The Garrison

Artists: Carlos Amorales, Giulia Crețulescu, Mihaela Vasiliu (Chlorys), Ioana Cîrlig, Megan Dominescu, Nika Dubrovsky, Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Veronika Hapchenko, Libby Heaney, Zhanna Kadyrova, Hortensia Mi Kafchin, Patrícia Kaliczka, Nataša Kokić, András Cséfalvay & Lukáš Likavčan, Gregor Moebius, Dimitar Solakov, Sorina Vazelina, Christian Waldvogel, Zheng Bo

Curatorial team: Cristina Bută, Monica Dănilă, Edith Lázár, Ann Mbuti, Adrian Notz, Cristina Stoenescu, Georgia Țidorescu

In 1515, Albrecht Dürer created his renowned Rhinocerus in response to a strange encounter: the first rhino since antiquity to travel to the European continent. But Dürer had never seen the depicted animal. Ganda, by its Gujarati name, drowned before reaching its destination. Its voyage around the world mapped a geopolitical trajectory and reminds us that less-known stories of exploitation and violence overshadowed the histories of exploration and discovery. Engaging with other works of fiction, such as Eugène Ionesco’s Theatre of the Absurd entitled Rhinocéros, the biennial follows the stories inspired by Ganda, reclaiming the imaginative play of science and art in an entangled world marked by environmental and societal transformations.

The Garrison itself is a remnant of lingering pasts. During the Habsburg Empire’s rule over Banat, the building served in turn the Habsburg, Austro-Hungarian and Romanian military authorities. Later, the site became inextricably linked to the 1989 revolution against the communist regime. Storytelling has always been part of the changing socio-political and economic structures undergoing change. On the ground floor, other forms of growth and spirituality, even mythical encounters, expose both extractive struggles and healing sensitivities. A spirit that, on the next floor of the exhibition, continues to unmake political, historical, or identity orders reviving an anarchist ethos and crossing timelines. For in these stories, cultural knowledge can be retold through the untold stories buried within.