by Mirela Sandu Gheorghiu, photo: Ioan Tămâian
One of the most original concepts of the Babel Festival is its aim to bring together different forms of artistic expression – theatre, music, film, and visual arts – into a shared, living space where the boundaries between genres become fluid. In this 2025 edition, the exhibitions held a special place, naturally complementing the stage language of the festival and transforming the city of Târgoviște into a true open-air art gallery.
The spaces – conventional or otherwise – were conceived and used with ingenuity, each corner becoming a gateway to a visual universe that speaks of memory, truth, balance, and emotion. Among them, a major point of attraction was the “Equilibrum” exhibition, hosted at Cinema Independența and created by artists Maria Balea and Ioan Tămâian.
“Equilibrum” is more than an exhibition – it is a multisensory experience, an installation that invites the audience to stop, contemplate, and rediscover within themselves a sense of calm and harmony. The works combined natural materials and technology, color and sound, light and shadow, in a subtle dialogue between physical space and inner space.
Maria Balea, known both as a visual artist and as an author of essays and art reviews, offers a deep reflection on fragility and inner balance. Her sensitivity and conceptual rigor shape an art that does not impose, but rather suggests, offering the viewer the freedom of interpretation.
Alongside her, Ioan Tămâian, sculptor and glass artist renowned for his ability to transform matter into a form of visual poetry, brought to “Equilibrum” a tactile and luminous dimension. His works, which blend the tradition of Romanian glassmaking with a contemporary artistic language, convey a message of quiet strength and natural equilibrium.
The exhibition offered the public a welcome moment of respite from the intense rhythm of the festival – a space where art was not just seen, but felt. Each piece functioned as a mirror in which the viewer could rediscover their own struggles, questions, or perhaps, their own sense of balance.
At Babel, visual art is not left on the sidelines – it is part of the same creative pulse that animates the stage, the music, and the film. The presence of contemporary artists in the festival not only diversifies the audience’s experience but deepens it, offering new angles from which to view the world.
The “Equilibrum” exhibition, along with the entire visual arts component of Babel 2025, stands as clear proof that art is not decoration, but a living space for reflection and encounter. Balance is not a fixed state, but a continuous search – and in that search, art, in the hands of authentic creators like Maria Balea and Ioan Tămâian, becomes a trustworthy guide.
At Babel, art is not consumed – it is lived.
And from this living experience, year after year, a new form of communion is born – between artists, the city, and the public.
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