Published 2026-09-10

By Robert Eduard Antal · Founding editor

The most-searched independent space in Cluj is a dance company that publishes its entire team

NON Centru de Arte Performative draws more searches than any gallery in the city. Twelve people, each with a name and a role on the site. Not one of them is searched for by anyone.

Verified · 2026-09-10

We measured search demand for every independent art space in Cluj we could identify. NON leads by a distance: 260 searches a month in the city, 320 nationally. For comparison, the three most densely programmed galleries in town draw, between them, zero.

What it actually is

It is not a gallery and not a theatre in the ordinary sense. It is a company with its own premises, at Strada Oașului 97, producing and programming its own dance, performance and theatre work — and opening its rehearsals to the public.

The September 2026 programme: “404: noise” on the 13th, “AM I?” on the 18th with free entry, “cine ești când nu te vede nimeni?” on the 20th, and an open rehearsal of “404: noise” on the 30th. Tickets are sold on the site; there are no visiting hours, because the space opens for performances.

The detail that stopped us

The site publishes the full company, by name and role: Roxana Florescu, choreographer and co-founder. Dominik M. M. Iabloncic, director and co-founder. Diana Ștefania Maioru, Ioana Varodi, Carina Sandor, Francesca Dulca, Silvana Neda, Eduard Petean, Grigore Avram — dancers and choreographers. Vladimir Călin and Irina Movileanu, composers. Andrei Potîrniche, performer. Plus collaborators: Hunor Varga, Simona Dabija, Mara Solomon, Ioana Toloargă, Alexandra Budianu.

Eighteen people, each with a function. At this scale that is unusual. Most independent organisations in the city publish a logo and an email address.

And yet

We measured the names. Roxana Florescu: zero searches a month. Dominik Iabloncic: zero. The rest of the company: zero.

The space has 260. The people who make it, between all of them, have nothing.

This is not a quirk of NON. It is the dominant pattern across this whole body of research: institutions get searched by name, people do not. “Teatru Cluj” draws over three thousand searches a month; no actor, director or choreographer in the city clears a few dozen.

The difference is that NON has already done the hard part. The names are published, the roles are clear, the source exists. What is missing is not the information but somewhere to link it from.

Where it is

Strada Oașului 97, in Mărăști — a few streets from where the Paintbrush Factory ran for a decade. Not a coincidence of geography: the city's cheap space is still where it always was.

What this is about

Sources (3)