IOSIF KIRÁLY is a Romanian visual artist, architect, and educator. He works both independently
and within the subREAL group. Favorite media: photography, installation, performance, and drawing.
His work investigates the relationship between perception, time, and memory.
In 1995, he was among the founders of the Department of Photography and Media Arts at the National
University of Arts (UNArte) in Bucharest, where he is presently a professor.

In the 1980s, he became active in the mail art network, an international underground movement with roots in Fluxus.

Personal exhibitions (selection):
2020
- Letting the Days Go By, Water Flowing Underground, Anca Poterașu Gallery, Bucureşti; MATCA artspace, Cluj-Napoca / RO;
2019
- The Heroes Were People Like Us, WASP, Bucureşti / RO;
- Detours and Returns; Moments, Places, People. Museum of Visual Arts, Galați / RO;
- 88 Clouds Will Rain for You, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp / BE (in the framework of Europalia festival)
- 88 Clouds Will Rain for You, Musica, Impulscentrum voor Muziek/ Provinciaal Domein Dommelhof/ CC Palethe/ Gemeente Pelt (in the framework of Europalia festival)
- subREAL- Listening to Sculpture in Timișoara, Casa Artelor, Timișoara / RO
- subREAL- Serving Art Again, Paris Photo / FR and Jecza Gallery, Timișoara / RO

2018
- Closed Doors, Open Envelopes, early works 1995-2000, National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC), Bucharest / RO
- Synapses, Borderline Art Space, Iași / RO
- 87 Clouds Will Rain for You, UNAgaleria, București / RO
- 87 Clouds Will Rain for You, Explore Festival, WASP, București / RO

2016
- Standby – Wrapped Memory, Museum of Ţării Crişurilor County, Oradea / RO

2015
- Trace Recordings - From Performance to Land Art by Photograhy and Mail Art. Iosif Király and Doru Tulcan, 1970 – 1990. Jecza Gallery, in the framework of TAE (Timişoara Art Encounters), Timişoara / RO

2014
- subREAL - Serving Art_1, Intact Gallery, Cluj / RO

2013
- subREAL - Retrospect, SALT, Istanbul / TR (catalog)
- Photography: From Melancholy to Trauma, From Document to Monument. Intact Gallery, Cluj-Napoca / RO;
2012
- subREAL - Retrospect, 1990-2012, MNAC, București / RO (catalog)
- Then and Now. Between Layers of Memory, Castrum Peregrini, Amsterdam / NL
- Art is Concrete. Dataflow - Camera Austria, Graz / AT
- Searching for the Decisive Moment – Jecza Gallery, Timișoara / RO
2010
- Reconstructions – Camera Austria, Graz / AT
2009
- Reconstrucciones ‐ Museo de Semana Santa / Photo Espana, Cuenca / ES
- Mapping Berlin and Bucharest 1989 - 2009, Posibila Gallery / subCărturești Gallery , București / RO (poster)
2008
- Reconstruction(s) – Galerie Vrais Reves, Lyon / FR, in the frame of Lyon September de la Photographie
2007
- Tinseltown, German Cultural Center, Timișoara / RO
2006
- In Situ, Institut Francais de Bucharest / RO
- Memoria, Futura Gallery, Praha / CZ
- East from the West, Galleria Artra, Milano / IT (poster)
2005
- Blue, Inventing the River Danube, Technisches Museum Wien / AT (book)
2004
- Marshalling Yard, Galeria Noua, Bucuresti / RO
- subREAL - Communication 1:1:1, (performance), MNAC‐Kalinderu Medialab București / RO
2003
- Reconstructions, Galeria Noua, București / RO
- subREAL - Interviewing the Cities - Stockholm, IASPIS Galleriet, Stockholm / SE
- subREAL - Interviewing the Cities - București, Galeria Noua, București / RO
2001
- subREAL - Interviewing the Cities - Vienna, Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna / AT (cat);
- subREAL - Interviewing the Cities - Montreal,Vox Gallery, Montreal / CA ;
- Turreted Manions, Center for Contemporary Art, București / RO (poster)
2000
- Indirect, Profil Galerie, Bratislava / SK (cat)
1998
- subREAL- Serving Art 1&2 Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart / DE
1996
- subREAL - Dataroom, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein / DE (cat)
1994
- subREAL - The Castle, Center for Contemporary Art - Ujazdowski, Warsaw / PL (poster)
1992
- subREAL - Draculaland, Museum of Art Bistrița / RO (cat)

