Belu-Simion Făinaru [Romania/Israel] Vanished Traveler, You are not alone
Vanished Traveler
installation
Public transport stop – 02 Litewski Square, 3 Maja Street
An abandoned suitcase, with the inscription I love You, a kind of situational joke, although difficult to lift, if only because it is made of stone.
[TW]
You are not alone
installation
façade of the Hieronim Łopaciński Regional Public Library, 4 Narutowicza St.
At the end of the 20th century, technological advances promised a more ‘connected’ world. Digital communication technologies such as email and mobile phones, the launch of the Internet and various social media platforms fostered the development of a global community. However, while our ability to communicate with other people on a superficial level has increased, our level of loneliness has not decreased. For all our increased ‘connectivity’, we still experience loneliness.
The YOU ARE NOT ALONE street sign is meant to give us a sense that we are not neglected, forgotten or unimportant to others. It heightens our emotional need to find someone close, deepen friendships with acquaintances, join a group of people who share similar interests and actively work towards living in community.
Belu-Simion Făinaru
Born in 1959 in Romania, he lives and works in Haifa (Israel) and Antwerp (Belgium). Făinaru’s work has been exhibited at Documenta IX in Kassel in 1992, the Venice Biennale in 1993, the Sonsbeek 9 Biennale in the Netherlands and the Havana Biennale in Cuba in 2006, the Vienna Biennale, the Triennale in Kathmandu, Nepal, ArtBasel’s Unlimited exhibition. Fainaru represented Romania at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. Fainaru is represented by Plan B Gallery Cluj in Berlin. He has had solo exhibitions at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, S.M.A.K. Museum in Ghent, M HKA in Antwerp, Lehmbruck Museum in Germany and Saitama Museum in Japan, and at the Timisoara National Museum of Art as part of Timisoara European Capital of Culture 2023.
Fainaru also works as a curator. Since 2010, he has been the founder, director and curator of the Mediterranean Biennial of Contemporary Art in Israel: 2010 Haifa; 2013 Sakhnin; 2017 Sakhnin Valley; 2021 Haifa. In 2015, he founded AMOCA, the Sakhnin Museum of Contemporary Art, the first museum of its kind in Israel based on communities that live in conflict, promoting the coexistence of Arab and Jewish communities, opening the gates to art that is inclusive and collaborative. Art that creates connections at a local level and with people as much as possible.
