Art Encounters 2017 Exhibitions:
The Second Nature

Ștefan Botez (b. 1983) studied architecture in Bucharest and visual arts at the University of Art and Design in Geneva, obtaining a certificate of advanced studies in implementing artistic practices in public space (2011) and a Masters in visual arts (2014). His passion for cinema is apparent in his works, in which he mainly uses video, experimenting with new filming techniques, but also in his installations and drawings which explore the relationship between space and time.

Selected exhibitions: Between the Forest and the Sea, Eastwards Prospectus, Bucharest (2015, solo); A Room With a View, Milkshake Agency, Geneva (2014, solo); Open Frame Award, GoEast Film Festival, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden (2014); SALON VIDEO – MATTERS OF METHOD, tranzit.ro/Iași (2013); Plus Jamais Seul, Standards Gallery, Rennes (2013); Desire is War, Contemporary Art Gallery of the Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu (2011).

Ștefan Botez’s research focuses on the performativity of the human body and its relation to space. For Jupiter and the Sea he takes its inspiration on the adventure of Jupiter told in Ovidʼs Metamorphoses, in which the god transforms itself into a magnificent bull to seduce the nymph Europa on a beach and to abduct her across the sea. Featuring a bull and a man on the phone standing together on the shore, this video juxtaposes fiction and reality, holiday habits and ancient myths, in a scene whose meaning remains blunt and mysterious.

Images:

1. Ștefan Botez, Portrait (2016), photo credits: Damien Descamps

2. Ștefan Botez, Jupiter and the Sea (2013), video FullHD, 1’55’’, stereo, courtesy of: Ștefan Botez, photo credits: Ștefan Botez