Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan are collaborators who have worked together since 2011, currently based in Vienna and Bucharest. Their work in installation, video and performance uses research-based methodologies to reveal the invisible patterns that lie behind certain historical, social, or geopolitical narratives. Their recent work investigates the phenomenon of man-made landscapes around the world, where the making and marking of landscape (as a form of spatial modification) goes hand in hand with heightened state violence and the overexploitation of resources.
They are the recipients of The Birgit Jürgenssen Prize 2022, awarded by The Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and currently they are holding the position of Creative Fellows at UCL’s, Postsocialist Art Centre in London.
contact: ancabenera.arnoldestefan [at] gmail.com
www.instagram.com/beneraestefan/
Solo Exhibitions (selection):
2024 DesFacerea Lumii (UnWorlding), Art Encounters, Timisoara, RO
2023 Rehearsals for Peace, n.b.k. Berlin, DE
2021 Subnature, Trafo Gallery, Budapest, HU
2019 The Driving Force of all Nature, Tobacco 001 Cultural Centre, Ljubljana, SI
2019 The Last Particles, 40mcube, Rennes, FR
2019 What Ties Us Together, LaBF15, Lyon, FR
2018 Ground Control, Centrala Gallery, Birmingham, UK
2018 The Call of the Outside, tranzit.ro/Cluj, RO
2016 We Only Went to NASA Together, MAK Center, Los Angeles, US
2015 Under the Current Circumstances, IG Bildende Kunst Gallery, Vienna, AT
2013 We Were So Few and So Many Of Us Are Left, tranzit.hu Budapest, HU
2013 Compensation for the Lack of Resources, Ivan Gallery, Bucharest, RO
2013 We Were So Few and So Many Of Us Are Left, tranzit.ro Bucharest, RO
2012 Pacta sunt servanda, Teatru Spalatorie, Chisinau, MD
2011 Catedra de Istorie Temporara, Magma Contemporary Art Space, Sfantu Gheorghe, RO
Group Exhibitions (selection):
2024
Manifesta 15, Barcelona, ES
1st Klima Biennale, Into the Woods. Perspectives on Forest Ecosystems, Kunst Haus, Vienna, AT
Looking A--way, tranzit.sk, Bratislava, SK
Beta Architecture Biennial, Timisoara, RO
Emergency. Preparing for the Future, House of Arts, Brno, CZ
Vanishing Structures. Politics of Disappearance, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, WUK Vienna, AT
Re-articulating Landscape, Carinthian Museum of Modern Art, Klagenfurt, AT
2023
The Center Cannot Hold. Borders and Barriers - Thresholds and Separations, Goethe Institute, Bucharest
5th Kyiv Biennale, Augarten Contemporary, Vienna
Titen. Embodied Knowledges -Shifting Grounds, Biennale Jogja XVII, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Climate Engines, LABoral Centro de Arte, Gijon, ES
The Elixir of Life, Museum Brot und Kunst, Ulm, DE
Die Zeit zerfallt oder das Maß an Unordnung, Kunsthaus Muerz, Mürzzuschlag, AT
Das Brotbaumregime, Sauerland Museum, Arnsberg, DE
Inventory of the Week, CNDB sala Omnia, Bucharest, RO
Chronic Desire - Sete cronica, "Corneliu Mikloși" Museum, Timisoara, RO
Artists' Film International, GAMeC – Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, IT
Research for tomorrow. Video-dioramas, Rezidenta 9, Bucharest, RO
2022
Artists' Film International, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
The cockerel with black wings: A ecovered heirloom, Das Weisse Haus, Vienna, AT
Artists' Film International, GAMeC, Bergamo, IT
Biennale Zielona Góra 2022: Renewal, Poland
The Taste of Water, Exhibit Gallery, Vienna
Territories of Waste, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland
Biennale Matter of Art, Prague, CZ
Weather Engines, Onassis Stegi, Athens, Greece
2021
39th EVA International Biennial, Limerick, IRL
The Normal, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
On Reading as a Social Relation, tranzit.ro/Iasi, RO
Land, possessions and commons, public art project, Semmering, Lower Austria
Overview Effect, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, Serbia
Horizons, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, DE
Mars Can Wait, rokolectiv.ro
Slow Life: Radical Practices of the Everyday, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, HU
Entangled Tales, public video art program, (Skanstull subway station), Stockholm, SE
2020
Potential Worlds 2: ECO-FICTIONS, Migros Museum, Zurich, CH
Slow Life, Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, DE
Fiber Festival Amsterdam, NL
Overview Effect, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, Serbia
Probabilities Around the Center, rokolectiv.ro
Unstable State of Things, Glassyard Gallery, Budapest, HU
Being Outside, Belvedere 21, Vienna, AT
Retusalt Erdely, Studio Gallery, Budapest, HU/ Magma, Sf. Gheorghe, RO
2019
3rd Art Encounters Biennial, Timisoara, RO
Rethinking the image of the world, Musee Mill la Louviere, BE
Picture This | selected pasts, subverted facts, Budapest Gallery, HU
Artistic Enquiries into Plants, tranzit.ro/Bucharest, RO
Silent Narratives, MOCA Yinchuan, China
