Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán: UnWorlding

Curators: Krisztina Hunya and Diana Marincu 

The Art Encounters Foundation is pleased to present UnWorlding, the solo exhibition of the artist duo Anca Benera and Arnold Estefán, two of the most prominent contemporary Romanian artists, exhibiting in prestigious institutions and biennials around the world. 

The exhibition is continuing the cooperation with Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) in Berlin, where the first episode of this collaboration took place in 2023: Rehearsals for Peace, the artists’ first solo exhibition in Germany.

UnWorlding foregrounds pressing ecological concerns that have preoccupied Anca Benera and Arnold Estefán in recent years, including extractivism, the overexploitation of natural resources, and the entanglements between environmental degradation and militarization. Curators Krisztina Hunya and Diana Marincu represent the two partner institutions and bring together artworks spanning the period between 2017 and 2024, including two new commissions.

The research-oriented practice of Anca Benera and Arnold Estefán spans a range of media, including art installation, video, and performance, and explores concealed patterns within historical, social, and geopolitical narratives. Their projects often focus on the relationship between environmental history and resource politics, exploring how military imagination shapes landscapes, climates, and communities. They address the global ecological crisis by weaving stories of non-human protagonists and fostering interconnectedness among humans, minerals, plants, and animals.

Premiering in Timișoara, the video installation DesFacerea Lumii (UnWorlding) (2024) extends this inquiry by probing the role of art in imagining alternative worlds and rethinking the entanglement of nature and culture. Drawing inspiration from mythology and narratives regarding the origin of the world, such as Auoumbla, the primeval cow from Norse mythology who shaped the world by licking blocks of salt, the artists reinterpret Constantin Brâncuși’s iconic sculpture Wisdom of the Earth (1907) as a salt replica, which they placed in the wilderness, documenting the process of animals interacting with it. The work reveals the ecology of relations as a continuum, where the territory of culture and the one of nature are no longer separate but complement each other. 

The Art Encounters Foundation continues its long-term mission to bring the public closer to contemporary art and will organize a series of guided tours and public events in connection with the exhibition, able to mediate contact with all the visual and research layers of the exhibition.

Anca Benera (b. 1977) and Arnold Estefán (b. 1978) have worked together since 2012 and are based in Bucharest and Vienna. In 2022, they received the Birgit Jürgenssen Award of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Art, Culture, Civil Service and Sport. Their work has been shown at venues such as Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana (2024); Creative Time Summit, BAM New York (2024); Museum Tinguely, Basel (2023); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2023); Trafó Galéria, Budapest (solo, 2021); Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2021); MUCEM, Marseille (2019); FRAC des Pays de la Loire (2018); Mumok Vienna (2017).

The exhibition UnWorlding is organized by the Art Encounters Foundation in cooperation with Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), Berlin, funded by the Municipality of Timisoara through the Project Centre, co-funded by AFCN—Administration of the National Cultural Fund, with the support of the Austrian Cultural Forum and the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Public Services and Sport (Austria).