Group exhibitions (selection):

2022 Bucharest, une ville ouverte, ENSA, Paris, Fr
When Walls Talk! Posters, Promotion, Propaganda and Protest. House of European History, Bruxelles, Be
2021 L’Air du Temps, Main Section, Paris Photo, Fr
- 1+2+3+4 / An anniversary , a compass for the future, Jecza Gallery, Timisoara, Ro
- Borrowed Memories, Waldburger Woulters, Bruxelles, Be
- Why Image Matters / International Meetings of Photography 2021, Gallery of the City, Plovdiv, Bg
- How to Explain Pictures..., BRD Scena 9, București, Ro
- Crossing the same Circumstances, Kommunale Galerie Berlin, De
- Intermingling Flux: Guangzhou Image Triennial 2021, Guangdong Museum of Art, China
- Image fantôme, Anca Poterasu Gallery, București, Ro
- Grenzenlos / Fără frontiere / Borderless, Pavilion 32, Goethe-Institut Bucuresti, Ro
- The Show That Never Was, Anca Poterașu Gallery, București, Ro
2020
After 12 Years. National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC) Bucharest / Ro
2019
- FRAMED LANDSCAPES: European Phtography Comissions, 1984-2019, ICO Museum, Madrid / ES (in the framework of Photo Espana)
- Mythologies, Cultural Center Neumunster Abbey, Luxembourg / LU
- EX-EAST: HISTOIRES PASSÉES ET RÉCENTES DES AVANT-GARDES ROUMAINES, Espace Niemeyer, Paris / FR
- Frictions, Tensions, Controversies, Coexistence, Concomitances, SAC, Bucureşti / RO
- Perspectives, Bozar, Bruxelles / BE (in the framework of Europalia festival)
- Looking Back, Thinking Forward, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tournai / BE (in the framework of Europalia festival)

2018
- Camera Austria International, Laboratory for Photography and Theory – Museum der Modrne Salzburg / AT
- Couples, Companions, Families in the Visual Arts. In the framework of the festival Arts in Bucharest, Orizont Gallery, București / RO
- Listening to sculptures, în cadrul Bucharest Arts and Public Space Festival, WASP, Bucureşti / RO
- Bucharest Arts and Public Space Festival, WASP Studios, Bucureşti / RO
- Memory as Vision, Fabrica de pensule, Cluj-Napoca / RO
- Collage 3, Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna / AT
- Freedom is Recognized Necessity – Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam / NL
- 36th Asolo Art Film Festival, Asolo / IT
- DOUBLE HEADS MATCHES, A selection of contemporary artworks from four Romanian private collections, New Budapest Gallery, Budapest / HU
- Join the Dots - Connect the Distances / Imago Mundi Benetton Collection, Salone degli Incanti, Trieste / IT

2017
- 10 YEARS OLD, 2007-2017: a history of the world told through the images of the Fondazione Cassa di risparmio di Modena Collection. Foro Boario, Modena / IT
- Bucureşti, Spaces and Perspectives 1&2, A5_Gallery & UNAGALERIA, Bucureşti / RO

2016
- Brain Tatoos, A Map of Obsessions – Victoria Art Center Bucureşti / RO,
ICR Lisbon / PT
- In Plain Sight: Social Life in Romania and South Africa before and after 1989. Aparte Gallery and Borderline Gallery/ Iasi / RO
- D_Platform, Aparte Gallery, Iași / RO
- D_Platform, Posibila Gallery, București / RO
- Communist Big Brother Opperation, CEREFREEA, Villa Noel, Bucureşti / RO

