Maria Mandea

Maria Mandea (b.1991) is an artist and researcher working with the medium of play.
After studying Product Design at UAUIM Bucharest (graduated 2017) she developed a doctoral thesis on play design at the University of Arts in Bucharest. She currently teaches at the Art of Game Design Master at UNATC Bucharest. While studying, she created Micul Haos in 2013, a toy design project based on an original concept on the border between toys and participatory art objects. In 2017, she co-founded Super:Serios design studio, where she develops games and playful-performative installations. She is vicepresident of Laborator Artistic Association and a co-founder of Știrbei47 art-space. In 2023, she initiated The Play Institute (Institutul Jocului).

Maria works with the medium of large-scale interactive installations (Divided, 2020, Aproape Departe, 2020, System in the Room, 2020, Rousseau Game, 2022). Her work has been shown nationally and internationally in both formal and unconventional settings: National Museum of Contemporary Art Bucharest, Ars Electronica Center, in public space in Bucharest, Timișoara or Matera, Italy and can be found in public collections of museums.