The exhibition “Adrian Ghenie: The Impossible Body” is an excellent opportunity to get in touch with the work and ideas of one of the most important contemporary Romanian artists, known primarily for his paintings inspired by historical subjects with relevance to the tumultuous history of the 20th century. Opened on April 20 this year at the ISHO Pavilion and curated by Diana Marincu, the exhibition has been a great success in Timișoara, with around 5,200 confirmed visitors and many others expressing their intention to do so. Constantly, guided tours complemented the event, and a mediation program was carefully designed to meet the needs of various art consumers. The media coverage was also great, and we enjoyed well-deserved attention from the press, radio, and television.
Adrian Ghenie dwells here on the subjects inspired by the pandemic period and isolation in the domestic space when the only connection with the “world” was through digital devices. These new themes relate to man’s complicated relationship with today’s technology, social media, body, and time. Ghenie saw that today there is a new language of the body, which imposes different postures, specific anatomical developments, and extensions of the limbs through technological tools.
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Adrian Ghenie was born in 1977 in Baia Mare and currently lives in Berlin. His works’ mixture of abstract and realism often generates psychological, deeply disturbing paintings. Ghenie’s painting is ultimately a political or even revolutionary act. It has to do with the “duty of memory,” and, in a certain sense, Adrian Ghenie’s work goes in the direction of George Santayana’s quote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Adrian Ghenie is a personality who has reached the full maturity of his artistic expression. He exhibited in major art institutions of the world, including Accademia di Francia in Rome – Villa Medici, Rome; Contemporary Art Center (CAC) Málaga; Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg; Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Denver; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent; National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC), Bucharest; Tate Liverpool. In 2015, he represented Romania at the Venice Art Biennale with the Darwin’s Room project.
🙏🏼 The “Adrian Ghenie: The Impossible Body” exhibition is organized by the Art Encounters Foundation. Banca Transilvania and ISHO are the main partners, with the support of Catena – Farmacia Inimii and EY Romania.