Exhibit A, City Art Gallery, Ljubljana, SI
Transylvania Retouched. A Matter of Landscape and Representation, Romanian Cultural Institute, Berlin, DE
Убежище / Suoja / Shelter Festival, Helsinki, FI
Liquid Horizons, tranzit.sk Bratsilava, SK
Persona, MUCEM Marseille, FR
Ex-east, Espace Niemeyer (Headquarters of the French Communist Party), Paris, FR
2018
MAC International 2018, Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast, N-IRL
Manufacturing Nature / Naturalizing The Synthetic, Frac des Pays de la Loire, Nantes, FR
Landscape that Remembers, MNAC Bucharest, RO
Global Control and Censorship, Center for Modern and Contemporary Art - MODEM, Debrecen, HU
Landscape that Remembers, Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, DE
Protect me from what I want, Island Art Space, Brussels , BE
Calorie (Eat Art Documentary Exhibition), Magma Contemporary Art Space, Sf. Gheorghe, RO
Travelling with a Blind Map, Kisterem Gallery, Budapest, HU
Ozio, Manifesta 12 collateral event, Teatro Ditirammu, Palermo, IT
The Trouble with Value, Onomatopee Project Space, Eidhoven, NL
How Forests Think, Vysočina Regional Gallery, Jihlava, CZ
Pretty soon if this keeps up I'm going to have to envelop the entire universe, Gdańsk City Gallery, PL
2017
Natural Histories, Traces of the Political, MUMOK, Vienna, AT
Gaudiopolis 2017 – The City of Joy, Off Biennale 2, Budapest, HU
Remastered, Kunsthalle Krems, AT
Life a User's Manual, Art Encounters Biennial, Timisoara, RO
Fleeting Territories, Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna, AT
Dreams&Dramas. Law as Literature, NGBK Berlin, DE
netWorks, Magma Contemporary Art Space Sf. Gheorghe, B5 Studio Tg. Mures, RO
Universal Hospitality, Center For Contemporary Art Futura, MeetFactory, Prague, CZ
2016
The Measure of our Traveling Feet, Marres | House for Contemporary Culture, Maastricht, NL
Sights and Sounds: Highlights, The Jewish Museum, New York, US
BIEFF, Experimental Film Festival, Bucharest, RO
Universal Hospitality, Wiener Festwochen, Vienna, AT
GLOBALE: Global Control and Censorship, ZKM | Karlsruhe, DE
2015
Our Land/Alien Territory, special project of 6th Moscow Biennale, Moscow, RU
The School of Kyiv – The Biennale, Kyiv, UA
Walking without Footprints, tranzit.sk, Bratislava, SK
Austeria, BWA Sokol, Nowy Sacz, PL
Ideas for Change, 1st Vienna Biennale, MAK, Vienna, AT
Check Your Head!, Off Biennale Budapest, HU
Embodied Resilience, Peninsula.land, Berlin, DE
Pocket Revolutions, Korea Foundation, Seoul, HK
Private Nationalism, Open Gallery, Bratislava, SK
2014
Der Brancusi-Effekt, Kunsthalle Wien, AT
Sights and Sounds, Global Film and Video, The Jewish Museum, New York, US
Ways of Working, According to an Office Desk, Upominki, Rotterdam, NL
A Few Grams of Red, Yellow, Blue. New Romanian Art, CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, PL
Art Under a Dangerous Star: The Responsibilty of Art, tranzit.hu, Budapest, HU
Hot & Cold: Revolution in the Present Tense, public art event, Cluj and Timisoara, RO
Mundus vadit retro, KIBLA PORTAL, Maribor, SI
Waiting Spaces, Public Art Festival, Timisoara, RO
Like a Bird. Avian Ecologies in Contemporary Art, tranzit.ro, Bucharest, RO
Private Nationalism, m 21 Gallery, Zsolnay Cultural Quarter, Pécs, HU
2013
Mom, am I barbarian?, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, TR
Like a Bird. Avian Ecologies in Contemporary Art, Trafo Gallery, Budapest, HU
oeconomy, an already tumultuous landscape where phantasms cross, Oberwelt, Stuttgart, DE
Video a-i-r, Galerie ArtPoint, Vienna, AT
Days of Labour, Nights of Leisure –Art as the Disruption of Everyday Life, Knoll Gallery, Budapest, HU
Come and Go, Schweizerische Botschaft, Vienna, AT
Measures of Saving the World, < rotor >, Graz, AT
2012
Intense Proximity, La Triennale, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR
Winning Hearts and Minds, lecture-performance within the project conducted by Critical Art Ensemble at dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, DE
Global fara globalizare. De la matematica pana în China, Salonul de Proiecte, Bucharest, RO
Inexactly This, Kunstvlaai, Amsterdam, NL
Art or Life: aesthetics and biopolitics, curated by_vienna 2012, Vienna, AT
Awards:
2022 Birgit Jurgenssen Award, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (winner)
2018 MAC International 2018, Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast (shortlisted)
2015 Create Your Bucharest! 1st Vienna Biennale, MAK, Vienna (special prize)
2012 Henkel Art Award Central and Eastern Europe, MUMOK, Vienna (shortlisted)
Residencies and Scholarships:
2023 Off Season, Radhimë, Vlora, Albania (May)
2021 Academy Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart (Oct.- Dec.)
2019 Agosto Fundation, Prague (Nov.-Dec.)
2019 EVA International & Magic Carpet, Limerick, Irland (August)
2019 Tobacco 001 Cultural Centre, Ljubljana, SL (May.-Jun.)
2019 LaBF15, Lyon, FR (Mar.-Apr.)
2019 40mcube, Rennes, FR (Jan.-Feb.)
