The project "Black Seas - Scores for the Sonic Eye", created by artists Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan, will represent Romania at the 61st Venice Art Biennale. The work, curated by Diana Marincu and Corina Oprea, was unveiled on Thursday at the Ministry of Culture after winning the national competition organized together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR).
"Romania's participation in the Venice Biennale is, as always an exercise in cultural responsibility and international visibility. Our presence, begun in 1907 and consolidated through the Romanian Pavilion in the Giardini della Biennale, compels us to rigor, coherence and relevance," said Koppany Otvos, Secretary of State with the Ministry of Culture. He noted strong institutional cooperation among the three organizing bodies and highlighted increased funding for the 2026 edition.
Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Cultural Diplomacy, Education and Science Directorate Andrei Luca said that the ministry manages Romania's Biennale venues - the historic pavilion in the Giardini and the New Gallery of the ICR Venice - and is working to attract private sector support.
President of the Romanian Cultural Institute Liviu Jicman emphasized the institute's role as co-financier and host, noting a budget of 250,000 RON this year, and urhed support for Romania's participation in the Venice Biennale from private investors.
Ioana Ciocan, Commissioner for Romania's participation in the International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia, underlined the Ministry of Culture's allocation of 950,000 RON and stressed that no country fully covers Biennale costs, with many projects relying on private funding. She announced that more than 40 countries have confirmed national pavilions, with the final list to be published February 1.
Representatives of the judging panel and the winning team attended the unveiling in person and online.
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According to the Ministry of Culture, the project "Black Seas - Scores for the Sonic Eye" was designated the winner with 597 points, resulting in an average score of 85.28.
The installation explores the Black Sea as a living archive and a constantly changing space, combining sound, film and sculptural instruments to trace hidden histories and shifting ecologies.
"Plural by its intrinsic nature, the Black Sea is a dynamic field of forces - ecological, political and historical - where past and present, human and more-than-human, biology and technology, ecology and militarization continuously shape each other. Situated at the crossroads of Eastern Europe, Asia Minor and the Caucasus, the sea has long functioned as a vital historical nexus, linking its shores to the Mediterranean world. Traces of these crossings persist beneath the surface, layered in sediments, data and the silent remains of conflict. Can sound reveal what history leaves submerged? What registers become audible when we listen to sediments and latent DNA as living archives? Through film, sound and sculptural instruments, the Romanian Pavilion becomes a space in which waves, currents, data and voices are translated into a multisensory encounter with the sea as both subject and medium," note the artists on https://www.beneraestefan.ro/.
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Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan have collaborated as an artistic duo since 2012, living and working in Vienna and Bucharest. Their practice in installation, video and performance employs research-based methodologies to reveal the invisible patterns underlying historical, social and geopolitical narratives.
Through installations, moving images and performance, their works examine how military imaginaries, ecological transformation and resource politics shape landscapes, climates and communities.
The artists have been active internationally for over a decade, participating in major contemporary art events including: Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations - MUCEM (Marseille, 2019), Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Wien (Vienna, 2017), Migros Museum (Zurich, 2021), Galleria Trafo (Budapest, 2022), Whitechapel Gallery (London, 2022), Tinguely Museum (Basel, 2022), the 5th Kyiv Biennial (2023), the 1st Klima Biennale (Vienna, 2024) and Manifesta 15 (Barcelona, 2024).
They are laureates of the 2022 Birgit Jürgenssen Award of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture, and in 2023 became the first Creative Fellows at the UCL Centre for Postsocialist Art in London.
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The 61st edition of the International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia will run from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with a preview for specialists and the press scheduled for May 6 - 8. The theme of the edition is "In Minor Keys". At the 60th International Art Exhibition, Romania was represented by the project "What Work Is" by Serban Savu.
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