ORSOLYA
Orsolya Gál (b. Târgu Mureș, Romania) is an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of installation, object theatre, and architecture.
She studied architecture before completing a Master’s degree in Fine Arts in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Her experience in scenography in Italy sparked a strong interest in puppetry. Seeking an alternative path of learning in this field, she became in 2015 a student of the Greek puppeteer Stathis Markopoulos in Athens. Her collaboration with Markopoulos and architect Tiberiu Bucșa led to the creation of Selfie Automaton, a mechanical installation composed of 33 wooden puppets, which represented Romania at the Venice Biennale of Architecture.
In 2017, she produced her first theatre performance, Pulcinella’s Insomnia, in Naples. The show toured internationally, with performances in Romania, Hungary, Greece, Italy, and Nairobi, Kenya.
A workshop in 2018 in Karnataka, India, focusing on traditional shadow puppetry, inspired her next production for adult audiences, Short Essay on Uncertainty. The performance received a special prize for image and sound design at the Festival Incanti in Turin.
This experience deepened her research into shadow theatre and connected with her earlier experimental project, begun in 2014, titled Plants in Motion. This long-term research involves observing and subtly manipulating plants, aiming to create a multidisciplinary body of work that combines fine arts and narrative movement. The project culminated in the short film Etudes from an Inner Garden, developed during the ‘Collider’ residency at Contemporary Calgary. The film was presented at the Bucharest International Dance Film Festival, the Fuori Formato Festival Internazionale di Danza in Turin, the Festival Oodaaq in Rennes, and in the group exhibition Rerouting at Contemporary Calgary in 2022.
In the summer of 2021, she continued her exploration of shadow and mechanism with Real Shadows, a mechanical automaton composed of a wire puppet, shadow projection, and a motorized system that sets the figure in motion. The installation was presented in the exhibition Work Upside Down – The Future of Work, curated by the Cluj Cultural Centre, and reflects on the ethical dimensions of labor in the future.
Her next two projects shift the focus toward a broader concern: our relationship with the natural and material environment. Searching for a Secret Garden documents small-scale vegetable gardens in Transylvania, cultivated by families who sustainably produce sufficient food on limited land. These gardens, remarkable for their biodiversity, complexity, and beauty, embody a traditional model of coexistence between humans and nature that remains relevant today. The project includes garden plans, photographs, and video documentation, and was realized with the support of the Cluj Cultural Centre and România Remarcabilă.
Her ecological research continued with a project on the waters and streams of the village Brădet, developed within the multi-residency program Flowing Streams, organized by EUNIC Romania and supported by Rezidența9. She also contributed to LOC, a collaborative project involving four artists and comprising four augmented reality installations addressing the biodiversity of Parcul Central in Cluj.
As part of her ongoing work in contemporary puppetry, Orsolya—together with Tiberiu Bucșa—opened a studio at Tipografiei 18 in the center of Cluj-Napoca. Twice a year, the space transforms into an intimate apartment theatre, hosting small independent companies from Romania and abroad.
In 2024, with the support of Centrul de Proiecte Timișoara, she created the performance Five Stories. The production draws inspiration from medieval paintings portraying scenes from Greek mythology and hagiography. It explores successive or simultaneous events depicted either within a single canvas or across multiple works on the same theme, reshaping them into a cohesive narrative structure. The performance also draws on old texts and their interpretations as a point of departure.
Continuing the tradition of storytelling, the piece reimagines ancient tales of love, power, fate, and initiation through animation techniques. Although the imagery, characters, and historical settings evoke distant eras, the themes resonate with contemporary audiences.
In the summer of 2025, she created an object theatre performance titled The Golden Apple Tree, based on a folk tale from southern Romania. Performed using spoons as animated objects and accompanied by live musical instruments, the show is designed for both children and adult audiences
Contact: galorsolya@ymail.com
Address: Tipografiei 18, Ap.2, Cluj Napoca 400101, Romania
Tel: +40728876354
She studied architecture before completing a Master’s degree in Fine Arts in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Her experience in scenography in Italy sparked a strong interest in puppetry. Seeking an alternative path of learning in this field, she became in 2015 a student of the Greek puppeteer Stathis Markopoulos in Athens. Her collaboration with Markopoulos and architect Tiberiu Bucșa led to the creation of Selfie Automaton, a mechanical installation composed of 33 wooden puppets, which represented Romania at the Venice Biennale of Architecture.
