The Institute of the Present (IP) is a research and an artist resource platform in the field of visual and performing culture conceived by Ștefania Ferchedău and Alina Șerban.
The working formats include: the artist and theory resource platform institutulprezentului.ro open to the professionals and to the general public alike; an educational programme centered on (self-)pedagogic practices and artistic concepts; a research programme dedicated to the imaginative, subjective and historical connections present in the artistic process and its accompanying theoretical discourse, as well as to the mobility of concepts and theories. The working formats include research projects, the lecture series “Looking Forward, Looking Back,” the COLLEGIUM workshops and residencies, laboratories such as “The World According To…,” exhibition dossiers, such as “24 Arguments. Early Encounters in Romanian Neo-Avant-Garde 1969-1971” and “The Modern Idol. Henry Moore in the Eastern Bloc” (hosted the National Museum of Art of Romania), reconstructions such Miriam Răducanu’s “Genesis,” or the editing of printed and online publications in the frame of P+4 Publications series.
Starting from 2022, the Institute opened a new layer of action in its own studio in Bucharest, which dedicates time and resources to emerging voices from the local arts scene, while opening this lab to other creators, inviting them to work together with the Institute team.
Through its projects, The Institute of the Present supports the access of the new generation of artists and producers in the field of contemporary culture, as well as of the interested public, to significant knowledge resources, to the unmediated contact with leading personalities and landmark moments of the Romanian and international art scene.