2018 Frac des Pays de la Loire, Nantes, FR (Sept.-Nov.)
2017 MeetFactory, Prague, CZ (Iun.-Aug.)
2015 MAK Schindler Scholarship Program, Los Angeles, US (Oct. 2015 – Mar. 2016)
2015 AIR Krems, Kunsthalle Krems, AT (Jan.-Mar.)
2013 KulturKontakt, Vienna, AT (Mar.-May)
Presentations and Lectures (selection):
2024 Creative Time Summit, BAM, New York
2022 Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland
2017 Natural Histories, Traces of the Political, MUMOK, Vienna
Publications, artist books and contributions (selection):
2021 Manufacturing nature /Naturalizing the synthetic, Published by FRAC Pays de la Loire, Nantes
2020 Encircling the Image of Trauma, Edited by Matei Bellu and Emilie Bujès, Published by Archive Books, Berlin
2019 DEBRISPHERE - Landscape as an extension of the military imagination, Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan, Published by PUNCH, Bucharest
2018 Metaphor. Protest. Concept. Performance Art from Romania and Moldova, published by IDEA, RO
2017 Dreams & Dramas. Law as literature, published by nGbK, Berlin
2017 Please Come Back: The World as Prison, published by Mousse Publishing and MAXXI Rome
2015 PROTOCOLLUM 2015/16, DICKERSBACH KUNSTVERLAG, Berlin
2015 River Ecologies: Contemporary Art and Environmental Humanities on the Danube, published by Translocal Institute, Budapest
2014 38,88%, published by pplus4 Association and Ivan Gallery, Bucharest
2014 From object to subject, IDEA art + society, nr. 44 (24 pages insert), Cluj
2011 Bucharest: Matter & History. The public monument and its discontents (author Anca Benera), published by ICR, Bucharest
2011 Hard Edit. Self Publishing in Times of Freedom and Repression, publication published by CVI Bucharest
Bibliography (selection):
2024: "Anthropocene as Capitalocene, Soil, Land and Territory in the Artistic Research of Anca Benera and Arnold Estefán", Cristian Nae, Third Text, Issue 1, 2024
2022 Art and Climate Change (World of Art), ed. Maja and Reuben Fowkes, Published by Thames & Hudson
2020 Central and Eastern European Art Since 1950 (World of Art), ed. Maja and Reuben Fowkes, Published by Thames & Hudson
2020 Romanian Contemporary Art 2010–2020. Rethinking the Image of the World: Projects and Sketches, Ed. Adrian Bojenoiu, Cristian Nae, Published by Hatje Cantz
2020 The Trouble with Value, Ed. Kris Dittel, Published by Onomatopee
2020 Potential Worlds, Planetary Memories & Eco-Fictions, Ed. Suad Garayeva-Maleki & Heike Munder, Published by Migros Museum, Yarat and Scheidegger & Spiess
2017 Natural Histories Traces of the Political, Ed. Rainer Fuchs / mumok Wien, Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Konig, Koln
Reviews, Writings and Interviews (selection):
2024: "Wer besitzt das Wetter?", Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan, Climate Dignity, Springerin Winter Edition , 4/2024
2024: "Träume in Beton: Die Manifesta 15 macht in der Metropolregion Barcelona Station", Nicola Kuhn, https://www.tagesspiegel.de/, November, 2024
2024: "Manifesta 15. Sembra più un grand tour che una biennale.", Roberto D'Onorio, https://www.artapartofculture.net/, September, 2024
2024: "Természeti szerződés - Ökológiai kérdésekről a dizájn, az építészet és a kortárs művészet gyakorlatában Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán kiállítása, valamint a 17. Velencei
Építészet Biennále kapcsán" Varga Tünde, Balkon, 6/2024
2024: "Klima Biennale in Wien. Das Gefühl, das etwas außer Kontrolle ist" Patricia Grzonka, https://www.monopol-magazin.de, April, 2024
2024: "Le più importanti mostre da vedere a Vienna a primavera 2024", Giorgia Losio, https://www.artribune.com, May 2024
2024: "Die Zeit zerfällt oder das Maß an Unordnung: Über die Messunmöglichkeit von Zeit", Walter Seidl, www.artmagazine.cc, January, 2024
2023: "Militärische Trainingscamps :Üben für den Frieden. Oder für den Krieg?", Minh An Szabó de Bucs, Tagesspiegel, July, 2023
2023: "A Displaced Biennial in Vienna", Àngels Miralda, www.blokmagazine.com, December, 2023
2023: "The Delusion of the Commons" by Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán, Springering, Issue 2/2023
2023: "Field notes: Timisoara Capital of Culture 2023", Alex Mirutziu, contemporarylynx.co.uk, March, 2023
2022: "Weather Engines. The Poetics Politics and Technologies of the Environment", Regine, https://we-make-money-not-art.com/, April, 2022
2021: "Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan at Trafo Gallery", Krisztián Gábor Török, www.artforum.ro, December, 2021
2021: "Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán: A természetalatti", https://epiteszforum.hu/, December, 2021
2021: "Kell-e aggódnunk, ha a gombák úgyis túlélnek mindent és mindenkit?", Flora Gado, https://artportal.hu/, December, 2021
2021: "‘Subnature’ by Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán", www.blokmagazine.com, December, 2021
2021: "Gomba es gyemant", Dekei Kriszta, Magyar Narancs, November, 2021
2021: "Művészetté lett lelet", Kőrösi Boglárka, Élet és Irodalom, November, 2021
2021: "Examining the Normal at Edinburgh’s Talbot Rice Gallery", Julie Boyne, https://artmag.co.uk/, June, 2021
2020: "Slow Life: Radical Practices of the Everyday", Tyrus Miller, www.artmargins.com, July, 2020
2020: "Machinic Leviathan", Lívia Nolasco-Rózsás, https://34.sk, May, 2020
2020: "Kontingens környezet.A határok átlépése", Fülöp Tímea, www.ujmuveszet.hu, September, 2020
