Appearance & Essence:
Timișoara Art Encounters
3–31 October 2015
Preview: 2 October
Opening: 3 October
Curated by Nathalie Hoyos / Rainald Schumacher
The Evolution of Romanian Art: from Isolation to Global Reach
The first edition of Art Encounters opens to the public on 3 October 2015. A platform for a multifaceted dialogue, the event integrates Romanian contemporary art into an international context. It builds a dialogue between artists who were active during the communist area, whether at home in isolation (Sigma, Geta Brătescu, Ion Grigorescu) or abroad in exile (Paul Neagu, Andre Cadere, Mihai Olos). It reaches to the 1990s transition period (Dan Perjovschi, Sub:real) and the democracy of the 2000s (Ioana Nemeș, Ciprian Mureșan, Mircea Cantor).
Works by nearly 100 artists are exhibited in different locations including the Museum of Art, the Museum of the Revolution, a former synagogue, a warehouse, an 18th-century army barrack, and a former factory in the neighboring city Arad. All venues transform the city of Timișoara into a large-scale contemporary art museum.
Such a survey is presented in Romania for the first time and offers a coherent insight by juxtaposing pre-existing works, many of which have been seen only by a small audience, with around30 newly produced works.
Highlights include:
–A live broadcast by DJ Angel, orchestrated by Saâdane Afif
–Public performance Ode of the Matter by Matei Bejenaru. A music piece for choir (comprising a dozen of inmates from the local prison), drummers, violin, and soprano, composed by Gabriel Malancioiu exclusively for Art Encounters
–Darwin’s Room, an installation by Adrian Ghenie. Exhibited in Romania for the first time, this work gives the impression of walking into the reality of an old master’s painting: a three-dimensional life-size realisation of a rather tiny painting from 1632—The Philosopher in Meditation, attributed to Rembrandt
–An installation by Ana Lupaș in the small window shop exhibition space of the Museum of Art. Visible only from the street, the small stage questions the way in which an ephemeral installation like the artist’s Humid Installation (1970) might survive in memory and history
–A previously unshown collection of drawings from 1976–1978 by Geta Brătescu, titled K, which might bare a reference to Franz Kafka’s novel The Castle and the oppressive communist regime
–A set of drawings by Ion Grigorescu from 1972, displayed together with a short animation film based on these early works.
A number of artworks address existentially-orientated speculations between knowledge, hope and faith. Visions of Ezekiel by Marian Zidaru and recent drawings by Ion Grigorescu illustrating biblical stories are a good example of unusual theological dimensions in contemporary art. A reference to loss and transience is marked by the presentation of small sculptural studies by Mihai Olos, who died in February 2015.
Other participating artists are: Marieta Chirulescu, Daniel Djamo, Alwin Lay, Alex Mirutziu, Tara von Neudorf, Alexandru Niculescu, and Iulia Toma, to name a few.
Talks are highlighting institutional practise of researching, collecting, preserving and mediating art from Eastern Europe. Participants are: Christian Rattemeyer (MoMA, New York), Karolina Ziebinska – Lewandowska (Centre Pompidou, Paris), Frances Morris and Juliet Bingham (Tate Modern, London), Snjezana Pintaric (MSU, Zagreb), and Marcella Beccaria (Castello di Rivoli, Torino).
About the curators
In 2014, Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher, Office for Art–Berlin, developed Unlooped Kino for Manifesta 10 in St. Petersburg (2014): a video anthology, which compiled for the first time works of the last decades from Eastern Europe, Europe and the US in a contextual framework. Also in 2014, they curated Fragile Sense of Hope, an insight into the Art Collection Telekom, a corporate collection with a clear focus on art from Eastern Europe.
About Art Encounters Foundation
The Art Encounters Foundation was set up in 2015 by art collector Ovidiu Șandor. The projects of the Foundation are ensuring support for the development of the contemporary art scene in Romania.
For press inquiries please contact Oana Romocea: oana [at] artencounters.ro
