November 10, 2026, 18:00
!t – a space for it
The final chapter of this year’s international co-production programme brings together SIMULTAN, obsolete studio and artist Ioana Vreme Moser for Princess Atom, a work in development exploring the unexpected connections between radioactivity, cosmetics and the beginnings of the Atomic Age.
On Tuesday, 10 November 2026, at 18:00, at !t – a space for it (1 Dimitrie Bolintineanu St.), Ioana will present some of her recent projects, alongside the research behind Princess Atom and the directions the work will take in the coming months.
Her research follows a lesser-known history of radioactivity. Before the atom became synonymous with the bomb, uranium and radium found their way into decorative glass, perfume bottles, creams, lipsticks and powders, during a period of widespread fascination with radioactivity that later became known as Radiomania. Radioactivity was marketed as a scientific miracle, a luxury ingredient and a promise of beauty. With the outbreak of the Second World War, uranium was withdrawn from civilian use and redirected towards the Manhattan Project, radically changing the cultural imagination surrounding it.
With Princess Atom, Ioana continues her ongoing investigation into cosmetic mineralogy, delving further into the darker histories of beauty and tracing how mineral substances have moved between cosmetics, luxury objects, bodies and nuclear technologies.
In Princess Atom, the “Princess” is radioactive decay itself: the natural process through which an atom loses energy by emitting radiation, gradually moving towards a more stable state. The same process has allowed us to measure the age of the universe and better understand our bodies, while also becoming entangled with some of the most destructive technologies ever created.
Ioana Vreme Moser is a sound artist from Timișoara, based in Berlin, whose practice brings together hardware electronics, speculative research and material experimentation. She works with electronic processes placed in direct relation with the body, organic matter, objects and the environment, using sound to trace the histories of technologies and their material consequences.
Her work has been presented at Ars Electronica, ZKM Karlsruhe, The National Gallery of Denmark, Fonderie Darling, CTM Festival, Rewire Festival, Akademie der Künste Berlin, Vancouver New Music, Manifesta 14, and Eigen+Art Lab / transmediale, among others.
Obsolete Studio is a cultural and educational organisation developing projects at the intersection of art and science, supporting interdisciplinary artistic research and collaborations between artists, researchers and professionals working across scientific and technological fields.
The artist talk is part of the SIMULTAN 2026–2027 international co-production programme, developed together with local and international organisations working across media art, sound and technology.
Between May and November, artists with different practices have worked through a series of residencies and research processes in Timișoara, developing projects that grow out of local contexts or previous investigations. Each collaboration opens up its own working process, with outcomes to be presented at SIMULTAN Festival 2027 before travelling through the partners’ network.
Project initiated by SIMULTAN.org
SIMULTAN 2026–2027 is funded by the Municipality of Timișoara through Centrul de Proiecte.
Partners: Institutul Francez, Goethe-Institut, Werktank, IKLECTIK, Aksioma, obsolete studio, SEMI SILENT, Plan Zero, Fundația DALA, Marginal, Austrian Cultural Forum, Image and Sound, The Secret Garden, Rezidența9.
Media partners: Radio România Cultural, RFI România, Best of Timișoara, Revista Arta, Teletext, Scena9, Revista Sunete, Zile și Nopți, Arhiva de sunet, STPT.