Curator: Cosmin Costinaș
Co-curators: Mona Vătămanu and Florin Tudor
Artists: Claudia Andujar, Florin Bobu, Alex Bodea, Tony Chakar, Ana Deji, Megan Dominescu, Mihaela Drăgan, Ion Dumitrescu, Chitra Ganesh, Alexandra Gulea, Loredana Ilie, Sakarin Krue-On, Ivana Mladenović, Nicoleta Moise, Silvia Moldovan, Elisabeta and Emilia Morar, Veda Popovici and Mircea Nicolae, Maria Prodan, Citra Sasmita, Ștefan Sava, Ultima Esperanza, Sana Shahmuradova Tanska, Robel Temesgen, Hans Mattis-Teusch, Mona Vătămanu and Florin Tudor, Mark Verlan, Cecilia Vicuña, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Kunsthalle Bega is pleased to present the international group exhibition 'Land of Fire', a concept by Cosmin Costinaș, Bega Art Prize Winner 2021, and curated together with Mona Vătămanu and Florin Tudor.
Departing from several lesser-known historical episodes, 'Land of Fire' is interested in some lines of exclusion in both historical and art historical discourses in Romania, involving moments of darkness as well as progressive occurrences. This process raises several questions: which groups, along with their stories, images, and perspectives, have been left out from Romania’s ongoing process of self-imagination, from ethnic communities to social groups? Which narratives from the undercurrents of Romanian history continue to be ignored? Here, the exhibition initiates an examination of the involvement, proximity, as well as the benefits gained by the Romanian territories from the European colonial project. Bringing in figures from this unexamined Romanian colonial history, such as that of Iuliu Popper, a major participant in the genocide of the Selk’nam people in Tierra del Fuego, the exhibition also discusses other chapters from Romania’s past: from the five hundred years of Roma enslavement to the colonization of Cadrilater, the occupation of Transnistria and the genocide of Jews and Roma, from the first written account of the first European expedition around the world to other explorers and scientists, serving the colonial project. Alongside these, however, the exhibition is also interested in stories of solidarity that have been equally obscured by mainstream history telling, looking for example at the place held by diplomat Nicolae Titulescu in Ethiopia’s memory of its anti-colonial struggle.
'Land of Fire' also asks what genres, styles, languages, media and artistic genealogies have been excluded, often at the expense of complexity, from the dominant art historical narratives used to construct the nation’s self-image? Perhaps that of eighteenth and nineteenth century vernacular Orthodox glass icons in Transylvania, many of them made by female artists, in an era when women were generally excluded from the male dominated artistic profession, throughout the European continent? Or the history of ‘Transylvanian rugs‘ produced in Muslim countries, collected in Transylvania and represented in Western European paintings, that show the complexities of trade and exchange routes of the global colonial economy? Or the hybrid music genres that are still a point of contention in Romania today?
The exhibition gathers multiple perspectives on these questions, both from within and outside the country, as well as points of analogy from different continents. These stories and exercises open up new horizons, and the world as seen from a Romanian vantage point is becoming wider while the country’s place in it more layered, for better or worse.
Kunsthalle Bega continues its long-term mission to support the production of new artworks by both emerging and established artists and 'Land of Fire' features 13 new artistic projects that will be introduced to the public for the first time.
Cosmin Costinaș is the Senior Curator of Exhibition Practices at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, HKW, Berlin (since 2022). He was co-Artistic Director of the 24th Biennale of Sydney (2024); Director of Para Site, Hong Kong (2011–22); Artistic Director of Kathmandu Triennale 2077 (2022); co-curator of the Romanian Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale (2022); Curatorial Adviser of the Aichi Triennale (2022); Curator of Dakar Biennale 2018 – La Biennale de l’Art africain contemporain-DAK’ART (2018); Guest Curator at the Dhaka Art Summit (2018); Co-curator of the 10th Shanghai Biennale (2014); Curator of BAK – basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht (2008–11); Co-curator of the 1st Ural Industrial Biennial, Ekaterinburg (2010); and Editor of documenta 12 magazines, Vienna/Kassel (2005–07), among others. He has edited and contributed his writing to numerous books, magazines, and exhibition catalogues and has taught and lectured at different universities, art academies, and institutions across the world.
Mona Vătămanu and Florin Tudor address the theme of history in films, installations, paintings and performative actions that revisit ideologies, utopias, and modernist projects. Their work has been shown in Kadist San Francisco, 2024; Diriyah Biennial, 2024; 5th Kyiv Biennial, Vienna, 2023; Kathmandu Triennale, 2022; 10th Shanghai Biennale, 2014; 12th Istanbul Biennial, 2011; 5th Berlin Biennial, 2008.
The exhibition 'Land of Fire' is an event organised by Fundația Calina, produced by Kunsthalle Bega and co-financed by the Ministry of Culture through the Center for Projects and co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. Kunsthalle Bega is an alternative and experimental space founded in Timisoara in 2019, where contemporary art is thought, discussed and exhibited. Dedicated especially to young artists from Romania and the world, Kunsthalle Bega is aesthetically and socially interested in the platforms of contemporary art museums. Every year, following consultations with a specialised jury, it offers an award—the Bega Art Prize—to a Romanian curator under the age of 40 who has managed to change the rules of curatorial perception. Involved in educational projects with diverse communities, Kunsthalle Bega promotes the significant importance of art publications.
Kunsthalle Bega is an alternative and experimental space founded in Timisoara in 2019, where contemporary art is thought, discussed and exhibited. Dedicated especially to young artists from Romania and the world, Kunsthalle Bega is aesthetically and socially interested in the platforms of contemporary art museums. Every year, following consultations with a specialised jury, it offers an award—the Bega Art Prize—to a Romanian curator under the age of 40 who has managed to change the rules of curatorial perception. Involved in educational projects with diverse communities, Kunsthalle Bega promotes the significant importance of art publications. Kunsthalle Bega is a project of Calina Foundation initiated by Alina Cristescu, Liviana Dan and Bogdan Rața, together with Andreea Drăghicescu and Ugron Lajos.
“Land of Fire” is part of the national cultural program "Timisoara - European Capital of Culture in 2023" and is funded by the Legacy Timisoara 2023 creative program, developed by @Centrul de Proiecte Timisoara, with funds allocated from the state budget, through the budget of the @Ministerul Culturii. The cultural program does not necessarily represent the position of the Timisoara City Hall and the Timisoara Local Council. The content of the cultural program and how its results can be used are the sole responsibility of the authors and the beneficiary of the funding. Timisoara City Hall and Timișoara Local Council are not responsible for the content of the material and how it could be used.
Project co-financed by the @Administratia Fondului Cultural National. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the AFCN. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the project results can be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.
Institutional Partners: Muzeul Național de Artă a României, Muzeul Național Secuiesc, Muzeul Județean Mureș - Secția de Artă, Muzeul Judeţean de Artă «Centrul Artistic Baia Mare», Academia de Studii Economice, Ambasada României în Republica Federală Democratică Etiopia
Partners: Samdani Art Foundation, Facultatea de Arte și Design – Universitatea de Vest din Timișoara, Lutnița Gallery, Elba Benitez Gallery, Tang Contemporary Art, Vermelho Gallery, Kerber Verlag, Fundația Herczeg, PUNCH, Storm Sped
Media Partners: Radio România Cultural, Revista ARTA, Zeppelin, Observator cultural, Modernism.ro, Propagarta, Contemporary Art, Renașterea Bănățeană, Agenția de Carte.ro
Sponsori: BEGA, PINTeam, VendTeam, Egeria, ELECS Group, Agape