Jecza Gallery Bucharest announces g(u)ard-ian, a group exhibition curated by Cecilia Federici, opening on 26 September 2026 at the gallery’s space in Casa Presei Libere, Bucharest.
Bringing together recent works by Matei Emanuel, Andrei Arion and Ana Ionescu, the exhibition takes the fence as its point of departure: a familiar structure whose practical function opens onto questions of protection, separation, belonging and control.
Across three distinct practices, the fence becomes a mutable object. For Andrei Arion, it shifts between functional design and a speculative, science-fiction environment, detached from its conventional purpose. Matei Emanuel approaches it through the divisive nature of belonging, examining the positions produced by a boundary: inside and outside, belonging and exclusion, “us” and “them.” Ana Ionescu focuses on the object’s inherent duality, where the same structure can offer protection while carrying an aggressive potential through its edges, spikes and limits.
The exhibition unfolds around the ambiguity of objects designed to protect. Once removed from their familiar context and encountered within the gallery, forms associated with barriers and boundaries can become playful, strange or harmless. Their functional logic, however, carries another set of possibilities: fear, control, division and violence. g(u)ard-ianfollows this tension and asks what we are attempting to protect ourselves from when the structures we create for protection can themselves become instruments of harm.
The exhibition opens on Saturday, 26 September 2026, at 19:00. On Sunday, 27 September at 12:00, curator Cecilia Federici will lead a guided tour of the exhibition. g(u)ard-ian will remain on view through 25 October 2026 at Jecza Gallery Bucharest, Casa Presei Libere, Corp 2A.
g(u)ard-ian
Matei Emanuel, Ana Ionescu, Andrei Arion
Curator: Cecilia Federici
26 September – 25 October 2026
Jecza Gallery Bucharest, Casa Presei Libere, Corp 2A
Opening: 26 September, 19:00
Guided tour with Cecilia Federici: 27 September, 12:00
