What does a garden represent? Is it an intimate space where we retreat when we need quiet? Is it a place where we connect with nature and take time to discover plants and their properties? Or is it a place where we meditate, read, create and exchange ideas with others? Hortus Conclusus aims to activate the mysterious space of the French Institute's garden through a series of artistic interventions ranging from installation to textile and sound art. The garden has a particular history, having originally been a private park for the Kimmel Villa, which stretched as far as the Bega canal, including the land next to it, which nowadays belongs to the Villa International (the former protocol house of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu). Next to it there’s the Hospital for Recovery and Balneology, with another garden that joins the Institute's garden, recalling the original role of gardens: that of a healing space, where plants used in various treatments were grown. Over the decades, the entire green space around the French Institute has thus fulfilled different functions: onamental, recreational and palliative. The title of the exhibition (Latin for walled garden) refers to the sacred and deeply symbolic meaning of the garden throughout history. Closely linked to Christian dogma, with many paintings depicting the Virgin Mary seated in a garden full of lush vegetation surrounded by a thick wall, the hortus conclusus is a structure that transcends religious affiliation and geographical location. In both Western and Eastern Islamic traditions, walled gardens were enclosed structures, shielded from the outside world, where recreational and artistic activities, which also encouraged the exchange of ideas, were recurrent. The invited artists aim to capture the healing role of the garden as well as the complexity of plant life. Each of them deals in their artistic practice with the interconnection between nature and man, either through the organic materials they use or through the inclusive concepts behind the artworks. At the same time, their works challenge the anthropocentrism, according to which man is superior to nature and has the power to subjugate it to his own liking, a concept that has led to the well-known disastrous consequences for the environment. Through the interventions of the five artists, the Garden of the Institute breaks away from its idealized image and becomes a place of exploration and blurring of the boundaries between human and vegetal.