2020: "Nekem Trianon ...", Nagy Gergely, https://artportal.hu/, May, 2020
2020: "Elfújja a szél? - Art Encounters Biennálé", LÁZÁR Eszter, www.balkon.art, March, 2020
2019: "Re: Groups", Regine Ehleiter & Lucy Lipard, Camera Austria, no. 147, 2019
2019: "ART ENCOUNTERS BIENNIAL 2019: Strategic Ambiguity of Negotiation", Alex Mirutziu, www.contemporarylynx.co.uk, October, 2019
2019: "Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan - The Last Particles - at 40mcube, Rennes", http://moussemagazine.it, April, 2019
2019: "Floating perspectives. The darker sides of modernization", Flóra Gadó, www.artportal.hu, August, 2019
2019: "What Can We Learn About Art Fairs From Liste, Basel’s Platform for Emerging Talent?", Tim Schneider,
https://news.artnet.com, June 2019
2019: "The Artists Everyone Talked about during Art Basel in Basel", Alina Cohen, www.artsy.net, June 2019
2019: "What Ties Us Together", www.paris-art.com, April, 2019
2019: "Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan - The Last Particles", www.artrabbit.com, March, 2019
2019: " PERSONA, oeuvres d’artistes Roumains" www.myprovence.fr, April, 2019
2019: "Perspectives Roumaines - 30 Ans apres", Magda Carneci, Artpress 463, February, 2019
2018: " Let’s talk performance art", Marina Oprea, http://revistaarta.ro, May, 2018
2018: "Manifesta Biennale | Ecco cosa vedere: ReSignifications, Ozio, Giochi Senza Frontiere, Black Med, In Silenzio", Johanne Affricot,
www.griotmag.com, June 2018
2018: “Ozio”, www.neromagazine.it, June 2018
2018: "Ozio, una mostra sullo scorrere del tempo al Teatro Ditirammu di Palermo", Desirée Maida, www.artribune.com, June 2018
2018: "Let’s talk performance art", Marina Oprea, www.revistaarta.ro, May 2018
2018: "Ground Control by Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan at Centrala Gallery", www.blokmagazine.com, February, 2017
2017 " Natural Histories: Traces of the Political", Max L. Feldman, www.frieze.com, November, 2017
2017 "Jus soil", Flóra Gadó, www.revistaarta.ro, November, 2017
2017 "Holobiontul, publicul și psihiatria. De trei ori performance", Iulia Popovici, www.observatorulcultural.ro, November, 2017
2017 "In Bucharest, contemporary art is independent", Gabi Scardi, www.domusweb.it/en, November, 2017
2017 "The Artist As… – On the works of Anca Benera and Arnold Estefán", Flóra Gadó, www.artportal.hu / east art mags, November, 2017
2017 "Zwischen Geschichte und Aufbruch", Roland Schöny, www.artmagazine.cc, September, 2017
2017 "Globális vendégszeretet – szemben a nemzeti ellenségeskedéssel", Katarína Karafová, www.tranzitblog.hu, May, 2017
2017 "A refugee in a gallery", Jakub Gawkowski, artportal.hu, August, 2017
2016 "Kun je (post-Trump) nog optimistisch zijn over migratie?", Domeniek Ruyters, Metropolis M, Issue no.6, December, 2016
2016 "Dromadrone", Morgan Labar, http://www.transverse-art.com, Iun. 2016
2016 "Urban Wildlife: The Human Influence on the Social Life of Birds", http://plusinsight.de, Aug. 2016
2016 "Brot aus Omas zermahlenen Möbeln", Johannes Luxner, http://orf.at/festwochen16, May 2016
2015 "Disputed Territories, Uncertain Positions", Sergey Guskov, http://metropolism.com, Oct, 2015
2015 "When powerless becomes form", Barbara Dudas in conversation with A. Benera & A. Estefan, http://artguideeast.com, May, 2015
2015 "Disputed Territories, Uncertain Positions", Sergey Guskov, http://metropolism.com, Oct, 2015
2015 " The Power of the Many", Roland Schöny, www.artmagazine.cc, May, 2015
2015 "Itt és mást. Mi változik az OFF után?, Nagy Gergely, www.artportal.hu, Iun. 2015
2014 „Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan“, Amy Bryzgel, www.performingtheeast.com
2014 "Kortars kepzomuveszeti het Becsben", Lesi Anita, Lesi Zoltan, Balkon, Issue #11-12, Dec. 2014
2014 "Urban Wildlife Urban Wildlife: The Human Influence on the Social Life of Birds", Maja & Reuben Fowkes in conversation with
A. Benera & A. Estefan, http://translocal.org/riverschool/
2014 "Contemporary Art in Romania", Simona Nastac, www.articurate.net, Mar. 2014
2014 "Mint a muvészet", Frazon Zsófia, www.artmagazin.hu, Jan, 2014
2014 “Madarat tolláról: szárnyasok a Trafóban”, Gadó Flóra, http://artportal.hu/magazin, Jan, 2014
2013 „Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan“, Daria Ghiu, Artforum, September Issue
2013 "Uygar dunyanin barbar bienali", Evrim Altug, ART Unlimited, Issue #23, Oct. 2013
2013 „A nemzeti identitásra úgy tekintünk, mint egy bélyegre”, Muskovics Gyula in conversation with A. Benera & A. Estefan,
www.tranzit.blog.hu, Oct. 2013
2013 "Das Perpetuum Mobile und die Samenkanone", Wenzel Mraek, www.gat.st, Jun, 2013
2013 "Yeni baylayanlar için Bienal", Lora Sali, www.agos.com.tr, Sept. 2013
2012 "Die Räume anderer Museen durchwandern", Roland Schöny, FAQ Magazine, Issue #19
2010 "X-raying the Landscape of our subzistence: the Center for Visual Introspection", IDEA art & society magazine, Issue #35, 2010
Works in Public Collections
Kadist, Paris, San Francisco
n.b.k Video Forum, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Germany
FRAC Pays de la Loire, Nantes, France
National Museum of Contemporary Art Bucharest, Romania
They are the recipients of The Birgit Jürgenssen Prize 2022, awarded by The Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and currently they are holding the position of Creative Fellows at UCL’s, Postsocialist Art Centre in London.
