Centrul de Excelență în Studiul Imaginii
University of Bucharest
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Research Master's Degree
Admissions
Admissions Round - July 2026
Online registration, at dedicated platform: July 13–19, 2026 Note: The application form will be uploaded to the platform along with the documents required for registration. Online Admissions Interview: July 22–23, 2026 Display of preliminary results: July 25, 2026 Seat confirmation: July 27–28, 2026 Admissions Exam: Test 1 – Application Form (submitted along with the application) and Test 2—an interview based on it ENROLLMENT FIGURE* Master’s Program in “Society, Multimedia, and Performance (SMS)”: 20 state-funded spots + 28 tuition-paying spots Master’s Program in “Theory and Practice of the Image (TPI)”: 20 state-funded spots + 28 tuition-paying spots *The number of available spots will be updated after the spot confirmation period for the April pre-admission session has ended. Online tutoring to help you fill out the application form: Laura Mesina, Ph.D., Professor and Coordinator of the SD SITT/CESI Study Programs, laura.mesina@litere.unibuc.ro Assistance with preparing the application (secretariat): Simona Chiaburu, simona.chiaburu@litere.unibuc.ro / office@cesi.unibuc.ro Facebook Group FOR CANDIDATES: CESI Master's Program Admissions 2026 SOCIETY, MULTIMEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT SMS – COURSES AND LABORATORIES Visual Cultural Studies | Urban Cultural Studies | Postmodern Visual Cultures | Gender Studies and Contemporary Visual Culture | Interdisciplinary Film StudiesDocumentary Film | Film and Philosophy | Text and Image in Digital Performance | Video Art and New Technologies of the Artistic Image | Modernity of the Stage | Postwar Stage Experiments | Contemporary Theater | Academic Ethics and Integrity | Scholarly Writing | Research Methods and Methodologies in Cultural Studies | Research Courses and Workshops | Internships at Cultural Festivals (theater, film, multimedia) and urban curation | Internships in cultural institutions | Cultural programs and projects | Dissertation tutorials THEORY AND PRACTICE OF IMAGE TPI – COURSES AND LABORATORIES Visual Cultural Studies | Histories, Arts, and Archives | Forms of Cultural Imagination | Art in the 20th Century | Contemporary Art | Contemporary Art: Curatorial Studies and Practices | Recent Theories of the Figure and Figurability | The Photographic Image | The Architectural Image in European Modernity | European Icons: From Art Object to Public Image | Memory, Meaning, Mediology | Ethics and Academic Integrity | Scholarly Writing | Research Methods and Methodologies in Cultural Studies | Courses and Research Labs | Art Curatorial Practice (Galleries, Biennials) | Internships in Institutions | Cultural Programs and Projects | Dissertation Tutorials TEACHING STAFF Laura Mesina – Professor, Department Chair Ileana Marin – Associate Professor Raluca Bibiri, Laura Marin, Alina Mihalache, Ana Negoiță, Corina Popa – lecturers Mihaela Criticos – visiting professor Magdalena Dragu, Mihai Ometiță – Associate Lecturers Ioana-Iuna Șerban – Medical Assistant Irina Bobei, Cristian Drăgan, Ruxandra Ghițescu, Daniel Mihalcea, Mihai Pascar, Eliza Pătrașcu – doctoral assistants Cecilia Ștefănescu – Associate Specialist and Ph.D. Candidate EDUCATION Personalized curriculum | Courses with transferable credits (30) between the SD SITT/CESI master’s programs | Research laboratories and team-based practical projects | (inter)national internships | Digital course materials and library | Access to international scientific databases | Professors, associate professors, and lecturers from the EU and the US | Research and internship mentors | Technical team for research assistance | CESI specialized publications | Contacts and recommendations for (inter)national internships and employment FINANCING FOR STUDIES AND INTERNSHIPS Merit-based and need-based scholarships | Erasmus+ internships and scholarships in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Greece | Short courses and international summer schools within the CIVIS European University Alliance | IMAGORA-CESI grants for scientific conferences | IMAGORA-CESI grants for internships and research-documentation placements CESI PROGRAMS & IMAGORA-CESI Cultural Association CESI 25 | CESI Digital Fellows | CESI Research Seminar | Cultural Partnerships for (Inter)national Internships | Volunteer Programs | Scientific and Cultural Publications
(DIS)ABLING HERITAGE: Architecture between Accessibility and Memory
Anna Bernardi (arhitect), Institute for the History and Theory of Art and Architecture (ISA, Elveția) Format ONLINE, link la cerere: office@cesi.unibuc.ro Organizare și moderare: drd. Ilinca Maican lector asociat dr. Mihai Ometiță Vom discuta ce înseamnă să accesăm patrimoniul cultural, precum și modul în care locurile de patrimoniu pot să formeze și să reglementeze accesul la memorie prin cadre arhitecturale, culturale și arhivistice. De asemenea, vom explora o serie de studii de caz pentru a examina modul în care cultura de patrimoniu poate atât să faciliteze (enable), cât și să „incapaciteze“ („disable“) această experiență a accesului. Anna Bernardi a studiat arhitectura la Accademia di architettura, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI, Elveția), unde și-a obținut și doctoratul. Este activă în predare și cercetare la Institute for the History and Theory of Art and Architecture (ISA, Elveția). A publicat volumul Architettura e politiche della memoria (2023), numeroase articole științifice și a susținut conferințe despre accesibilitate în locuri ale memoriei și ale patrimoniului, cu accent pe dimensiunile lor arhitecturale și culturale.
