Art Encounters Biennial 2023 Review: Against Doomism
The Art Encounters Biennial in Timișoara, Romania, titled 'My Rhino is Not a Myth: art science fictions,' runs from May 19 to July 16, 2023. Curated by Swiss curator Adrian Notz, the biennial explores transhumanism, posthumanism, and object-oriented ontology. Works include Anetta Mona Chișa's inflatable textile sculptures mimicking nuclear atoms, Cristian Răduță's mutant animal sculptures in a derelict tram, and Zheng Bo's 'Pteridophilia' series. The title references Albrecht Dürer's 1515 woodcut rhinoceros. Other artists include Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, Saša Tkačenko, Dimitar Solakov, Giulia Crețulescu, Hortensia Mi Kafchin, Maren Dagny Juell, and Naomi Rincón Gallardo. The biennial counters doomism by imagining hopeful futures, such as queer indigenous resilience in Gallardo's film 'Opossum Resilience.'
Key facts
- Art Encounters Biennial 2023 runs May 19–July 16 in Timișoara, Romania.
- Title: 'My Rhino is Not a Myth: art science fictions'.
- Curated by Swiss curator Adrian Notz.
- Themes include transhumanism, posthumanism, and object-oriented ontology.
- Anetta Mona Chișa's 'Ununennium’s dream' (2023) features inflatable textile sculptures of nuclear atoms.
- Cristian Răduță's 'The Diamond Hunters' (2019) shows mutant animals in a tram.
- Zheng Bo's 'Pteridophilia' (2016–21) depicts sexual encounters with plants.
- Title references Albrecht Dürer's 1515 woodcut rhinoceros.
- Naomi Rincón Gallardo's 'Opossum Resilience' (2019) retells Mesoamerican myths.
Entities
Artists
- Anetta Mona Chișa
- Cristian Răduță
- Zheng Bo
- Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury
- Saša Tkačenko
- Dimitar Solakov
- Giulia Crețulescu
- Hortensia Mi Kafchin
- Maren Dagny Juell
- Naomi Rincón Gallardo
- Albrecht Dürer
- Adrian Notz
- Graham Harman
- Timothy Morton
- Donna Haraway
- Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev
Institutions
- Art Encounters Biennial
- Documenta 13
- European Capital of Culture
Locations
- Timișoara
- Romania
- Europe
- Americas
- China
- Chernobyl