Chongqing - The opening ceremony of Between Rock and Mind: Contemplation with Objects—an exhibition of works by Romanian artist Mara Cucu—was recently held in Chongqing, marking the debut of the Art Chongqing Residency – Global Dialogue on Ecology, the Mountain City, and Dazu Rock Carvings.
As the first installment of the Art Chongqing Residency – Global Dialogue on Ecology, the Mountain City, and Dazu Rock Carvings, the program officially launched in 2026. Conceived as an ongoing international initiative, it aims to invite artists, writers, and cultural practitioners from around the world to engage with Chongqing’s unique cultural and ecological landscape through short-term residencies. The Dazu project marks its starting point, with Romanian artist Mara Cucu as the first invited participant, setting the stage for future collaborations and continued international exchange.
Mara Cucu, a visual artist from Romania, was invited as the inaugural resident artist. During her month-long stay in Dazu, she immersed herself in the cultural environment surrounding the Dazu Rock Carvings, drawing inspiration from the ancient stone reliefs scattered across the rural landscape. The exhibition showcases seven paintings developed during her residency, reflecting her distinctive artistic language shaped by painterly tradition and structural design sensibilities.
Mara Cucu delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. (Photo/Jiaxin Tan)
Speaking at the opening, Mara Cucu shared that the residency allowed her to experience Chongqing's culture and charm in a deeply personal way. "Spending a full month here, and having so many interactions with local people, gave me a much richer understanding of the city," she said. In her view, projects like this residency serve as a meaningful platform for cultural exchange, where artists are not just observers but active participants in dialogue.
She described the role of an artist as "a kind of filter": someone who absorbs, transforms, and re-expresses what they encounter. "This month in Dazu has not only shaped the seven works presented in this exhibition," she noted, "but will continue to influence my future creations." She added that the experience may resurface in unexpected ways: "Perhaps one day, when people notice certain elements in my work and ask where they come from, I will be able to tell them, these are inspired by what I saw and felt here in Chongqing."
Cucu's work navigates the tension between texture and order, where color, brushwork, and layered surfaces are balanced by an underlying sense of geometry and composition. Through her paintings, the artist reinterprets the traces left by time on stone, transforming them into visual meditations on memory, spirituality, and the poetry of the everyday. The serene expressions of Buddhist figures, the softness of carved forms, and the quiet vitality embedded in these ancient artworks left a lasting impression on her. What she discovered was not distance, but connection—a shared human sensibility that transcends geography and culture.
A painting by Mara Cucu is on display at the exhibition. (Photo/Jiaxin Tan)
"Between Rock and Mind" is more than an exhibition; it is a cross-cultural dialogue unfolding across time and space. As Mara Cucu's canvases encounter the monumental Dazu Rock Carvings, a subtle exchange emerges—where Eastern aesthetics are reinterpreted through a Western perspective, and the silent language of objects is brought back into focus.
The exhibition is open to the public until May 5 at TESTBED2 International Contemporary Art Center in Yuzhong District, Chongqing.