Maria Mandea (b. 1991) is an artist and researcher working with the medium of play. After studying Product Design at UAUIM Bucharest (graduated 2017) she developed a doctoral thesis on play design at UNArte Bucharest. She currently teaches Game Design at UNATC Bucharest. While studying, she created Micul Haos in 2013, a toy design project based on an original concept on the border between toys and participatory art objects.

In 2017, she co-founded Super Serios design studio, where she develops games and playful-performative installations tackling urban and post-industrial contexts. In 2021-2022 she co-founded Știrbei47, an open studio and space for emergent and participatory art in Bucharest. Since 2022 she is part of Laborator Artistic association.

Maria works with the medium of large-scale interactive installations (Divided, 2020, Aproape Departe, 2020, System in the Room, 2020, Rousseau Game, 2022). Her work has been shown nationally and internationally in both formal and unconventional settings: National Museum of Contemporary Art Bucharest, Ars Electronica Center, on the Ion Ghica street or the streets of Matera, Italy and can be found in public collections of museums.