2015
- Le Projet Kairouan, Centre de Présentation du Patrimoine de Kairouan; Palais El Abdelliya – La Marsa, Tunis / TU
- Ex & Post Eastern Europe under the lens, Australian Center for Photography, Sydney / AU
- BE & RO Archive, UNAgaleria, București / RO; Maison de la culture de Tournai / BE
- Apparence and Essence, Halele Timco, in the framework of TAE (Timișoara Art Encounters), Timișoara / RO
- From Confirmation to Challenge. Artistic Practices in Public Space. MNAC, București / RO
2014
- Perduti nel paesaggio, MART – Museo di Arte Moderna et Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto / IT
- Europe. South East-RECORDED MEMORIES, MNAC, Bucuresti / RO, CerModern, Ankara /Tr; Municipal Art Center, Nicosia / CY, Museum of Photography & Army Warehouses, Tessaloniki, GR
- Turning Points, Hungarian National Gallery, Buda Palace, Budapest / HU
- Kiritik und Krise – Balassi Institut, Collegium Hungaricum, Berlin / DE
- Bucharest Artistic Education and Romanian Art After 1950, MNAC_etaj 1, București / RO
- WHAT ABOUT Y[OUR] MEMORY, MNAC_etaj 4, Bucuresti / RO
- Expanded Space, Parcul Izvor, București / RO
- Contemporary Art Ruhr – Media Art Fair, Essen / DE
- Art Safari, Pavilionul de Artă, București, RO

2013
- Europe. South East-RECORDED MEMORIES, Museum of Photography Braunschweig / D; Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka / Si; Museum of Photography, Tessaloniki / GR
- The City Seen by the Generation 80’s – Victoria Art Center, București / RO
- Switch Over - Victoria Art Center, București / RO
2012
- Doppio gioco – Double Game. The Ambiguity of the Photographic Image, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice / IT.
- Second Life in Communism, Platforma / anexa MNAC, București / RO
- City Cultures in Focus, Depo Gallery Istanbul / TR
- Time, Place and the Camera: Photographs at work, National Gallery of Kosovo, Pristhina / Kosovo
- Body World. Traveling the Distance between Subject and Object, Victoria Art Center For Contemporary Cultural Production, București / RO
2011
- Curated By, Charim Gallery Vienna / AT;
- Bucarest. Ciudad paradójica, in the framework of Photo Espana, Madrid / ES;
- e-cites / Bucarest - Musée d’Art Moderne, Saint-Etienne, FR (cat)
- Art Embodied, Romanian Artists from the 80's – Galerie Alain Oudin, Paris / FR (cat)
- Memoirs from a Cold Utopia, London Print Studio, UK (cat)

