist talks addressed especially to young scholars and art students. The research and documentation programs are coordinated by Diana Marincu, curator and art critic. The new gallery space design is a project of by the architecture office Planwerk, Cluj.
Outside the framework of the gallery program, Mihai Pop co-curated several group exhibitions in the context of the Prague Biennale 4, a section of the exhibition Romanian Cultural Resolution at Spinnerei Leipzig and Club Electroputere Craiova, and Mircea Pinte Collection at the Museum of Art Cluj.
In 2007 Plan B was the organizer of the Romanian Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale, curated by Mihnea Mircan and including the artists Victor Man, Cristi Pogacean, Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor, Christoph Büchel & Giovanni Carmine.
Mihai Pop is the curator of the Romanian Pavilion at the 56nd Venice Biennale in 2015, artist Adrian Ghenie.
Mihai Pop and Mihaela Lutea edited several art publications or artist books, such as: Ciprian Muresan, Artists Book (2009), Dead Weights (2013), The Suicide Series (2014). Mihai Pop is the editor of Ciprian Muresan’s monograph “Drawings 2015– 2004”, published by Hatje Cantz Verlag in the spring of 2015. Together with Juerg Judin, Mihai Pop the editor of the catalog “Adrian Ghenie – Darwin’s Room”, published by Hatje Cantz Verlag in conjunction with Editura Humanitas, Bucharest, on the occasion on the Romanian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015.
The gallery is participating in the following art fairs: Independent New York (2015), Art Basel Hong Kong (2013-2015), sp-arte Sao Paulo (2014, 2015), Frieze Art Fair New York (2012-2014), LISTE Basel (2007-2011, 2014-2015), Art Basel (2012, 2013), art berlin contemporary (2013,2014), Viennafair (2006, 2007, 2010-2014), Frieze Art Fair London (2009-2014), FIAC Paris (2010-2014),
Art Rotterdam (2011), The Armory Show New York (2007-2010), Art Brussels (2012), ARCOmadrid (2012), Art Cologne (2009) and Art Forum Berlin (2008, 2009).
Team:
Cluj
Mihai Pop, director
Diana Marincu, program coordinator
Flaviu Cacoveanu, gallery assistant and registrar
Berlin
Mihaela Lutea, director
Radu Oreian, gallery assistant
Diana Popovici, gallery assistant and registrar
