On December 5, 2025, NUMIX LAB will host a discussion on youth and immersive audiences, with the participation of Annette Brejner (Mbrane), Sorina Topceanu / Madalina Ivascu (MINA), Sébastien Moreau (Philharmonie des enfants), Francis Gelinas (Couleur.tv), Kris Hofmann (Hofmann Studio), Julie L. Parisi (MUNCH XTREME).

On this occasion, we had the opportunity to hear from Sorina Topceanu and Madalina Ivascu, Co-founders of MINA – Museum of Immersive New Art, who will present her projects with the MINA kids museum and highlight the current challenges they are facing.

Could you introduce yourself as well as MINA ?

My name is Sorina Topceanu, I am the co-founder of MINA – Museum of Immersive New Art, the first immersive art space in Romania, of RADAR – New Media Art Festival, and of MINA Studios, our creative production hub. In recent years, I have been actively involved in MINA’s expansion into multiple cities – from Bucharest and Cluj to Iași, Sofia and beyond – curating immersive shows that blend art, technology, and education.

Our mission is to make culture more accessible to diverse audiences, especially younger generations, through innovative formats that combine storytelling with cutting-edge digital tools.

My name is Mădălina Ivașcu, and I am the co-founder of MINA – Museum of Immersive New Art, as well as co-founder and artistic director of RADAR – New Media Art Festival.

For the past eight years I have acted as producer and curator in the new media art field, developing innovative formats for exhibitions and events, and promoting the application of technology in arts and culture. At MINA, my work encompasses defining the cultural agenda, coordinating cultural financing opportunities that sustain and scale our projects, and co-managing our core team. I am also involved in the development of new productions within MINA Studio, our in-house research & creative center. 

With RADAR, I have dedicated my work to transform the festival from a local initiative into an established international platform, which we now continue to expand on the global scene.

Through all these initiatives, we strive to unite artistic vision, innovation, and strategic development while making sure our immersive projects remain both accessible and impactful.

You will be speaking at the youth and immersive audience panel on December, 5 ; how can MINA contribute to addressing the theme being discussed?

At MINA and through RADAR, we focus on how immersive experiences can open new ways for young audiences to connect with culture. More than 90,000 children have already visited our shows, and our dedicated platform MINA Kids brings interactive, technology-driven learning into their everyday world.

We’ve developed an entire agenda dedicated to children. For example, we’ve created shows like Dinosaurs – An Immersive Journey or The Magic Forest, which combine storytelling, science, and imagination to spark wonder and curiosity. These experiences don’t stop with the show itself: children can also take part in our astronomy lessons, which turn fascination into learning in a playful, accessible way.

We also use workshops to connect culture with everyday skills. We host sessions on nutrition and financial education, where children learn through interactive activities, and with Underwater World we approach the theme of environmental responsibility, helping kids understand in simple ways how they can contribute to saving the planet.

Through these initiatives, MINA offers more than entertainment — we create pathways for children to explore, learn, and grow. Our mission is to ensure that culture is accessible and relevant to younger generations, and that they can see themselves as part of it.

What are the three main challenges your projects are currently facing in terms of production and distribution ?

1. Limited distribution channels for immersive productions – These projects often remain local, with little circulation beyond their original city or country.
Support would mean developing platforms for content circulation and shared touring opportunities that allow productions to travel and reach broader audiences.

2. Access to expertise – Finding international creative and technical collaborators can be challenging.
What would help is connections to professionals from different countries to enable co-creation and knowledge exchange.

3. Audience development beyond the local level – While children and families are our core audience, reaching international markets requires different strategies.
We would benefit from tools, case studies, and joint initiatives that help promote immersive experiences to wider international audiences.

We are truly grateful to be invited and to take part in NUMIX LAB, because for us it is a valuable opportunity to connect Romania’s immersive and new media art scene with a much wider international network. We’ve built strong communities in Bucharest and across Romania, but our work has already taken an international turn:  MINA has recently expanded to Sofia, with more cities on the horizon and RADAR has grown into an international festival. 

NUMIX LAB allows us to build on this progress by bringing us together with creators, cultural institutions and partners who share our commitment to digital creativity. 

For us, it’s a chance to showcase what we’re doing in Romania, from immersive exhibitions and educational programs at MINA to large-scale new media productions at RADAR, while also learning from peers in Europe and Canada.

The greatest value that we hope this event will bring is that it will accelerate co-productions and the circulation of works and ideas. It will help us imagine projects that are not only rooted in Bucharest but can travel internationally and reach diverse audiences. In this sense, NUMIX LAB is not just a great networking event, but a catalyst for collaborations and for positioning Romania as an active, visible player in the global digital creativity community.

Many thanks to Mădălina and Sorina for her availability! More details on our programm.

Charlotte BAUGÉ