Simona Nastac

Simona Nastac studied Art History and Theory in Bucharest and holds an MA in Creative Curating from Goldsmiths University, London. She has curated exhibitions and live events in London, Seoul, New York, Saint Petersbug, Prague, Shanghai, Cluj and Bucharest, and has written numerous reviews and essays for Romanian and international art magazines. From 2006 to 2013 she was Head of Arts at the Romanian Cultural Institute in London. She is commited to critical, hybrid, collaborative and transgressive poetic and aesthetic practices able to shake the world. In a gentle way. In July 2017 she won the poetry debut contest “Alexandru Mușina – The King of Morning” given by Aula Magna Publishing House and the Faculty of Letters at Transilvania University of Braşov, and will publish her first volume in November this year. www.simonanastac.com

Simona Nastac a studiat Istoria și Teoria Artei la București și are un Master în Creative Curating la Goldsmiths College, Londra. A curatoriat expoziții de artă contemporană și evenimente live la Londra, New York, Seul, Praga, Sankt Petersburg, Shanghai, Cluj și București și a publicat numeroase articole de specialitate în presa românească și internațională. Între 2006 – 2013 a coordonat programele de arte vizuale, rezidență creativă, literatură, arhitectură și design la ICR Londra. Este interesată de practici poetice și estetice critice, hibride, colaborative și transgresive. În iulie 2017 a câștigat premiul de debut în poezie „Alexandru Mușina – Regele dimineții”, acordat de Editura Aula Magna în parteneriat cu Facultatea de Litere a Universității Transilvania din Brașov, iar primul său volum va fi publicat la editura Tracus Arte și lansat la Târgul Internațional Gaudeamus din acest an.
www.simonanastac.com

across

God was given to me
a rushed epiphany
at Old Street tube
exit 3
smelling of fresh ink
and charity
like a civil servant on the brink of
retirement
the promise proved 1% less
sustainable
than my single ticket home, yet
no one has loved me
more
rising from among the dead

38

at the end, you handed me an apricot
originally from Azia, after Plinius
a thousand years later
I smashed its stone with a stone
without history, on the block’s stairwell.
the words leaned, arbitrarily,
to the left
a thousand years later, disenchanted,
flowers still blossom
before leaves, the only gesture
in a city
extinct

Cristian Luchian, Time After Time, oil on plywood, 2016. Courtesy of the artist

Dan Perjovschi, AWOL, 2017. Courtesy of the artist

Simion Cernica, Untitled, digital photography, 2016. Courtesy of the artist