contact: ancabenera.arnoldestefan [at] gmail.com
www.instagram.com/beneraestefan/
Solo Exhibitions (selection):
2024 DesFacerea Lumii (UnWorlding), Art Encounters, Timisoara, RO
2023 Rehearsals for Peace, n.b.k. Berlin, DE
2021 Subnature, Trafo Gallery, Budapest, HU
2019 The Driving Force of all Nature, Tobacco 001 Cultural Centre, Ljubljana, SI
2019 The Last Particles, 40mcube, Rennes, FR
2019 What Ties Us Together, LaBF15, Lyon, FR
2018 Ground Control, Centrala Gallery, Birmingham, UK
2018 The Call of the Outside, tranzit.ro/Cluj, RO
2016 We Only Went to NASA Together, MAK Center, Los Angeles, US
2015 Under the Current Circumstances, IG Bildende Kunst Gallery, Vienna, AT
2013 We Were So Few and So Many Of Us Are Left, tranzit.hu Budapest, HU
2013 Compensation for the Lack of Resources, Ivan Gallery, Bucharest, RO
2013 We Were So Few and So Many Of Us Are Left, tranzit.ro Bucharest, RO
2012 Pacta sunt servanda, Teatru Spalatorie, Chisinau, MD
2011 Catedra de Istorie Temporara, Magma Contemporary Art Space, Sfantu Gheorghe, RO
Group Exhibitions (selection):
2024
Manifesta 15, Barcelona, ES
1st Klima Biennale, Into the Woods. Perspectives on Forest Ecosystems, Kunst Haus, Vienna, AT
Looking A--way, tranzit.sk, Bratislava, SK
Beta Architecture Biennial, Timisoara, RO
Emergency. Preparing for the Future, House of Arts, Brno, CZ
Vanishing Structures. Politics of Disappearance, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, WUK Vienna, AT
Re-articulating Landscape, Carinthian Museum of Modern Art, Klagenfurt, AT
2023
The Center Cannot Hold. Borders and Barriers - Thresholds and Separations, Goethe Institute, Bucharest
5th Kyiv Biennale, Augarten Contemporary, Vienna
Titen. Embodied Knowledges -Shifting Grounds, Biennale Jogja XVII, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Climate Engines, LABoral Centro de Arte, Gijon, ES
The Elixir of Life, Museum Brot und Kunst, Ulm, DE
Die Zeit zerfallt oder das Maß an Unordnung, Kunsthaus Muerz, Mürzzuschlag, AT
Das Brotbaumregime, Sauerland Museum, Arnsberg, DE
Inventory of the Week, CNDB sala Omnia, Bucharest, RO
Chronic Desire - Sete cronica, "Corneliu Mikloși" Museum, Timisoara, RO
Artists' Film International, GAMeC – Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, IT
Research for tomorrow. Video-dioramas, Rezidenta 9, Bucharest, RO
2022
Artists' Film International, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
The cockerel with black wings: A ecovered heirloom, Das Weisse Haus, Vienna, AT
Artists' Film International, GAMeC, Bergamo, IT
Biennale Zielona Góra 2022: Renewal, Poland
The Taste of Water, Exhibit Gallery, Vienna
Territories of Waste, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland
Biennale Matter of Art, Prague, CZ
Weather Engines, Onassis Stegi, Athens, Greece
2021
39th EVA International Biennial, Limerick, IRL
The Normal, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
On Reading as a Social Relation, tranzit.ro/Iasi, RO
Land, possessions and commons, public art project, Semmering, Lower Austria
Overview Effect, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, Serbia
Horizons, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, DE
Mars Can Wait, rokolectiv.ro
Slow Life: Radical Practices of the Everyday, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, HU
Entangled Tales, public video art program, (Skanstull subway station), Stockholm, SE
2020
Potential Worlds 2: ECO-FICTIONS, Migros Museum, Zurich, CH
Slow Life, Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, DE
Fiber Festival Amsterdam, NL
Overview Effect, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, Serbia
Probabilities Around the Center, rokolectiv.ro
Unstable State of Things, Glassyard Gallery, Budapest, HU
Being Outside, Belvedere 21, Vienna, AT
Retusalt Erdely, Studio Gallery, Budapest, HU/ Magma, Sf. Gheorghe, RO
2019
3rd Art Encounters Biennial, Timisoara, RO
Rethinking the image of the world, Musee Mill la Louviere, BE
Picture This | selected pasts, subverted facts, Budapest Gallery, HU
Artistic Enquiries into Plants, tranzit.ro/Bucharest, RO
Silent Narratives, MOCA Yinchuan, China
Exhibit A, City Art Gallery, Ljubljana, SI
Transylvania Retouched. A Matter of Landscape and Representation, Romanian Cultural Institute, Berlin, DE
Убежище / Suoja / Shelter Festival, Helsinki, FI
Liquid Horizons, tranzit.sk Bratsilava, SK
Persona, MUCEM Marseille, FR
Ex-east, Espace Niemeyer (Headquarters of the French Communist Party), Paris, FR
2018
MAC International 2018, Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast, N-IRL