Artist Talk: Fotografia de stradă
Ovidiu Șelaru, fotograf 11 iunie, ora 18.00 Sala 120, aripa stângă, etaj 1, Facultatea de Litere, Str. Edgar Quinet nr. 5-7, sector 1 Organizare și moderare: lector asociat dr. Mihai Ometiță Într-un format deschis, vom discuta despre evoluția fotografului: cum a început, cum și-a construit proiectele în timp, experiențele sale din diverse orașe de pe continente diferite și felul în care vede fotografia de stradă și documentară astăzi. Întâlnirea include și elemente de masterclass: sugestii și sfaturi pentru fotografi emergenți sau amatori. Ovidiu Șelaru este practician și promotor al fotografiei de stradă, stabilit la Londra și câștigător al British Photography Award. Documentează medii urbane în context european și asiatic. A organizat masterclass-uri în marile capitale europene și în metropole, precum New York sau Tokio. Fotografiile sale au apărut în publicații de prestigiu, incluzând Vogue, EYE-Photo, Soul of Street sau Photoshop Magazine.
RESEARCH PROJECTS ON YOUR OWN TERMS: How to enjoy it, share it, and iet it done
Silvia Caprioglio Panizza, Univ. din Pardubice I Univ. din Tubingen I Univ. College Dublin 10 iunie, orele 18.00-20.00 Format ONLINE, link la cerere: office@cesi.unibuc.ro Organizare și moderare: lector asociat dr. Mihai Ometiță Vom discuta despre moduri în care proiectele de cercetare pot fi gândite și derulate pentru a răspunde dezideratelor academice curente, însă fără a ne trăda interesele proprii. Seminarul va porni de la un proiect despre imposibilitate morală (finanțat prin Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions), axându-ne pe design-ul cercetării, procesul de derulare și activitățile de diseminare. De asemenea, vom aborda și un proiect colaborativ despre etica animalelor, momentan în construcție, care reunește cercetători din variate discipline. Silvia Caprioglio Panizza este cercetătoare în filosofie și etică. Este Senior Researcher la Centre for Ethics, Universitatea din Pardubice, visiting researcher la Universitatea din Tübingen și Adjunct Senior Research Fellow la University College Dublin. Cercetările sale se axează pe valoarea morală și modul în care ne modelează viețile, incluzând atenția, percepția morală, motivarea, încrederea, ceea ce face anumite posibilități disponibile moral pentru noi și ceea ce ne apare ca imposibil moral. Lucrează și în domeniul eticii animalelor. Publicațiile sale includ The Ethics of Attention (autoare, Routledge 2022), Moral Impossibility (editoare, Routledge 2026) și The Murdochian Mind (co-editoare, Routledge 2022).
De la autoportretul simbolic la autoficțiune
3 iunie, interval orar 18:15-20:00 Format online, link la cerere: office@cesi.unibuc.ro Invitată: conf. univ. dr. habil. Alexandra Vrânceanu Pagliardini, Facultatea de Litere, Universitatea din București Moderator: drd. Cristian Alistar, Școala Doctorală „Spațiu, Imagine, Text, Teritoriu”/ CESI Prelegerea ne propune o paralelă între felul în care se reprezintă artiștii în epoca barocă și felul în care artiștii contemporani transformă propriul portret în subiect de reflecție. Referințele vor fi la pictură și la texte literare din cele două perioade. Va modera discuția ulterioară Cristian Alistar, care studiază la doctorat la SD SITT/CESI, sub coordonarea Alexandrei Vrânceanu, cu tema The Writer’s Responsibility in Contemporary American Fiction – David Foster Wallace, George Saunders and Jonathan Franzen. Seria PRELEGERI CESI 25 se adresează cu precădere studenților (licență, masterat, doctorat) interesați de Studii culturale vizuale (interdisciplinar cu Filologie, Arte și Arhitectură).
