BELU-SIMION FAINARU

In his latest solo show at Galeria Plan B in Berlin, Belu-Simion Fainaru confronts the paradoxical temporal relation between impermanence and the desire for change. Time has always been central in the artist’s approach to relational aesthetics, carefully allowing the context and his audience to partake in the open-ended premises of his work. Approaching universal themes such as war, migration and loss, the artist derives inspiration from his own personal experience, reflecting on his East-European upbringing and his family’s immigration to Israel.

The early 90s saw to his international artistic recognition in prestigious biennials and events, leading to the anecdote of his participation in documenta IX whereas Fainaru hands in his work for the show by conveniently taking out of his pockets a small mock-up of a boat, an egg and a glass. The pertinent commentary to the gated resources of the art world, the resulting installation titled You have always to start anew (1991) was and still is a declaration of nomadic vulnerability and humour, encouraged by the curatorial team at the time, with a deep understanding of the changing socio-political context of the 90s.

The current exhibition opens a window of opportunity to look anew at Belu-Simion Fainaru’s installations and objects and find our temporal gaze, suggesting that time might be, in Deleuze’s and Bergson’s terms, ’[...] not a force dimension of space but itself containing more dimensions of space...’. In this vein, the show presents carefully thought-through in-situ installations, in a subtle scenography of light, sound, geometries of motion and stillness, with some of the artist’s long-term permutations of household items, memorabilia and interventions. The visitor is further invited to reflect upon the semiotic relations created between new productions as well as artworks previously presented in important events around the world, of which two main installations can provide a key to seeing in time-space.

Excerpts from exhibition text by Cristina Stoenescu

Belu-Simion Fainaru (b. 1959 in Bucharest) is an Israeli–Romanian artist, whose conceptual artistic approach revolves around themes of absence, loss and the need to rebuild links in communities. His series of artworks create long-term connected projects which relate to his roots and the nowadays pressing socio-political issues of conflict and migration. There is a rich undercurrent of symbolism in Fainaru’s work that is partly motivated by his interest in Jewish philosophy and Kabbalah mysticism on concepts such as absence, homelessness, the dissolution of known milestones and landmarks. Belu-Simion Fainaru’s serial installations of objects, careful alterations of every-day items or the use of organic materials such as earth, honey, bread, draw a link between site-specific art and performing objects. His works were exhibited in numerous important international events such as the 1992 documenta IX in Kassel, the 1993 Venice Biennale and the 2019 Romanian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the 2006 Biennale in Havana, 2015 The Vienna Biennale, the 2017 Kathmandu Triennale, and the 7th Socle Du Monde Biennale at HEART- Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark in 2017. Previous solo exhibitions were featured in institutions such as the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, S.M.A.K. Museum in Ghent, M HKA in Antwerpen, Lehmbruck Museum in Germany, Saitama Museum in Japan, among others.

Belu-Simion Fainaru is a guest lecturer at universities in Belgium and Japan, and has been teaching in the Department of Architecture at the Wizo Academy, Haifa, Israel since 1984. He initiated and is presently the artistic director and curator of the Mediterranean Biennale of Contemporary Art, Israel and in 2015 he founded AMOCA, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Sakhnin, Israel. The artist currently lives in Haifa, Israel and Antwerp, Belgium.