Manufacturing Nature / Naturalizing The Synthetic, Frac des Pays de la Loire, Nantes, FR
Landscape that Remembers, MNAC Bucharest, RO
Global Control and Censorship, Center for Modern and Contemporary Art - MODEM, Debrecen, HU
Landscape that Remembers, Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, DE
Protect me from what I want, Island Art Space, Brussels , BE
Calorie (Eat Art Documentary Exhibition), Magma Contemporary Art Space, Sf. Gheorghe, RO
Travelling with a Blind Map, Kisterem Gallery, Budapest, HU
Ozio, Manifesta 12 collateral event, Teatro Ditirammu, Palermo, IT
The Trouble with Value, Onomatopee Project Space, Eidhoven, NL
How Forests Think, Vysočina Regional Gallery, Jihlava, CZ
Pretty soon if this keeps up I'm going to have to envelop the entire universe, Gdańsk City Gallery, PL
2017
Natural Histories, Traces of the Political, MUMOK, Vienna, AT
Gaudiopolis 2017 – The City of Joy, Off Biennale 2, Budapest, HU
Remastered, Kunsthalle Krems, AT
Life a User's Manual, Art Encounters Biennial, Timisoara, RO
Fleeting Territories, Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna, AT
Dreams&Dramas. Law as Literature, NGBK Berlin, DE
netWorks, Magma Contemporary Art Space Sf. Gheorghe, B5 Studio Tg. Mures, RO
Universal Hospitality, Center For Contemporary Art Futura, MeetFactory, Prague, CZ
2016
The Measure of our Traveling Feet, Marres | House for Contemporary Culture, Maastricht, NL
Sights and Sounds: Highlights, The Jewish Museum, New York, US
BIEFF, Experimental Film Festival, Bucharest, RO
Universal Hospitality, Wiener Festwochen, Vienna, AT
GLOBALE: Global Control and Censorship, ZKM | Karlsruhe, DE
2015
Our Land/Alien Territory, special project of 6th Moscow Biennale, Moscow, RU
The School of Kyiv – The Biennale, Kyiv, UA
Walking without Footprints, tranzit.sk, Bratislava, SK
Austeria, BWA Sokol, Nowy Sacz, PL
Ideas for Change, 1st Vienna Biennale, MAK, Vienna, AT
Check Your Head!, Off Biennale Budapest, HU
Embodied Resilience, Peninsula.land, Berlin, DE
Pocket Revolutions, Korea Foundation, Seoul, HK
Private Nationalism, Open Gallery, Bratislava, SK
2014
Der Brancusi-Effekt, Kunsthalle Wien, AT
Sights and Sounds, Global Film and Video, The Jewish Museum, New York, US
Ways of Working, According to an Office Desk, Upominki, Rotterdam, NL
A Few Grams of Red, Yellow, Blue. New Romanian Art, CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, PL
Art Under a Dangerous Star: The Responsibilty of Art, tranzit.hu, Budapest, HU
Hot & Cold: Revolution in the Present Tense, public art event, Cluj and Timisoara, RO
Mundus vadit retro, KIBLA PORTAL, Maribor, SI
Waiting Spaces, Public Art Festival, Timisoara, RO
Like a Bird. Avian Ecologies in Contemporary Art, tranzit.ro, Bucharest, RO
Private Nationalism, m 21 Gallery, Zsolnay Cultural Quarter, Pécs, HU
2013
Mom, am I barbarian?, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, TR
Like a Bird. Avian Ecologies in Contemporary Art, Trafo Gallery, Budapest, HU
oeconomy, an already tumultuous landscape where phantasms cross, Oberwelt, Stuttgart, DE
Video a-i-r, Galerie ArtPoint, Vienna, AT
Days of Labour, Nights of Leisure –Art as the Disruption of Everyday Life, Knoll Gallery, Budapest, HU
Come and Go, Schweizerische Botschaft, Vienna, AT
Measures of Saving the World, < rotor >, Graz, AT
2012
Intense Proximity, La Triennale, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR
Winning Hearts and Minds, lecture-performance within the project conducted by Critical Art Ensemble at dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, DE
Global fara globalizare. De la matematica pana în China, Salonul de Proiecte, Bucharest, RO
Inexactly This, Kunstvlaai, Amsterdam, NL
Art or Life: aesthetics and biopolitics, curated by_vienna 2012, Vienna, AT
Awards:
2022 Birgit Jurgenssen Award, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (winner)
2018 MAC International 2018, Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast (shortlisted)
2015 Create Your Bucharest! 1st Vienna Biennale, MAK, Vienna (special prize)
2012 Henkel Art Award Central and Eastern Europe, MUMOK, Vienna (shortlisted)
Residencies and Scholarships:
2023 Off Season, Radhimë, Vlora, Albania (May)
2021 Academy Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart (Oct.- Dec.)
2019 Agosto Fundation, Prague (Nov.-Dec.)
2019 EVA International & Magic Carpet, Limerick, Irland (August)
2019 Tobacco 001 Cultural Centre, Ljubljana, SL (May.-Jun.)
2019 LaBF15, Lyon, FR (Mar.-Apr.)
2019 40mcube, Rennes, FR (Jan.-Feb.)
