Longing for a Better Past – an exhibition about nostalgia, memory and the way we reconstruct the past
Curators: Olivia Nițiș & Andreea Căpitănescu
Works by: Matei Bejenaru, Tatiana Fiodorova-Lefter, Mălina Ionescu, Mălina Moncea, Sarah Muscalu,
Delia Popa, Ghenadie Popescu, Marilena Preda Sânc, Carmen Raszovsky, Gheorghe Raszovsky, Renée
Renard.
Concept and curatorial text: Olivia Nițiș
Visual identity: Ciprian Ciuclea
Producer: WASP Studios
On 11 September, WASP Studios is opening the exhibition ‘Longing for a Better Past’
at tranzit.org/ Iasi, as part of the project ‘Living Archives: Memory, Identity and Everyday Gestures’. The exhibition
brings together 11 artists from Romania and the Republic of Moldova and explores the ways in which nostalgia, personal memory
and collective memory contribute to the reconstruction and reinterpretation of the communist past.
The exhibition is curated by Olivia Nițiș and Andreea Căpitănescu, with
the concept and curatorial text by Olivia Nițiș.
Coined in 1688 by the Swiss physician Johannes Hofer, the term ‘nostalgia’ originally referred to an illness. Today, nostalgia is understood as a common human experience, linked to the desire to return to a real or imagined past. ‘Longing for a Better Past’ explores the role of nostalgia in shaping personal, collective, social and political memory. At the heart of the exhibition lies the relationship with the communist past and the way in which lived experiences, as well as those inherited or mediated, produce different and sometimes contradictory narratives about the past.
Artists from Romania and the Republic of Moldova engage in a dialogue characterised by generational, geopolitical and personal differences. The resulting works draw connections between individual memory and collective history, everyday experience and the political past, historical reality and ideological fabrication. Some projects were developed collaboratively, in teams of two artists, whilst others retain the autonomy of situated perspectives that complement one another.
The exhibition is based on the premise that nostalgia for communism cannot be reduced either to an idealisation of the past or to a single narrative of the totalitarian experience. Personal memory retains contradictions, attachments, traumas and everyday experiences that coexist and may come into tension with documented history.
At the same time, the project takes a critical look at how nostalgia can transcend the intimate space of memory and become a political tool. The whitewashing of the past, selective memory and the promise of a return to supposedly lost values can transform the past into an ideological resource, particularly in periods marked by social, political and identity crises. Digital platforms, social media and artificial intelligence today contribute to the circulation of alternative histories and the construction of new imaginaries about the past.
In this context, ‘Longing for a Better Past’ proposes a process of critical reconstruction of a collective past situated at the intersection of memory, history and ideological fabrication, using artistic practice as a space for reflection on how the past continues to be negotiated and reinterpreted in the present.
Travelling exhibition
- 11–29 September 2026 — tranzit.org/ Iasi
- 8 October–22 November 2026 — National Museum of the History of Moldova, Chișinău
- 7–20 December 2026 — National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, Bucharest
Opening event in Iași
The programme on 11 September begins at 5.00 pm with a round-table discussion featuring Matei Bejenaru, Sarah
Muscalu, Mălina Moncea and Delia Popa, moderated by Olivia Nițiș and Andreea Căpitănescu. The discussion will
explore, from the perspective of artistic practice, the nuanced dimensions of political nostalgia and, in particular, nostalgia
for communism, challenging simplistic interpretations of the relationship
between communism and post-communism.
The exhibition opening will take place at 7.30 pm; the exhibition will remain open at tranzit.org/Iasi until 29
September 2026. Visits are by prior appointment only at: livia.pancu@tranzit.org.
Partners: tranzit.org/ Iași; National Museum of the History of Moldova, Chișinău; National Museum of the Romanian Peasant
, Bucharest
Sponsor: AQUA Carpatica
The exhibition forms part of the project ‘Living Archives. Memory, identity and everyday gestures’.
A cultural project co-funded by the National Cultural Fund Administration.
The project does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Cultural Fund Administration. The National Cultural Fund Administration is not responsible for the content of the project or for the way in which the project’s results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the grant recipient.