The 5th edition of the Art Encounters Biennial My Rhino is not a Myth focuses on the intersection between art, science and fictions, by exploring their potential to reclaim reality as a mesh of complex processes. In between scientific explorations and imaginative speculation, it touches upon stories of the unknown and the drive to change, adapt or subvert.
About location:
The Huniade Castle is the oldest building in Timișoara, built between 1308-1315 by Carol Robert de Anjou and rebuilt after the earthquake of 1443 by Iancu de Hunedoara and the Italian architect Paolo Santini de Duccio (1443-1447). During the Ottoman occupation, the building was the residence of the Beylerbeyi of the Paşalâc of Timișoara. As a result of the siege of 1716 led by Eugene of Savoy, the building underwent a new reconstruction; starting from the 18th century, it became an artillery barracks. Finally, in the mid-19th century (1856), the Huniade Castle underwent its most extensive renovation and acquired the appearance it retains today. Since 1947, the Castle has housed the history and natural sciences sections of the National Museum of Banat.
OBS. The castle has been closed to the public for the past 15 years, and only part of the building will reopen for the Biennial. In addition, there have been many disputes over the years about the quality of the restoration work.
About Exhibition:
In 1515, Albrecht Dürer created his renowned Rhinocerus in response to a strange encounter: the first rhino since antiquity to travel to the European continent. But Dürer had never seen the depicted animal. Ganda, by its Gujarati name, drowned before reaching its destination. Its voyage around the world mapped a geopolitical trajectory and reminds us that less-known stories of exploitation and violence overshadowed the histories of exploration and discovery. Engaging with other works of fiction, such as Eugène Ionesco’s Theatre of the Absurd entitled Rhinocéros, the biennial follows the stories inspired by Ganda, reclaiming the imaginative play of science and art in an entangled world marked by environmental and societal transformations.
The Huniade Castle, one of the oldest buildings in Timișoara, of mediaeval origin, not only embodies the past, but it also shelters it, housing the history and natural science branches of the Banat Museum. What would it mean to create breaches in the linearity of recorded events and knowledge-making? Alternatives of artistic scientific research reframe the often taken-for-granted inventories. Forms of invention and speculation intertwine with the scientific method and objective observations, allowing multiple temporalities to unfold and, thus, instigating other ways of narrating the world.
Artists: CROSSLUCID, Maren Dagny Juell, Rohini Devasher, Anna Godzina, Cristian Răduță, Katarina Petrović, Anca Munteanu Rimnic, Saša Tkačenko, Kata Tranker
Curatorial team: Cristina Bută, Monica Dănilă, Edith Lázár, Ann Mbuti, Adrian Notz, Cristina Stoenescu, Georgia Țidorescu
INFO POINT – Art Encounters Foundation, Bd. Take Ionescu 46C
The program of all exhibition spaces:
Wednesday – Sunday, 12:00 – 20:00
National Museum of Art Timisoara:
Wednesday – Sunday, 13:00 – 21:00
*Free entry, unless otherwise stated
**This program may undergo changes in the following period, please check the updates on our website at: 2023.artencounters.ro
*** For appointments: [email protected] / 0792 310 052