2010
- European Central Bank ‐ Annual Photography Award 2009, MNAC, Bucharest / RO (catalog);
- Territories of the In/Human ‐ Württembergische Kunstverein (WKV), Stuttgart / DE (catalog);
- When History Comes Knocking: Romanian Art from 80s and 90s in Close Up, Gallery Plan B, Berlin / DE;
- Transitions Urbaines – Espace Apollonia, Strasbourg / FR;
- Transitland: videoart in Central and Eastern Europe 1989-2009, Reina Sofia, Madrid / ES
- Are you a lucky artist? Biblioteca Civica d’Arte Luigi Poletti, Musei Civici, Modena / IT
2009
‐ Subversive Practices, Art under Conditions of Political Repression 60s ‐ 80s South America / Europe, Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart / DE (cat);
- History Memory Identity, Contemporary Photography from Eastern Europe, former Sant’Agostino Hospital, Modena / IT (book);
- “Expectations”, MB Art Agency Amsterdam / NL
2008
- Ro‐Archive, Bruckenthal, Sibiu / RO;
- Ro‐Archive, Karlin Studios, Praha / CZ;
- Strategies for Concealing, C‐Space, Beijing / PRC (cat)
- Rudolf Frankel, Berlin – Bucuresti, MNAC, București / RO
2007
- Prague Biennale 3, Karlin Hall, Praha / CZ (cat);
- Eternal Crossings – Photography Center of Thessaloniki / GR (cat);
- L'Europe en Devenir, Teil II ‐ Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris / FR ;
- Social Cooking Romania, NGBK, Berlin / DE (cat)
2006
‐ Fuoriuso 06 – Are You Experienced?, Ex mercato ortofrutticolo COFA, Pescara / IT (cat);
- NOT SHEEP: New Urban Enclosures and Commons, Artspeak Gallery, Vancouver / CA
2005
- Paradoxes: The Embodied City, Fundaçăo Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon / PT (cat),
- Sous les ponts, Casino Luxembourg / LU (cat) ;
- Trans:it. Moving Culture through Europe, Museale Veneziano, Venezia / IT (book)
2004
- Cosmopolis 1, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Tessaloniki / GR (cat);
- We Are What We Are”, Minoriten Gallerien, Graz / AT (cat);
- Formate / Moving Patterns”, Kunsthalle Wien, project space, Vienna / AT (cat);
- Romanian Artists (and not only) Love Ceausescu’s Palace, MNAC, București / RO (cat);
- Collage Europa, The Netherlands Architectural Institute (NAi), Rotterdam /NL (cat);
- Wiener Linien ‐ Kunst und Stadtbeobachtung seit 1960, Wien Museum, Vienna / AT (cat);
- Distance ‐ Institute of Contemporary Art in Dunaujvaros / HU;
- Revolutions Reloaded” – Galleria Artra, Milan / IT;
2003
- In the Gorges of the Balkans, Kunsthalle Fridericianum Kassel / DE (cat)
- Blood & Honey, Essl Museum Vienna / AT (cat)
2002
- In search of Balkania, Neue Galerie Graz am Landsesmuseum Joanneum / AT (cat);
- Rest in Space, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo / NO (cat)
2001
- Empathy, Museum of Art, Pori / FI (cat)
2000
- Unlimited.Nl‐3, Stichting De Appel, Amsterdam / NL (cat);
- L'Autre Moitié de l'Europe, Galérie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris /FR (cd‐ROM);
- Internationale Kurzfilmtages, Oberhausen / DE (cat);
- La Ville / Le Jardin / La Mémoire, Académie de France, Villa Medicis, Rome / IT (cat)
- Transitionland – Muzeul National de Arta, Bucuresti / RO (cat)
1999
‐ After the Wall – Art and Culture in Post‐Communist Europe – Moderna Museet, Stockholm / SE ", Nationalgalerie, Berlin / DE, Ludwig Museum Budapest / HU (cat);
- Biennale di Venezia, Romanian Pavilion / IT (cat)
1998
‐ Berlin Biennale, Postführamt, Berlin / D (cat)
1997
- Bucharest Afeter 1989, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen / DE (cat);
- SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe / USA (cat)
- 2000 - 3.ArtSpace + Interface, Neue Galerie am Johaneum, Graz / AT (cat+cd‐ROM);
- Biennale di Venezia, Romanian Institute / IT (cat)
1996
- Le Corps Photographie, La Filature, Mulhouse / FR (cat) ;
