Oana Clitan
Rotterdam, NL
Oana Clitan is an artist and designer exploring how language and contemporary communication are influenced by technology and media.
In her multidisciplinary practice she likes to remix and recontextualize existing materials - contemporary visuals found on the internet or old archive materials. Her works range from digitally printed textiles to animated GIF collages and multi-screen installations.
Through building various narratives and dystopian scenarios, in her latest projects she addresses themes such as propaganda and rhetorics about technology, the post-truth society and the expression of online identity. One persistent point of interest is the transition between communicating with text to communicating with images in online conversations and the use of animated GIFs as rhetorical devices.
Born in Romania, she is currently based in Rotterdam, NL.
2019
"...All else is poor translation" (White Cuib, Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
2017
Goodbye Expectations (Visual Kontakt gallery, Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
Kitsch Speech (Stroop Rotterdam, Rotterdam, NL)
2022
T(HUIS) - Rotterdam Architecture Month (Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, NL)
Visions of 010 melting (Pixels of Lost Time and Space) @ Motel Mozaïque festival (Theater Rotterdam, NL)
Was uns betrifft // Wat ons betreft (Gallery Ursula Walter & Gallery Raskolnikow, Dresden, DE)
2021
Was uns betrifft // Wat ons betreft (Het Archief, Rotterdam, NL)
Deep Truth (Rijksmuseum Twenthe / GOGBOT, Enschede, NL)
Test_Lab: Summer Sessions 2021 / Kunstavond XL (V2, Rotterdam, NL)
Mind Over Matter (Technische Sammlungen, Dresden, DE)
2020
The New Curent (Spaanse Kubus, Rotterdam, NL)
2019
Open Archief (Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, NL)
Open Archief - Dutch Design Week (Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL)
LEX4.1 (duo with Nicole Sciarone, Galerie Lecq, Rotterdam, NL)
Apa Kabar? What's New? (MAMA, Rotterdam, NL)
2018
Hubbub le Scope Palermo (Borderline Palermo, Palermo, Italy)
Permeable Boundaries (Plexus Projects, Brooklyn, New York, USA)
Elektro Arts Festival (Gallery Casa Matei, Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
Testival / Time Weekend (Time Window, Rotterdam, NL)
2017
Hubbub le Scope (Wolfart Project Space, Rotterdam, NL)
Anthropomorphism of Media (Dynamo Artist Association, Vancouver BC, CA)
WALLPAPER project (Showroom MAMA, Rotterdam, NL)
2016
Zine Club reading room / VABF Fundraiser (Remington Gallery, Vancouver, Canada)
2015
Paranormal activity - disambiguation (Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver BC, Canada)
Gif Arts Festival Los Angeles (Coaxial, Los Angeles, USA)
2014
Wereld van het Witte de With Kwartier Festival (Witte de Withstraat, Rotterdam, NL)
MA
AKV|St.Joost in Breda, the Netherlands (Master in Graphic Design)
BA
University of Art and Design from Cluj-Napoca, Romania (BA Graphic Arts)
Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Rennes, France (Visual Communication, Erasmus grant)
2021
Summer Sessions at V2_ Lab for Unstable Media, Rotterdam, NL
2020
C. Rockefeller Center for the Contemporary Arts, Dresden, Germany
2018
Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont, USA
2017
Visual Kontakt gallery (HAUS residency), Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Rijksoverheid (The Government of The Netherlands)
2021
Netwerk Digitaal Erfgoed - Makers Programma: uit de praktijk van makers
2019
Thursday Night Live - Open Archief (Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, NL)
Media Summer Night / Dutch Media Week (Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, Hilversum, NL)
2018
GIFS - Media Summer Night (Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, Hilversum, NL)
Artist talk at Garage Cafe #6 (Garage Rotterdam, NL)
2017
Digital Exquisite Corpse (Dynamo Arts Association, Vancouver, Canada)
Goodbye Expectations (Conversas Rotterdam, NL)
2015
lecture at AKV St Joost (Breda, The Netherlands)
2021
Stimuleringsfonds Experiment Grant ('Pixels of lost time and space')
Gemeente Rotterdam (scenario grant for 'Electrons')
Makersloket, Stichting Droom & Daad (project grant for 'Electrons')
CBK O&O - Research & Development (project grant for 'All The Feels')
2020
Stimuleringsfonds Design Grant (project grant for 'All The Feels')
Amarte Fonds (project grant for 'All The Feels')
CBK PPR grant (project grant for 'All The Feels')
grant for residency from Goethe-Institut Niederlande and CBK Rotterdam
2019
Open Archief - project at Het Nieuwe Instituut and Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (supported by Mondriaan Fonds)
2017, 2018
IBB travel grants from CBK Rotterdam
2017
Romanian Cultural Institute New York: support for projects abroad
2013-now
independent designer, artist, illustrator
2018-2019
initiator of Pulse by Oana Clitan
2016-2017
Co-organizer at Conversas Rotterdam
2015
Coordinator at Open Set - Dutch Design Summer School
2014
one of the initiators and member of the Wecup collective.