In 2017, she produced her first theatre performance, Pulcinella’s Insomnia, in Naples. The show toured internationally, with performances in Romania, Hungary, Greece, Italy, and Nairobi, Kenya.
A workshop in 2018 in Karnataka, India, focusing on traditional shadow puppetry, inspired her next production for adult audiences, Short Essay on Uncertainty. The performance received a special prize for image and sound design at the Festival Incanti in Turin.
This experience deepened her research into shadow theatre and connected with her earlier experimental project, begun in 2014, titled Plants in Motion. This long-term research involves observing and subtly manipulating plants, aiming to create a multidisciplinary body of work that combines fine arts and narrative movement. The project culminated in the short film Etudes from an Inner Garden, developed during the ‘Collider’ residency at Contemporary Calgary. The film was presented at the Bucharest International Dance Film Festival, the Fuori Formato Festival Internazionale di Danza in Turin, the Festival Oodaaq in Rennes, and in the group exhibition Rerouting at Contemporary Calgary in 2022.
In the summer of 2021, she continued her exploration of shadow and mechanism with Real Shadows, a mechanical automaton composed of a wire puppet, shadow projection, and a motorized system that sets the figure in motion. The installation was presented in the exhibition Work Upside Down – The Future of Work, curated by the Cluj Cultural Centre, and reflects on the ethical dimensions of labor in the future.
Her next two projects shift the focus toward a broader concern: our relationship with the natural and material environment. Searching for a Secret Garden documents small-scale vegetable gardens in Transylvania, cultivated by families who sustainably produce sufficient food on limited land. These gardens, remarkable for their biodiversity, complexity, and beauty, embody a traditional model of coexistence between humans and nature that remains relevant today. The project includes garden plans, photographs, and video documentation, and was realized with the support of the Cluj Cultural Centre and România Remarcabilă.
Her ecological research continued with a project on the waters and streams of the village Brădet, developed within the multi-residency program Flowing Streams, organized by EUNIC Romania and supported by Rezidența9. She also contributed to LOC, a collaborative project involving four artists and comprising four augmented reality installations addressing the biodiversity of Parcul Central in Cluj.
As part of her ongoing work in contemporary puppetry, Orsolya—together with Tiberiu Bucșa—opened a studio at Tipografiei 18 in the center of Cluj-Napoca. Twice a year, the space transforms into an intimate apartment theatre, hosting small independent companies from Romania and abroad.
In 2024, with the support of Centrul de Proiecte Timișoara, she created the performance Five Stories. The production draws inspiration from medieval paintings portraying scenes from Greek mythology and hagiography. It explores successive or simultaneous events depicted either within a single canvas or across multiple works on the same theme, reshaping them into a cohesive narrative structure. The performance also draws on old texts and their interpretations as a point of departure.
Continuing the tradition of storytelling, the piece reimagines ancient tales of love, power, fate, and initiation through animation techniques. Although the imagery, characters, and historical settings evoke distant eras, the themes resonate with contemporary audiences.
In the summer of 2025, she created an object theatre performance titled The Golden Apple Tree, based on a folk tale from southern Romania. Performed using spoons as animated objects and accompanied by live musical instruments, the show is designed for both children and adult audiences
Contact: galorsolya@ymail.com
Address: Tipografiei 18, Ap.2, Cluj Napoca 400101, Romania
Tel: +40728876354
Project list:
- The golden apple tree
- Homes
- Five stories
- LOC
- Flowing streams residency
- Searching for a secret garden - Left panel
- Photos of an inner garden
- Études from an inner garden
- Real shadows
- Short essay on uncertainty
- Pulcinella’s insomnia
- Selfie automaton