- Manifesta 1, Rotterdam / NL (cat)
1995‐1997
‐ Beyond Belief – Contemporary Art from East Central Europe, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha / USA (cat)
1994
- 010101…, Soros Center for Contemporary Art, București / RO (cat);
- Rumanische Avantgarte der 90er Jahre, Epikur Galerie, Wuppertal / DE (cat);
- 22 Bienal Internacional Sao Paulo / BR (cat);
- Mesiac Fotografie, Bratislava / SK (cat);
- Europa, Europa. A Century of Avantgarde in Central and Eastern Europe, Bonn / DE (cat)
1993
‐ Biennale di Venezia ‐ Aperto, Corderie dell'Arsenale, / IT (cat)
1992
- 2nd Internationale Foto‐Triennale Esslingen / DE (cat);
- Istanbul Biennial, Fezhane, Istanbul / TR (cat)
Works by Iosif Király and/or subREAL group are housed in various private and pub-lic art collections:
National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC), Bucharest, Romania; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; 2000+ Arteast Collection, Moderna galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Light Work, Syracuse, New York, USA; Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany; Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria; European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Imago Mundi – The Benetton Art Collection and Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena, Italy; Castrum Peregrini, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Ars Aevi, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bibliography (author, contributor):
- Iosif Kiraly - Retroviziuni. Lucrari timpurii (1975-2000), Retrovisions. Early Works, cu texte de: Ruxandra Demetrescu, Ileana Pintilie si Iosif Kiraly. Ed. Triade, ISBN 978-606-9657-05-8
- Iosif Király & Raluca Oancea - RO_Archive: The Social Landscape Dwelling, in FRAMED LANDSCAPES: European Photography Comissions 1984-2019, Museo ICO Madrid, 2019, pp. 420-435
- Iosif Király – Reconstructions, in Camera Austria International; Laboratory for Photography and Theory, Spector Books, pp. 159-164
- Iosif Király – Photography as Art, A Very Short Introduction, forward for the volume 12 Phtographers of Architecture from Romania, igloobooks, 2018 ( Françoise Pamfil, editor)
- subREAL (Călin Dan & Iosif Király) - Art History Archive, in Art and Theory of Post-1989 Central and Eastern Europe: A Critical Anthology, MOMA, Ana Janevski and Roxana Marcoci (editors), 2018
- Iosif Király, Aurora Király, Mirela Dăuceanu (editors): Bucharest, Layers and Perspectives. Between Reality and Fiction, Between Literature and Architecture. Editura Unarte, 2017.
- Iosif Király, Aurora Király, Mirela Dăuceanu (editors): Education in Real Time. Bucharest, Routes Through Space and Time, Editura Unarte, 2017.
- Doina Talmann (ed.), Iosif Király (monograph) Verlag Kettler, 2017
- Călin Dan, Iosif Király, Anca Oroveanu, Magda Radu - Art in Romania between 1945-2000. An Analysis From the Perspective of the Present. (UNArte, NEC, MNAC, 2016)
- Iosif Király – A Short Orientation Guide for the Post-Photographic Age – Revista Secolul 21, 2015
- Iosif Király, Raluca Nestor Oancea (editors) – RO-Archive, An Archive of Romania in Times of Transition, Editura Unarte, 2015
- Artist Iosif Kiraly Interviews Critic Adrian Guță – The Brooklyn Rail, Critical perspectives on Arts, Politics and Culture, http://www.brooklynrail.org/special/art_crit_europe/reports-and-interviews-from/artist-iosif-kiraly-interviews-critic-adrian-guta
- Iosif Király, Understanding the image in a digital context. An introductory Guide to Theoretical and Visual Resources, Editura UNARTE, 2015
- Iosif Kiraly, Andrei Mateescu, Raluca Oancea Nestor, Raluca Ionescu (Paraschiv) editori – ACOFIN – ART.CONSUMTION.FINITUDINE, Editura UNARTE, Bucuresti, 2014
