Bio

Maria Nitulescu (*1989, Bucharest) is a Romanian-German interdisciplinary artist, independent curator, and writer based in Berlin since late 2013.

Her artistic practice explores memory and perception, with a particular focus on olfaction and the ways in which scent can evoke experiences that are both personal and collective. Moving between painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, and installation, she brings scent into dialogue with visual and material forms, exploring how our senses shape the way we experience, remember, and relate to the world around us.

Nitulescu studied at the National University of Arts in Bucharest and continued her studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, where she completed a Master’s degree in Creative Communication for Cultural Heritage. She later pursued postgraduate studies at the Institute for Art in Context at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), where her research focused on olfactory art and involuntary memory.

Her relationship with smell reaches back much further. Growing up, she spent her summers in Transylvania, where the scent of hay, wild plants, earth, and the surrounding landscape became deeply connected to her earliest memories. At seventeen, she experienced an olfactory dream in which she could distinctly smell a perfume, an experience that remained vivid in her memory and later became significant to her artistic research.

It was perhaps this sensitivity that led her, years later, into a sustained engagement with perfumery through independent research and practice. In recent years, she has also begun developing her own experimental scent compositions for her artworks, an ongoing process of exploration and learning.

Alongside her artistic practice, Nitulescu has worked as an independent curator and has been writing about contemporary art and culture for international publications since 2014. Her writing includes interviews, features, exhibition reviews, and essays, reflecting the same curiosity and interdisciplinary approach that informs her artistic work.

Education

• Postgraduate degree, Institute for Art in Context, Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK), 2015 to 2020
• M.A. Creative Communication for Cultural Heritage, Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan, 2011 to 2013
• B.A. Fine Arts, specialisation in Art Education, National University of Arts Bucharest (UNArte), 2008 to 2011
• Diploma in Fine Arts, Liceul de Arte Plastice Nicolae Tonitza, Bucharest, 2003 to 2008
• Attended the Art Club of her local primary school in Argeș County, Romania, under the guidance of artist and teacher Elena Stoica, 1992 to 2002. Daily classes from the age of 3 to 13, winning international competitions, exhibiting and travelling internationally.

Selected Exhibitions

Solo

• At the Crossroads of Memory, Till Richter Museum, Buggenhagen, Germany, 2025.
• The Factum, curated by Niccolò Lucarelli, Museo Pietro Canonica at Villa Borghese, Rome, Italy, 2021.
• Capturing Emotions, curated by Teresa Reichert, RKI Galerie, Romanian Cultural Institute, Berlin, Germany, 2017.
• Spazio Oggi non ho fretta, Milan, Italy, 2013.
• Various exhibitions in the United States, including at the Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta, Georgia, and at the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and in Pacific Palisades, California, 1998 to 2002.

Group (selected)

• Griechischer Wein, curated by Olivia Berckemeyer, KWADRAT, Berlin, Germany, 2026. Ongoing until 10 October 2026.
• The Winner’s Suicide, curated by Emilio Rapanà, KA32 Art Space, Berlin, Germany, 2026.
• Traces of Memory, curated by Maria Nitulescu, Kunstfabrik HB55, Berlin, Germany, 2026.
• Ponyhof, curated by Olivia Berckemeyer, KWADRAT, Berlin, Germany, 2026.
• Reasonable Percentage, curated by Alexander Hidalgo, Volksbühne Pavillon, Berlin, Germany, 2025.
• Arte Noah 2020, Kunsthalle Feldbach, Austria, 2020.
• Unser Europa, Bulgarian Cultural Institute, Berlin, Germany, 2018.
• Tore in die Zukunft, multiple venues in Poland and Germany, 2017.
• No Gods, No Masters, Urania, Berlin, Germany, 2016.
• Foto39, Fringe Arts Bath, United Kingdom, 2015.
• 18591KM Art Exhibition, Silent Green Kulturquartier, Berlin, Germany, 2015.
• Una mano per AIL, Christie’s at Palazzo Clerici, Milan, Italy, 2011.

Selected Awards

• 2025: Candidate, Art and Olfaction Awards.
• 2019: Second Place, National Competition for the Romanian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (as curator and project coordinator).
• 2013: Award for Artistic Creation (Premiul pentru Creație Artistică), Gala of Academic Excellence, League of Romanian Students Abroad (LSRS), Bucharest.
• 2011: Certificate of Participation, 9th Painting Prize PalauArte, Sardinia.
• 2006: Award of Praiseworthy, Nicolae Tonitza Art School, Bucharest.
• 2001: Gold Medal, International Meeting of Juvenile Art (Encontro Internacional de Arte Infantil), Évora, Portugal.
• 2001: Silver Medal, Shankar’s International Children’s Competition, Children’s Book Trust, New Delhi.
• 1999: Gold Medal, Premio Internazionale di Pittura “Città di Belluno”, Italy.
• 1998: Foreign Minister’s Award, 28th International Children’s Art Exhibition, Japan. Selected from 64,000 artworks submitted from around the world.