Curated by Ilina Schileru & E T A J Artists: Carlos Beltran Archiga, Lana Duong, Ben Jackel, Lucian Sandu Milea, Mircea Modreanu, Răzvan Năstase, Ilina Schileru and Steven Wolkoff. iMigrate. The Biology of Transition is a collaborative exhibition presented by E T A J artist-run space and Durden and Ray. E T A J, based in Romania, prioritizes the promotion of Romanian culture in an international context, the exchange of experience, and the strengthening of relations between domestic and overseas cultural artists and galleries. Themes in the exhibition carry Romanian cultural references, including cinema, visual arts or music - old and contemporary. Presenting the exhibition at Durden and Ray is an opportunity for American artists and visitors to be exposed to cultural fragments of Romanian origin, treated in an experimental manner. Imagined under the framework of creating works with limited resources due to traveling light, the performance-journey entitled iMigrate. The Biology of Transition brings together multiple points of view and perspectives on migration, including the stories of so many other artists who dreamed, over time, of the West. The flight, the initial stressful step into the unknown for those who left home, becomes an essential element of this project. Four artists from E T A J - Mircea Modreanu, Ilina Schileru, Lucian Sandu Milea and Răzvan Năstase - will use the tools they have developed in their individual practices to create works inspired by the journey from Bucharest to Los Angeles. Mircea Modreanu works in plaster, inspired by objects picked up from the street, packaging, sticks, cardboard, and other small objects. Ilina Schileru examines the structure of the societal binder, the stories that connect people in a community. From small interviews with travelers on the plane about separation, parting, and giving up, she’ll extract works in charcoal in a collage of images made in situ, as an assembly of heterogeneous narratives in a collective framework. Stories from the road are also collected by Lucian-Sandu Milea to outline the "Collector" series, which is works that mix fragments of urban landscapes, silhouettes of buildings and people, and different moments and spaces, superimposed in a crossroads of impossible geometries. Based on photographic documentation, Răzvan Năstase will create a large-scale cyanotype in Los Angeles for the exhibition. Alongside the works by Romanian artists, works by Durden and Ray members Carlos Beltran Arechiga, Lana Duong, Ben Jackel and Steven Wolkoff will create a dialogue between the two communities. This project is financed by the Romanian Cultural Institute, through the CANTEMIR Program, a funding program for cultural projects intended for the international environment. The Romanian Cultural Institute cannot be held responsible for the content of this material. The project is organized by SCHILER’S HOUSE, in partnership with E T A J artist-run space and D3M Association, and Durden and Ray in Los Angeles. The E T A J artist run-space symbolically recreates the path of Romanian migrants to America, a mixed ethno-cultural space, which hosts tens of millions of people who once yearned for the legendary American dream. How many Eastern Europeans ever dreamed of running away to America? How many still do? How many woke up from their reverie? Perhaps the American dream has always been just a myth, the hope for justice and freedom underpinned by the tormenting illusion of absurd individualism, which makes success conditional on performance alone.