Vault One Gallery exhibits emerging and mid-career contemporary visual artists from Transylvania. Through this program, we aim to support their creative potential by organizing exhibitions both at our gallery space located in the historic center of Cluj-Napoca and also at partner locations.

Our main goal is to raise awareness about the work of our represented artists among a broad audience, by bringing authentic human expression, emotions, atmosphere, and unique moments to our audience.

The works of the artists we represent are displayed in our gallery space in Cluj-Napoca, located in a coworking office building, as well as in improvised pop-up locations such as our partners’ offices, industrial halls, restaurants, or other requested venues. Additionally, we present Transylvanian contemporary art at prestigious art events and exhibitions both in Romania and across Europe.

Starting this year, we have been operating under the name Vault One Gallery, but the gallery was founded in 2017 and previously operated under the name ArtWise Gallery, established by motivated young artists and art enthusiasts.

Vault One Gallery was founded in 2017 when a group of ambitious young people won first prize at a Startup Pitch competition with a project aimed at supporting artists and fashion designers. Subsequently, they established an association named Artwise. The team at that time consisted of Molnár István, Oláh Ildikó, and Bába István.

The initial concept did not foresee the establishment of an art gallery but rather the creation of a creative network to help emerging artists integrate into the worlds of contemporary art, design, and fashion. The lack of a very concrete initial vision allowed the team to remain flexible and let Artwise’s activities develop freely. Thus, the next stage of development led to the establishment of a contemporary art gallery. Starting in 2023, Artwise Fashion and Artwise Gallery became two distinct brands, and in 2024 the gallery changed its name to Vault One Gallery.

The inspiration for this name derives from the gallery’s first physical location in a former bank vault, thanks to a partnership with Xponential Transylvania Coworking Space. The art gallery was further strengthened by the addition of Havadi-Nagy-David István in 2024.

Vault One Gallery does not seek to mimic any known institutional structure, it maintains its independence, and considers constant change and evolution to be among its main virtues. Vault One Gallery participated for the first time in Romania’s largest art fair, MoBU International Art Fair Bucharest, in the 2024 edition, showcasing the works of 11 contemporary artists.