Mara Raţiu is Associate Professor within the Theory Department of the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca, Romania (since 2014), teaching courses in philosophy and aesthetics of the visual arts, and Vice-Rector responsible for institutional partnerships within the same university (since 2012). She holds a PhD in Philosophy at the Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania (2011). Her main research interests are in aesthetics, contemporary artistic practices and institutions and their socio-political implications. She has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals and she is the author of the book Arta ca activitate socială / Art as social activity (2011). Also, she is the editor of the volume Discursuri asupra artei / Discourses on Art (2014). She has presented papers in more than a dozen national and international conferences. She is a GETTY – New Europe College Bucharest fellow (March-June 2010; October 2012-February 2013), as well as a RAVE Stipendium – IFA Stuttgart curatorial fellowship alumna (2003). She is a member of the Representative Board (since 2016) and of the Executive Board (since 2018) of ELIA – European League of Institutes of the Arts. For her work in international relations within the academia, as well as for her constant support for the French-speaking culture in the Romanian context, in 2016 Mara Raţiu was awarded the title Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques of the French Republic.