‐ Iosif Király – Phtography Today, Arta Magazine 6-7, 2012 (coordinator)
‐ Iosif Király – Dialogue with Mihai Oroveanu, revista Arta 6-7, 2012, pp.58-63
‐ Iosif Király – Reconstructions, Editura UNARTE, București, 2009
‐ Iosif Király – The Visual Image in the Post-Photograpic Age, Editura UNARTE, Bucuresti, 2008
‐ Mariana Celac, Iosif Király – Witdthwise Cross-Section, Editura UNARTE, București, 2008
- Anton Holzer, Sophie Ristelhueber and Iosif Kiraly - Blue, Inventing the River Danube, Fotohof/Technisches Museum Wien, 2005
- Iosif Király – Reconstructions, Idea Nr. 14/2003, pp. 18‐30
- Iosif Király – Indirect, Published by Galeria Profil, Bratislava, 2000
- subREAL – Art History Archive, Romanian Ministry of Culture (for the Venice Biennial), 1999
‐Iosif Király – Photography, Octogon No. 10/2002 pp.89‐102
- subREAL – Interviewing the Cities, Paletten, No. 248 2/2002, pp.15‐17
- Iosif Király – Indirect, Artphoto No. 1/2002, pp.26-35
- Iosif Király – Romanian Trains, Orient Express, Vols. 1&2 Autumn 2002
- Mariana Celac, Iosif Király, Marius Marcu Lapadat – Turreted Mansions, Revista Secolul 21, 1-7/2002, pp. 424-441
- subREAL – Art History Archive, Interarchive, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther
Konig, Koln 2002, pp.233-237
- Iosif Király: Some Considerations on Art Photography in Romania, Balkon No. 8, 2001, pp. 23-28
- Iosif Király, Performative Photography, Balkon No. 9, 2001, pp. 58-60
- subREAL - Akten/Files, Künstlerhaus Bethanien & Neuer Berliner Kunstverein,1996
- subREAL - Campaign, the Museum of Art, Arad, România, 1995
- Nomadic, the Soros Centre for Contemporary Arts, Bucharest (for the Saõ Paolo Biennial), 1994
- subREAL - Draculaland, Ministry of Culture, Bucharest (Venice Biennial), 1993
Selected references related to Iosif Király and subREAL group’s oeuvres:
- Maja and Rueben Fowkes - Central and Eastern European Art Since 1950, Thames&Hudson, 2020, pp. 112, 122, 135
- Magda Radu (ed.), subREAL (Nuremberg: Verlag fur Moderne Kunst, 2015).
- Anthony Gardner, Politically Unbecoming: Postsocialist Art against Democracy, Cam-bridge, MA: MIT Press, 2015, pp.73-77
- Terry Smith, Contemporary Art: World Currents. London: Laurence King Publ. Ltd., 2011, pp. 110–111.
- Deutsche Welle TV, Palace Revolution in Ceausescu’s Palace: Using Art to Banish the Shadow of the Securitate, series “Kultur 21”, a documentary on Iosif Király, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMVgTQOivNQ
- Ileana Pintilie, Iosif Király, in Hans D. Christ and Iris Dressler (editors), Subversive Prac-tices: Art under Conditions of Political Repression: 60s–80s / South America / Europe (Ber-lin: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2010), pp. 191, 196–197, 231–235.
- Filippo Maggia, Contemporary Photography from Eastern Europe: History, Memory, Iden-tity (Milan: Skira Editore, 2009), pp. 102–107.
- Jorg Colberg, “Iosif Király – Reconstructions”, 1000 Words Photography, 2 (Fall 2008), http://www.1000wordsmag.com.
- Martin Jaeggi, “Iosif Király”, in Uta Grosenick and Thomas Seelig (eds.), Photo Art: The New World of Photography (London: Thames & Hudson Publ., 2008), pp. 226–229.
- Rolf Sachsse, Iosif Király: Tinseltown Buzescu, Camera Austria International, 102 (2008), pp. 25–36.
- Thomas Raab, Wir sind Content Provider, springerin, VI/1 (2000), pp. 53–55.
- Oliver Marchart, Der Kunst Dienen, EIKON, Internationale Zeitschrift für Photographie & Medien, 1 (2000), pp. 18–25.
- Ruxandra Balaci, Iosif Király, visions intimes, artpress, 241 (December 1998), pp. 42–45.
Awards and Honours:
2020 The Order "The Cultural Merit" for Visual Arts
2019 Award for Visual Arts of Radio Romania Cultural,
2017 Forbes Hero, awarded by Forbes Romania
2001 National Award for Multimedia, Romanian Union of Fine Artists