Artist: Nona Inescu
Exhibition title: Lithosomes
Venue: EXILE, Berlin, Germany
Date: October 21 – December 2, 2017
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and EXILE, Berlin
“ [a] vital materiality that runs through all bodies, both human and non-human.”*
The current prehistory demands to test the limits of critical thinking. To assemble conceptual and affective tools for navigation between old and new natures. There is a joyful exuberance and a melancholic resignation in not knowing again.
Neo-naiveté becomes more politically efficient than deconstruction.
In “pre” times we can work on ambiances, accommodate the non-organic, the non-human. We can aimlessly drift across infantile digital territories, multi-natures and pseudo-metaphysics.
Not a full regression, but rather an ontological flatness. Un-adjustable regimes of existence artificially intersecting for a moment. What moment? In the case of concretions that particular moment doesn’t even qualify as time.
A concretion (“trovant” in Romanian) is a compact mass of matter formed by the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between particles. Concretions are often ovoid or spherical in shape, although irregular shapes also occur.
The concretions are hyper-jumping from one “pre” to another, bypassing the homo-sapiens age in a blink of a stone pore.
The stone exists in another order of magnitude, a gigantic arch over humanity and life itself.
Lingering at the periphery of discourse. Works triggered not by questions but by an alienating disposition. Non-becoming rapports, non-hierarchical ways of interaction.
Nothing to interrogate. Who cares what it is peculiar to the human? Not even what is peculiar to the concretion.
A prolonged proximity. Trying to resonate with matter coming from an irrecoverable distance. An impossible intimacy.
* Bennett, Jane: Vibrant Matter. Duke University Press , 2010
Text by Ion Dumitrescu
EXILE is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Bucharest-based artist Nona Inescu entitled Lithosomes. Inescu has previously shown at the gallery as part of the group exhibition →Grotto Capitale. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with →Sabot Gallery, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Nona Inescu, born 1991, lives and works in Bucharest, Romania. After studying at the Chelsea College of Art & Design in London (2009-2010) and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (2010-2011), Inescu completed her studies in 2016 at the National University of Arts in Bucharest. Inescu’s interdisciplinary artistic practice encompasses photography, objects, installations, and video. Her most recent work focuses on the human interaction with natural and primitive materials.
Recent solo exhibitions include: Conversation with a stone, SpazioA, Pistoia (2016), Her latent image, Kube, Bucharest (2016) and Hands don’t make magic, Sabot, Cluj-Napoca (2015). Selected group exhibitions: Life a User’s Manual, Art Encounters, Timisoara (2017), Becoming an Apricot… , Survival Kit 9, Riga (2017), Gestures of Tomorrow, Kunstverein Nuernberg – Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, Nuremberg (2016).
Nona Inescu: Lithosomes, 2017, Installation view, EXILE
Nona Inescu, Concretions (Geophilia) VII, 2017, Archival inkjet print on Hahnemuhle paper, 70 x 100 cm (framed)
Nona Inescu, Introvert II, 2017, Concretion, chrome-plated cage, leash, dimensions variable
Nona Inescu, Litho/Gym (detail), 2017, Installation with three Litho/Swings, one Ring Concretion, Hybrid and Concretions (Geophilia) VI. Stainless steel structure, leather, chains, stones, archival inkjet print on Hahnemuhle paper, faux-leather, foam, dimensions variable
Nona Inescu, Litho/Gym, 2017, Installation with three Litho/Swings, one Ring Concretion, Hybrid and Concretions (Geophilia) VI. Stainless steel structure, leather, chains, stones, archival inkjet print on Hahnemuhle paper, faux-leather, foam, dimensions variable
Nona Inescu, Litho/Swing I, 2017, Stone, leather and stainless steel chain, 24 x 20 x 23 cm
Nona Inescu, Litho/Swing II, 2017, Stone, leather and stainless steel chain, 23 x 22 x 15 cm
Nona Inescu, Concretions (Geophilia) V, 2017, Archival inkjet print on Hahnemuhle paper, 40 x 60 cm (framed)
Nona Inescu, Concretions (Geophilia) VIII, 2017, Archival inkjet print on Hahnemuhle paper, 40 x 60 cm (framed)
Nona Inescu, