Sebastian Moldovan takes over a large area of Timișoara’s old tram depot (STPT Multiplexity) for an in-situ installation made in collaboration with Lucia Ghegu and Albert Kaan. The work is commissioned by the 2023 Art Encounters Biennial, My Rhino is not a Myth (on view through July 16).

The 5th edition of the biennial – curated by Cristina Bută, Monica Dănilă, Edith Lázár, Ann Mbuti, Adrian Notz, Cristina Stoenescu, and Georgia Țidorescu – focuses on the intersection between art, science and fictions by reclaiming the imaginative play of science and art in an entangled world marked by environmental and societal transformations.

At STPT Multiplexity, where untamed vegetation meets industrial relics, including old tram cars and iron-clad rails, a number of artists propose alternative visions of dark science fiction and new mythologies. The collaborative installation by Sebastian Moldovan, Lucia Ghegu and Albert Kaan, encompassing objects, drawings, videos, and various interventions, is perceived by the viewer as a treasure hunt, with multiple clues and different paths to be followed.

“Is it the end or the beginning of the world? Does it even matter? In his makeshift undercover fake-rock manufacturing plant installation, Sebastian Moldovan does away with evidence of historical linearities and instead subtracts from our reality just enough recognizable details of an alternative society rebuilding the now, one hollow rock at a time. The installation is made in collaboration with artists Lucia Ghegu and Albert Kaan, adding works that inhabit the space, building a collective approach beyond the authorial. We are now in the post-sublime nature, in its perfect simulacrum, reality anew.” (text by Cristina Stoenescu and Edith Lázár for the biennial catalogue)

—

Photos by Adrian Câtu, courtesy of Art Encounters Biennial