How to study, represent and translate the "Other"? A rebellious guide from the margins
„I can focus specifically on the question on representing «the Other», building rapport and good practices during ethnographic fieldwork and visual projects. Especially in relation to studying cultures, groups and places that are not «ours». So you can expect a decolonialist and feminist talk for this session. As the time is short, I will probably have a more free-flowing talk, less power point slides and more conversationalist style with some key questions and collective thinking.“ Nilay Kılınç este antropolog social, ale cărei cercetări interdisciplinare sunt axate pe migrație, mobilitate, diaspora și transnaționalism. Publicațiile sale includ A Place in the Homeland? Turkish-German Return Migration (co-autor Russell King, Edinburgh UP 2025) și Handbook on Diasporas and Migration (co-editor Ayhan Kaya, Edward Elgar 2026). A scris și a regizat documentarul Arkadaşloch – Nobody’s Problem (2022), care urmărește experiențele migranților turco-germani de a doua generație, navigând viața de zi cu zi în orașul turistic Antalya. meet.google.com/hvh-otqh-bxw
Oralitate mediată – expresii complementare ale comunicării interactive formalizate
Dată: 27 mai, 18:00-20:00 Format online (link la cerere: office@cesi.unibuc.ro) Invitată: C.Ș. I habil. Laura Jiga-Iliescu, Institutul de Etnografie și Folclor „Constantin Brăiloiu” al Academiei Române Moderator: arhitect drd. Ilinca Maican, Școala Doctorală „Spațiu, Imagine, Text, Teritoriu”/ CESI Caracterul procesual al oralității, performativitatea, punerea în act a mesajului pe măsură ce este transmis interactiv prin mijloace sincretice de expresie presupun, toate, o experiență corporală de comunicare. Din această perspectivă, Laura Jiga-Iliescu va urmări specificitățile modurilor de funcționare a interacțiunilor dintre expresiile verbale, figurative, performative ale oralității în diferite ipostaze istorice, de la epoca premodernă la jocurile video postmoderne. Va modera discuția ulterioară Ilinca Maican, care studiază la doctorat la SD SITT/CESI, sub coordonarea Laurei Jiga-Iliescu, cu tema Tangible Cultural Goods and Post-Pandemic Digital Technologies. Seria PRELEGERI CESI 25 se adresează cu precădere studenților (licență, masterat, doctorat) interesați de Studii culturale vizuale (interdisciplinar cu Filologie, Arte și Arhitectură).
Discourse and Debate in Scientific Research: The Dissertation in Cultural Studies
Organizers: Second-year CESI master’s students and Lecturer Dr. Corina Popa Actress Sofia Crudu has put together some useful tips for managing emotions and controlling your voice during public presentations. The meeting is intended to support master’s students who are preparing to defend their theses in Cultural Studies. Their papers are almost finished, and their presentations are in the works, so some public speaking practice would be helpful.
Away – Cosmin Bumbuț (photographer) and Elena Stancu (journalist)
Guided tour of the exhibition: April 19, 6:00 p.m., National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC) Project Presentation: April 20, 5:00 p.m., Reading Room, right wing, 1st floor, Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest. Moderation and organization: Associate Professor Dr. Mihai Ometiță. Photographer Cosmin Bumbuț and journalist Elena Stancu have been documenting Romanian migrant communities across Europe for six and a half years. So far, they have traveled to 12 countries and published over 130 reports on seasonal workers in Germany, doctors and nurses in England, tourism workers in Portugal, farmers in Norway, ship electricians in Denmark, researchers in Sweden, students in the Netherlands, women working as cleaners in Spain, and those caring for the elderly in Italy. The two travel in a campervan and become part of the lives of the people they are documenting, and their project captures the work, daily life, and integration process experienced by Romanian migrants and their transnational families. Their project was nominated for the True Story Award in 2025 and the European Press Prize in 2023; it received a fellowship from the Pulitzer Center in 2021 and several Romanian awards for photography and journalism. In 2024, it was exhibited at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest and at Literaturhaus Berlin, and in 2021 at the Venice Architecture Biennale, in the Romanian pavilion. Cosmin Bumbuț spent 15 years photographing for Romania’s leading brands. At the age of 40, he began working in documentary photography. In 2012, he published, together with Elena Stancu, the photo book Cuba continues (Art Publishing House), about the lives of Cubans during a time of transition. In 2013, he published Bumbata (Punctum Publishing), a photo book about the lives of inmates at Aiud Penitentiary before and after Romania’s accession to the EU. In 2015, he won first prize in the Architecture category of the Sony World Photography Awards with the project Private Room, for which he visited every prison in Romania. His photographs have been exhibited at the Berlin European Month of Photography (2016) and at the Brussels Summer of Photography, BOZAR (2012). In November 2013, journalist Elena Stancu—then deputy editor-in-chief of Marie Claire magazine—and photographer Cosmin Bumbuț moved into a campervan so they could work on documentary projects. They have published reports on extreme poverty, domestic violence, marginalized Roma communities, life in prisons, the medication crisis, school dropouts, and migration. They have produced two documentary films: The Last Boiler (2016), about a Roma family from southern Romania who emigrate to France, and Residents (2018), about Romania’s first center for female inmates with mental illnesses. In 2017, they published a collection of reports Home, on the road (Humanitas). In January 2019, they began work on “Plecat,” the most extensive documentary project on the migration of Romanians to Europe. The project offers an insider’s view of the lives of Romanians in the diaspora: the processes of integration into new societies, the fragile balance between homesickness and the need to belong, the lives of transnational families, and how migration transforms identity, values, and the relationship with Romania. It is an in-depth journalistic endeavor that sheds light on the emotional and social reality of a generation that is simultaneously changing both Romania and Europe.
