Alexandra Chiriac

Dr. Alexandra Chiriac serves as a Research Fellow at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) in Leipzig, Germany, holding a Henriette Herz Scouting Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation since 2024. Her research investigates transnational artistic networks in Eastern Europe with emphasis on marginalized cultural contributions.

Education:

• PhD in Art History, University of St. Andrews (2019), funded by the British Arts and Humanities Research Council
• MA in Art History, Courtauld Institute of Art, London (2012)

Her scholarly work centers on twentieth-century modern artistic movements, particularly examining interfaces between visual culture, design and performance, ethnicity in Eastern European art, and Jewish cultural history in Romania. She pioneered critical analysis of Jewish-Romanian avant-garde contributions to European modernism, with specific expertise in experimental Yiddish theater and modern design aesthetics as demonstrated in her award-winning monograph.

Dr. Chiriac's publication record reveals consistent focus on transnational avant-garde networks, exemplified by her 2022 monograph analyzing Bucharest's Jewish avant-garde. Her current project "Another Jazz Age: African-American performers in Romania, 1910 to 1940" extends this inquiry into cross-cultural performance exchanges during the interwar period, highlighting previously overlooked African-American influences in Eastern European cultural history.

Scientific Awards and Grants:

• DeGruyter Open Access Anniversary Prize, Best Monograph in Art and Architecture (2022)
• Essay Prize of the Society for Romanian Studies (2018)
• Catherine and Alfred Forrest Trust Fine Art Bursary (2017-18)
• German History Society DAAD Award (2017)
• Santander Research Mobility Award (2017)

While not currently engaged in formal student advising, her research has been consistently supported by competitive international grants including the current Humboldt Fellowship. Her pre-academic professional experience in art institutions provides unique methodological perspectives for examining cultural production.

She operates within the GWZO research community under Director Prof. Dr. Maren Röger's mentorship and contributes to broader academic discourse through her board membership in the Society for Romanian Studies, actively shaping Eastern European cultural scholarship.