Art Encounters Biennial 2025: Bounding Histories. Whispering Tales

Curated by Ana Janevski and Tevž Logar.

The sixth edition of the Art Encounters Biennial unfolds under the title Bounding Histories. Whispering Tales., a curatorial proposition shaped by a close reading of Timișoara’s urban fabric and its layered histories. Curated by Ana Janevski and Tevž Logar, the Biennial activates three exhibition venues—the Garrison Command (a former military building), FABER (a repurposed factory), and the Art Encounters Foundation (a former kindergarten)—as living witnesses to the city’s social, cultural, and political transformations.

In reflecting on what these places are telling us today, and how they can be occupied  in a context of an international art exhibition, the concept of the echo guided the curatorial and artistic approaches of this edition. Considered as a sound that is both repetition and altered response, an echo is an agent of change and creativity  shaped by its environment, a signal of relation rather than direct transmission. As both metaphor and method, the echo prompts thus new connections between artworks, the exhibition sites, and audiences.

Featured artists: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Ana Adam, Alle Dicu, Marina Abramović & Ulay, Bora Baboçi, Maja Bajević, Mona Benyamin, Željka Blakšić, Pavel Brăila, Geta Brătescu, Brief Histories (Isak Berbic, Fawz Kabra), Cian Dayrit, Christine Cizmaș, Marieta Chirulescu, Clément Cogitore, Lorena Cocioni, Moriah Evans, Simone Forti, Jošt Franko, Robert Gabris, Alicia Mihai Gazcue, Ladislava Gažiová, Jean Genet, Liam Gillick & Anton Vidokle, Karpo Godina, Maria Guțu, Petrit Halilaj, Veronika Hapchenko, Sky Hopinka, Loredana Ilie, Siniša Ilić, Joan Jonas, Hassan Khan, Dana Kavelina, Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński, Kapwani Kiwanga, Ana Kun, David Maljković, Jumana Manna, Teresa Margolles, Silvia Moldovan, Alban Muja, Oscar Murillo, Andrei Nacu, Marina Naprushkina, Eduardo Navarro, Christian Nyampeta, Mila Panić, Manuel Pelmuș, Gavril Pop, Raluca Popa, Ghenadie Popescu, The Resurrection Committee (Ovidiu Țichindeleanu, Raluca Voinea), Larissa Sansour, Ștefan Sava, Selma Selman, Larisa Sitar, Bojan Stojčić, ŠKART, Nora Turato, Johanna Unzueta, Mark Verlan, Cecilia Vicuña, Rosario Zorraquin

Many of the works, including five newly commissioned pieces, directly engage with the histories and temporal palimpsests embedded in Timișoara’s spaces. The dialogues between the works navigate the intersection of historical events and contemporary crises, childhood and care, displacement and labor. The artworks bear witness to loss and destruction while also pointing toward the possibility of reparation. The exhibition opens a space where new forms of solidarity can emerge—where echoes of resistance, survival, and transformation continue to resonate, carrying the potential to disrupt and reset some of the many degrading dynamics of our contemporary world. A space for the whispering of reimagined tales, and for the bounding and bouncing of new stories.

With a public program including performances, screenings, workshops, and talks, Bounding Histories. Whispering Tales. invites audiences to move through Timișoara not only as observers, but as participants in an evolving choreography of echoes.

The Art Encounters 2025 Biennial receives non-reimbursable funding through the priority cultural programme of the Ministry of Culture. The cultural programme does not necessarily represent the position of the Ministry of Culture. The content of the cultural programme and the way in which its results can be used are the sole responsibility of the authors and the beneficiary of the funding. 

The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the grant beneficiary.

Press contact: Catinca Mănăilă, Communications & PR Manager, catinca.manaila@artencounters.ro.