"Guide Me"
(performative installation)
This Saturday and Sunday, November 1st and 2nd, between 6PM and 9PM, we are thrilled to invite you to /SAC @ MALMAISON (Calea Plevnei 137C, building B, 2nd floor) for the performance shows part of the opening of the installation "Guide Me".
The exhibition is open between November 1st – November 22nd, 2025.
Visiting hours: Thursday–Saturday, 4 PM – 8 PM.
Opening and performative shows
November 1st & 2nd
Hours: 6 PM – 9 PM
"Guide Me" is a video-performance installation about how, in recent years, the psychological concept of narcissistic personality disorder has been popularized and used in the public sphere. The work, created by theater and film director and screenwriter Gabriel Sandu at /SAC @ Malmaison, starts from a documentary in the field of pop psychology and, in the construction of the video installation, draws clear differences between the approaches of psychology and sociology to the phenomenon. It then veers into fiction: a famous YouTube psychologist (Richard Grannon) is invited to an event hosted by a "high-achieving" family full of narcissists, and his presence has catastrophic effects. Without moralizing, deliberately light-hearted, the project sheds light on a dark theme that affects many people and traces the evolution of the perception and cultural use of the term "narcissist."
The installation features a semi-dark maze with multiple exits; video, performers, and texts guide the audience, who are free to choose their path. During the performance shows (November 1, 2, and 22), among real testimonies about experiences with narcissistic partners, bosses, or parents, a therapist (Andreea Găzdaru) sits enthroned, like a living, but intangible exhibit, to whom visitors can ask a single question—about what they have seen or any other subject—and she can choose whether or not to answer.
"Guide Me" marks the completion of a process of research, analysis, and creation begun in 2022 by Gabriel Sandu and presented at that time, also at /SAC, under the name EGO TRIP.
Concept, script, and direction: Gabriel Sandu
Co-writer of the video work: Adrian Ionescu
Set design: Alisa Matei
Video performers:
Cătălina Romaneț
Mihaela Teoloacă
Petru Verdeș
Răzvan Mîndruță
Richard Grannon
Veronica Odagiu
Vlad Crudu
Original music: Andrei Raicu
Psychologist/performer: Andreea Găzdaru
Video editors: Robert Bitay, Cristina Popa
Colourisation: Ruxandra Staicu
Director of photography: Pătru Păunescu
Assistant directors: Ștefania Ispas, Lavinia Ionescu
Script supervisor: Luiza Dabija
Executive producer: Tudor Hermeneanu
Sociologist: Fidelie Kalambayi
Curator: Alex Radu
Exhibition design: Justin Baroncea, Maria Ghement & Alexandra Müller
/SAC team: Andreea Chircă, Iulian Cristea, Lidia Dobrea, Anne Lolea, Elena Maxemciuc
Following the opening, the installation can be visited in the period 01.11-22.11 from Thursday to Saturday, 4PM to 8PM.
Cultural project co-financed by Administration of the National Cultural Fund. The project does not necessarily represent the official position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN shall not be held liable for the project’s content or any use to which the project outcome might be put. These are the sole responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.