The Art Encounters Foundation presents a series of events organized in conjunction with the residence of the artist Oana Paula Vainer (between May – July 2018), taking place in Timișoara.
The Bega Institute, section “Everything is Possible”, organizes between June 22 – July 27 a series of public events dedicated to the relationship between spaces which apparently do not relate to one another, emphasizing performance as a method of observing and searching for almost impossible encounters (nature and urban structures). Oana Paula Vainer, artist in residence at Art Encounters Foundation, together with Diana Marincu, curator, propose a series of special presentations and video projections under the umbrella of an Institute created in connection with the artistic projects developed by Oana during her research in Timișoara.
“Through the attempt of tackling an unknown territory, an almost opaque space, a physical as well as metaphorical space, I use as a working method the transformation of the human personal bodily state of the artist into an animal, fluid and vapory state. This way, we will present and participate at a series of discussions on the topic of metamorphosis of the apparent impossible spaces originating from the social and political geographical territory described by the present times.” (Oana Paula Vainer)
The “Everything is Possible” section, a branch of the Bega Institute, examines ways of looking at an existing physical territory by investigating fear and the various blockages that contribute to isolation in known cultural and behavioral patterns. Through the performative interventions and the artistic gestures that Oana inserts in the urban and natural context, this Institute proposes a gradual expansion of the borders in which we project our existence and experience of knowledge. The opaque pellicle that we hit when we leave the comfort zone is pierced by our desire to discover the unknown, to multiply the references we engage with when we identify with a place and to use the direct experience, of the body at most times, to create a necessary utopian space.
The program “Everything is possible” will tackle all these topics through presentations by speakers who will examine them from different perspectives, from art to forestry, from psychology to ecology, from social activism to cartoons.
Friday, 22 June
7:00 PM – short introduction Oana Paula Vainer and Diana Marincu
7:30 PM – presentation by Adriana Tranca, curator, on artist Margaret Harrison
8:30 PM – presentation Daniel-Ond Turcu, silvic engineer
9:30 PM – surprise screening
Oana Paula Vainer graduated from the National University of Arts in Bucharest and the Arts and Design Academy in Stuttgart. In 2007 she stopped working with ceramics and started experimenting with performance, video and new ways of expressing herself, avoiding classic mediums. Now she uses her body and sometimes everyday elements as work materials. Oana’s practices interrogates social and personal realities and references social and political realities of the place she left and the place she lives in now. Exhibitions (selection): Nothing to declare, Strasbourg (2019, solo); Exposionszeichnung, Theater Rampe, Stuttgart (2019); The Kiss, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (2018, solo); Each river has its own people, Art Encounters Foundation, Timișoara (2018, solo); Flirt, Im Hinterzimmer, Karlsruhe (2016).
Friday, July 6
5:30 PM – short presentation about the last Etapa # 4, a trip to Rosia Montana
6:00 PM – presentation Aleschija Seibt, artist
7:00 PM – presentation Laura Tripa, clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and trainer
8:00 PM – screening: Sol Lucet Omnibus, HD Video, 2015, Oana Paula Vainer
Aleschija Seibt, born 1983 in Giengen a.d. Brenz, lives and works in Karlsruhe.
She studied at Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe with Prof. Toon Verhoef. Her works were on view at following selected institutions: A room that../Spinnerei, Leipzig; Projektraum Ameisenberg, Stuttgart; whyyes, Karlsruhe; Bikini, Lyon; Neuer Kunstverein Aschaffenburg; Institut Francais, Stuttgart; SSBA – Salon, Amsterdam; Ride on Projects, Karlsruhe; Kunstverein Wilhelmshöhe, Ettlingen; Goethe-Institut, Paris; Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris; Kunsthaus L6, Freiburg; Achter de Ramen, Amsterdam; ZIP, Basel; Städtische Galerie KUBUS, Hannover; Im Hinterzimmer, Karlsruhe; Kunstverein Freiburg; Shedhalle e. V, Tübingen; Orgelfabrik, Kultur in Durlach; Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte; Wilhelmspalais Stuttgart; Kunstverein Ellwangen; konnektor – Forum für Künste, Hannover; RaumInBetrieb, Halle/Saale; ehemalige Brauerei Hatz, Rastatt; Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe; Poly Produzentengalerie, Karlsruhe; Heidelberger Kunstverein; Kunstraum morgenstrasse, Karslruhe and Villa Gellertstraße, Karlsruhe; apartment_19, Karlsruhe.
Laura Tripa is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and trainer, with over 10 years of experience in educational counseling, working with children of all ages, with their parents and educators. She is a practitioner of adlerian psychotherapy, a form of psychotherapy based on equality, reciprocity and the principle of encouragement. The preferred phrase in Adlerian psychology: “To have the courage to be imperfect”.
Friday, July 13
7:00 PM – short introduction by Oana Paula Vainer and curator Diana Marincu
7:30 PM – presentation of Adriana Tranca, curator
8:30 PM – presentation Daniel-Ond Turcu, forest engineer
9:00 PM – surprise screening
Adriana Tranca is a Romanian curator based in Berlin, Germany. She is currently completing her Master’s Degree in Curatorial Studies at Goldsmiths University, London, UK. After various curatorial explorations, her practice has a more or less obvious feminist agenda. Last summer (2017), Adriana participated in the organization of the exhibition Margaret Harrison. Dialogues Between Sex, Class and Violence in Azkuna Centroa, Bilbao, Spain, along with three other master colleagues. The Women’s Library organization at Goldsmiths, UoL, has funded a week of research in the British artist’s archive in Cumbria, UK. A number of materials and information were used in the retrospective organized by the feminist curator Xabier Arakistain, the selection aiming to articulate the context of Margaret Harrison’s entire artistic practice, most often subversive and provocative.
Daniel-Ond Turcu
„I was born on 31.07.1978 in Timișoara. After completing the Faculty of Forestry and Forestry of the “Transilvania” University of Brașov in 2002, I was employed for a short time as a forest engineer at the Bozovici Forest District (Caraș-Severin), where I gained experience in forest administration. In April 2003 I started working at the Forest Research and Development Institute of Bucharest (ICAS) – Timișoara Station (today, the National Institute of Forestry Research and Development “Marin Drăcea”). From the beginning I worked at the Forest Ecology Laboratory and I mainly dealt with the study of natural forests. I participated in the PINMATRA project (2000–2005), during which time the virgin forests of Romania were for the first time inventoried in the field – I worked in the period 2003–2005 in Timiș, Arad and Vrancea. I have collaborated with several authorities, universities, economic agents, NGOs, etc., in the field of nature conservation, especially for the implementation of management plans for Natura 2000 sites. I am a member of the Scientific Council of the Semenic National Park – Cheile Carașului and the president of the Scientific Council of the Cheile Nerei – Beușnița National Park. In this way, I try to put my experience in the field of forest ecology to work in order to support those who manage protected areas.”