2018 Frac des Pays de la Loire, Nantes, FR (Sept.-Nov.)
2017 MeetFactory, Prague, CZ (Iun.-Aug.)
2015 MAK Schindler Scholarship Program, Los Angeles, US (Oct. 2015 – Mar. 2016)
2015 AIR Krems, Kunsthalle Krems, AT (Jan.-Mar.)
2013 KulturKontakt, Vienna, AT (Mar.-May)
Presentations and Lectures (selection):
2024 Creative Time Summit, BAM, New York
2022 Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland
2017 Natural Histories, Traces of the Political, MUMOK, Vienna
Publications, artist books and contributions (selection):
2021 Manufacturing nature /Naturalizing the synthetic, Published by FRAC Pays de la Loire, Nantes
2020 Encircling the Image of Trauma, Edited by Matei Bellu and Emilie Bujès, Published by Archive Books, Berlin
2019 DEBRISPHERE - Landscape as an extension of the military imagination, Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan, Published by PUNCH, Bucharest
2018 Metaphor. Protest. Concept. Performance Art from Romania and Moldova, published by IDEA, RO
2017 Dreams & Dramas. Law as literature, published by nGbK, Berlin
2017 Please Come Back: The World as Prison, published by Mousse Publishing and MAXXI Rome
2015 PROTOCOLLUM 2015/16, DICKERSBACH KUNSTVERLAG, Berlin
2015 River Ecologies: Contemporary Art and Environmental Humanities on the Danube, published by Translocal Institute, Budapest
2014 38,88%, published by pplus4 Association and Ivan Gallery, Bucharest
2014 From object to subject, IDEA art + society, nr. 44 (24 pages insert), Cluj
2011 Bucharest: Matter & History. The public monument and its discontents (author Anca Benera), published by ICR, Bucharest
2011 Hard Edit. Self Publishing in Times of Freedom and Repression, publication published by CVI Bucharest
Bibliography (selection):
2024: "Anthropocene as Capitalocene, Soil, Land and Territory in the Artistic Research of Anca Benera and Arnold Estefán", Cristian Nae, Third Text, Issue 1, 2024
2022 Art and Climate Change (World of Art), ed. Maja and Reuben Fowkes, Published by Thames & Hudson
2020 Central and Eastern European Art Since 1950 (World of Art), ed. Maja and Reuben Fowkes, Published by Thames & Hudson
2020 Romanian Contemporary Art 2010–2020. Rethinking the Image of the World: Projects and Sketches, Ed. Adrian Bojenoiu, Cristian Nae, Published by Hatje Cantz
2020 The Trouble with Value, Ed. Kris Dittel, Published by Onomatopee
2020 Potential Worlds, Planetary Memories & Eco-Fictions, Ed. Suad Garayeva-Maleki & Heike Munder, Published by Migros Museum, Yarat and Scheidegger & Spiess
2017 Natural Histories Traces of the Political, Ed. Rainer Fuchs / mumok Wien, Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Konig, Koln
Reviews, Writings and Interviews (selection):
2024: "Wer besitzt das Wetter?", Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan, Climate Dignity, Springerin Winter Edition , 4/2024
2024: "Träume in Beton: Die Manifesta 15 macht in der Metropolregion Barcelona Station", Nicola Kuhn, https://www.tagesspiegel.de/, November, 2024
2024: "Manifesta 15. Sembra più un grand tour che una biennale.", Roberto D'Onorio, https://www.artapartofculture.net/, September, 2024
2024: "Természeti szerződés - Ökológiai kérdésekről a dizájn, az építészet és a kortárs művészet gyakorlatában Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán kiállítása, valamint a 17. Velencei
Építészet Biennále kapcsán" Varga Tünde, Balkon, 6/2024
2024: "Klima Biennale in Wien. Das Gefühl, das etwas außer Kontrolle ist" Patricia Grzonka, https://www.monopol-magazin.de, April, 2024
2024: "Le più importanti mostre da vedere a Vienna a primavera 2024", Giorgia Losio, https://www.artribune.com, May 2024
2024: "Die Zeit zerfällt oder das Maß an Unordnung: Über die Messunmöglichkeit von Zeit", Walter Seidl, www.artmagazine.cc, January, 2024
2023: "Militärische Trainingscamps :Üben für den Frieden. Oder für den Krieg?", Minh An Szabó de Bucs, Tagesspiegel, July, 2023
2023: "A Displaced Biennial in Vienna", Àngels Miralda, www.blokmagazine.com, December, 2023
2023: "The Delusion of the Commons" by Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán, Springering, Issue 2/2023
2023: "Field notes: Timisoara Capital of Culture 2023", Alex Mirutziu, contemporarylynx.co.uk, March, 2023
2022: "Weather Engines. The Poetics Politics and Technologies of the Environment", Regine, https://we-make-money-not-art.com/, April, 2022
2021: "Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan at Trafo Gallery", Krisztián Gábor Török, www.artforum.ro, December, 2021
2021: "Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán: A természetalatti", https://epiteszforum.hu/, December, 2021
2021: "Kell-e aggódnunk, ha a gombák úgyis túlélnek mindent és mindenkit?", Flora Gado, https://artportal.hu/, December, 2021
2021: "‘Subnature’ by Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán", www.blokmagazine.com, December, 2021
2021: "Gomba es gyemant", Dekei Kriszta, Magyar Narancs, November, 2021
2021: "Művészetté lett lelet", Kőrösi Boglárka, Élet és Irodalom, November, 2021
2021: "Examining the Normal at Edinburgh’s Talbot Rice Gallery", Julie Boyne, https://artmag.co.uk/, June, 2021
2020: "Slow Life: Radical Practices of the Everyday", Tyrus Miller, www.artmargins.com, July, 2020
2020: "Machinic Leviathan", Lívia Nolasco-Rózsás, https://34.sk, May, 2020
