Nicu Popescu is an artist working with generative systems, interactive media, and constructed environments. Using code, custom hardware, and algorithmic methods (p5.js, GLSL, SuperCollider, cellular automata, reaction–diffusion), he creates images, behaviors, and responsive spaces where bodies and computation intersect. His work focuses on perception and the transformation of digital processes into light, motion, and spatial form.
His practice materializes through installations, full-dome works, and live-coded performances, built with custom hardware and DIY electronics. It combines system-driven structures with improvisation, noise, error, and iteration, pushing computational logic toward a distinct visual and spatial language.
His work is informed by artistic research into pattern, emergence, and cultural memory, including published research on algorithmic approaches to folk motifs.
Upcoming
- “Viața care nu (mai) e [încă]” / “Life that is not (anymore) [yet]” – Installation, part of the group exhibition “Boîte, Box, Brâncuși”, MNAC Bucharest (February 19 – October 2026)
- “Proto” — Fulldome audiovisual work, Dome Dreaming Festival, Tekniska museet | National Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm, May 8, 2026
Selected Exhibitions & Installations
- 8-14 Apr 2026 – The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York – “Why do similar folk motifs appear across distant cultures?” — Audio-visual work, Overdrive|5 Festival
- July 2025 – Theatre in the Mill, University of Bradford, UK – Live performance exploring the dynamics between artistic intent and audience perception through real-time code manipulation, combining sound, projection, and generative visuals. Work developed during a 3-month artist development programme.
- May 16, 2025 – FullDome Festival, Jena, Germany – “ASTR1V0X” presented as part of the “Contact Attempt” programme curated by the Herbert W. Franke Foundation.
- Nov 4–24, 2024 – Bideotikan International Digital Art Festival, Bilbao, Spain – “Portals #1, #2, #3” shown on public screens as part of a curated programme of international artists.
- Nov 16, 2024 – Hamburg Planetarium, Germany, “ASTR1V0X” projected in full dome format during “CONTACT ATTEMPT”, an event organized by the Foundation Herbert W. Franke, celebrating 50 years from the Arecibo Message.
- Nov 18, 2024 – Bochum Planetarium, Germany, “ASTR1V0X” presented in full dome format during “CONTACT ATTEMPT”, an event organized by the Foundation Herbert W. Franke.
- Oct 4-6 2024 – “SOLITON” interactive installation art at Radar New Media Art & Technology International Festival, Bucharest
- Oct 1-31 2024 – “Uphill” was part of the “DEFORM AND RE-FORM” exhibition at the Helsinki Central Library Oodi. The exhibition, organized by Alusta (a Finnish National Gallery platform)
Ongoing work
- 2026 – Series of kinetic works. Motor-driven systems combining generative logic, custom electronics, and physical structures.
Publications
- 2025 – Algorithmic Archaeology of Folk Motifs: Nature, Code, and Cultural Memory. In: Proceedings of the Algorithmic Pattern Conference in the Creative Arts (ALPACA 2025). DOI:10.5281/zenodo.17084384
Talks & Public Engagements
- 2025 – Watch-party presentation of “Algorithmic Archaeology of Folk Motifs” at UDK Berlin during ALPACA, including live reaction-diffusion demos and an interactive RD organism running on Raspberry Pi.
Workshops
- 2025 – “Alchimia Artei Generative”, MNTRplusC, Bucharest. Designed and led a workshop programme on generative systems, introducing participants to cellular automata, reaction–diffusion, and creative coding as artistic tools.
Other Exhibitions
- Jul 2024 Valencia, Spain – “Otra Playa” showcased at the CONTINUUM exhibit in homage to Spanish master Joaquín Sorolla during the GM Valencia! event
- Jun 2024 Bucharest, at the HR Summit event during Bucharest Tech Week, “Flower Code” – interactive installation art & group exhibition -> event showreel
- May 2024 The Hague at the “Noncompliance” exhibition curated by Patrick Amadon – 47 artists exhibited protest work in solidarity with the Hong Kong 47 and the pro-democracy movement
- May 2024 Bucharest at NFTBucharest, “Skully” – Interactive [generative] installation art using p5js, Arduino, webcam and a video projector -> event showreel
- May 2024 Bucharest at NFTBucharest, “Brøken Glow”
- Apr 2024 New York at NFTNYC – Artists Village, “Voyage Within”
- Apr 2024 Tallinn at BananaConf – “Revolt at the Animal Farm“
- Mar 2024 Toronto at Goat Gallery in the Block by Block pixel art show – “Brancusi” and “Ain’t got much time”
- Feb 2024 Paris at NFTParis – “Revolt at the Animal Farm”
- Nov 2023 Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest during ARIR Gala, “Remedia”
- Oct – Nov 2023 “Next Day” displayed at imnotArt Gallery Chicago & the Metaverse CG Museum
- August 2023 404 Art Catalog by Patrick Amadon. “Zen in the tempest“
- May 2023 NFT Bucharest @ Cluj. “Sara Pe Deal”