Schedule of Open Courses: March–May 2026
The open course program will continue in a hybrid format over the next two weeks, giving us the opportunity to introduce ourselves and to meet and support the candidates for the online pre-admission on April 27 and 28. We invite you to join us at the SD SITT/CESI Multimedia Lab, basement level (Amphitheater Wing), Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest, 5-7 Edgar Quinet Street. To participate online, please email us at: office@cesi.unibuc.ro The open house program offers prospective students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the specific approaches of CESI’s master’s programs in Visual Cultural Studies (an interdisciplinary program involving Philology, Arts, and Architecture), with various dissertation topics, and with the unique working atmosphere of an advanced research center. Meetings with CESI master’s students and faculty provide free consultations regarding the preparation of the application form and the application portfolio.
The Play as an Encounter: A Conversation with Director Eugen Jebeleanu on Directorial Choices, Theatrical Aesthetics, and Adapting the Classics
Eugen Jebeleanu made his acting debut in several plays written by Radu Afrim; in Paris, together with writer and director Yan Verburgh, he founded “Compania 28,” creating Franco-Romanian productions that have gained international recognition. He performs both on independent stages in experimental venues and on the official stages of the national theaters in Bucharest, Sibiu, and Timișoara. In 2020, he won the UNITER Award in the “Best Director” category for the international co-production Itinerarii. One Day the World Will Change (ARCUB and Compagnie des Ogres from France). The meeting will be moderated by Mihaela Adina Drăgan (second-year master’s student in theSociety, multimedia, entertainment) and Alina Gabriela Mihalache (Assistant Professor, Ph.D.).
Kenopsia / Metanoia – Seminar and Studio Visit
Speakers: Ștefan Ungureanu, visual artist; George Anghelescu, visual artist During the seminar and studio visit, visual artists Ștefan Ungureanu and George Anghelescu will present the exhibition Kenopsia / Metanoia, curated by art critic Dan Popescu and on view from December 13, 2025, to February 28, 2026, at InVitro Gallery in Cluj-Napoca. “Ștefan Ungureanu and George Anghelescu are millennials. What specifically distinguishes Gen Y artists from their predecessors? In my view, it has to do with how—since most of them are urban dwellers—they relate to the future and the past. For Gen Y, the past does not carry the dramatic weight of tradition, and the future is viewed with a mixture of optimism and melancholy. The current exhibition presents two examples of affective-axiological visual positioning in relation to the future and the past. Kenopsia is the eerie, desolate atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people and life but is now empty and quiet. It is one of those feelings for which one would not even suspect that there is a term to describe it. Ștefan Ungureanu creates an image that captures this feeling and makes it even more ineffable, in mental landscapes that clearly suggest a fictional future. Despite resembling a landscape reminiscent of an Arizona desert, it bears the traces of human terraforming and of a life that is still smoldering, or that can still be glimpsed. It is the image of the melancholy of the future. George Anghelescu highlights how millennials relate to the past. Reiterating a point he has made before, for Generation Y, the past is either something to be ignored or left behind by coming to terms with its countless injustices. Visual metanoia is George’s obsession. No nation remains untainted by its history, and in each of his images, Anghelescu creates a tension between horror and beauty that speaks more powerfully than many historical treatises. (Text: Dan Popescu / Translation: Bertha Savu)