2020: "Kontingens környezet.A határok átlépése", Fülöp Tímea, www.ujmuveszet.hu, September, 2020
2020: "Nekem Trianon ...", Nagy Gergely, https://artportal.hu/, May, 2020
2020: "Elfújja a szél? - Art Encounters Biennálé", LÁZÁR Eszter, www.balkon.art, March, 2020
2019: "Re: Groups", Regine Ehleiter & Lucy Lipard, Camera Austria, no. 147, 2019
2019: "ART ENCOUNTERS BIENNIAL 2019: Strategic Ambiguity of Negotiation", Alex Mirutziu, www.contemporarylynx.co.uk, October, 2019
2019: "Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan - The Last Particles - at 40mcube, Rennes", http://moussemagazine.it, April, 2019
2019: "Floating perspectives. The darker sides of modernization", Flóra Gadó, www.artportal.hu, August, 2019
2019: "What Can We Learn About Art Fairs From Liste, Basel’s Platform for Emerging Talent?", Tim Schneider,
https://news.artnet.com, June 2019
2019: "The Artists Everyone Talked about during Art Basel in Basel", Alina Cohen, www.artsy.net, June 2019
2019: "What Ties Us Together", www.paris-art.com, April, 2019
2019: "Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan - The Last Particles", www.artrabbit.com, March, 2019
2019: " PERSONA, oeuvres d’artistes Roumains" www.myprovence.fr, April, 2019
2019: "Perspectives Roumaines - 30 Ans apres", Magda Carneci, Artpress 463, February, 2019
2018: " Let’s talk performance art", Marina Oprea, http://revistaarta.ro, May, 2018
2018: "Manifesta Biennale | Ecco cosa vedere: ReSignifications, Ozio, Giochi Senza Frontiere, Black Med, In Silenzio", Johanne Affricot,
www.griotmag.com, June 2018
2018: “Ozio”, www.neromagazine.it, June 2018
2018: "Ozio, una mostra sullo scorrere del tempo al Teatro Ditirammu di Palermo", Desirée Maida, www.artribune.com, June 2018
2018: "Let’s talk performance art", Marina Oprea, www.revistaarta.ro, May 2018
2018: "Ground Control by Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan at Centrala Gallery", www.blokmagazine.com, February, 2017
2017 " Natural Histories: Traces of the Political", Max L. Feldman, www.frieze.com, November, 2017
2017 "Jus soil", Flóra Gadó, www.revistaarta.ro, November, 2017
2017 "Holobiontul, publicul și psihiatria. De trei ori performance", Iulia Popovici, www.observatorulcultural.ro, November, 2017
2017 "In Bucharest, contemporary art is independent", Gabi Scardi, www.domusweb.it/en, November, 2017
2017 "The Artist As… – On the works of Anca Benera and Arnold Estefán", Flóra Gadó, www.artportal.hu / east art mags, November, 2017
2017 "Zwischen Geschichte und Aufbruch", Roland Schöny, www.artmagazine.cc, September, 2017
2017 "Globális vendégszeretet – szemben a nemzeti ellenségeskedéssel", Katarína Karafová, www.tranzitblog.hu, May, 2017
2017 "A refugee in a gallery", Jakub Gawkowski, artportal.hu, August, 2017
2016 "Kun je (post-Trump) nog optimistisch zijn over migratie?", Domeniek Ruyters, Metropolis M, Issue no.6, December, 2016
2016 "Dromadrone", Morgan Labar, http://www.transverse-art.com, Iun. 2016
2016 "Urban Wildlife: The Human Influence on the Social Life of Birds", http://plusinsight.de, Aug. 2016
2016 "Brot aus Omas zermahlenen Möbeln", Johannes Luxner, http://orf.at/festwochen16, May 2016
2015 "Disputed Territories, Uncertain Positions", Sergey Guskov, http://metropolism.com, Oct, 2015
2015 "When powerless becomes form", Barbara Dudas in conversation with A. Benera & A. Estefan, http://artguideeast.com, May, 2015
2015 "Disputed Territories, Uncertain Positions", Sergey Guskov, http://metropolism.com, Oct, 2015
2015 " The Power of the Many", Roland Schöny, www.artmagazine.cc, May, 2015
2015 "Itt és mást. Mi változik az OFF után?, Nagy Gergely, www.artportal.hu, Iun. 2015
2014 „Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan“, Amy Bryzgel, www.performingtheeast.com
2014 "Kortars kepzomuveszeti het Becsben", Lesi Anita, Lesi Zoltan, Balkon, Issue #11-12, Dec. 2014
2014 "Urban Wildlife Urban Wildlife: The Human Influence on the Social Life of Birds", Maja & Reuben Fowkes in conversation with
A. Benera & A. Estefan, http://translocal.org/riverschool/
2014 "Contemporary Art in Romania", Simona Nastac, www.articurate.net, Mar. 2014
2014 "Mint a muvészet", Frazon Zsófia, www.artmagazin.hu, Jan, 2014
2014 “Madarat tolláról: szárnyasok a Trafóban”, Gadó Flóra, http://artportal.hu/magazin, Jan, 2014
2013 „Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan“, Daria Ghiu, Artforum, September Issue
2013 "Uygar dunyanin barbar bienali", Evrim Altug, ART Unlimited, Issue #23, Oct. 2013
2013 „A nemzeti identitásra úgy tekintünk, mint egy bélyegre”, Muskovics Gyula in conversation with A. Benera & A. Estefan,
www.tranzit.blog.hu, Oct. 2013
2013 "Das Perpetuum Mobile und die Samenkanone", Wenzel Mraek, www.gat.st, Jun, 2013
2013 "Yeni baylayanlar için Bienal", Lora Sali, www.agos.com.tr, Sept. 2013
2012 "Die Räume anderer Museen durchwandern", Roland Schöny, FAQ Magazine, Issue #19
2010 "X-raying the Landscape of our subzistence: the Center for Visual Introspection", IDEA art & society magazine, Issue #35, 2010
Works in Public Collections
Kadist, Paris, San Francisco
n.b.k Video Forum, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Germany
FRAC Pays de la Loire, Nantes, France
National Museum of Contemporary Art Bucharest, Romania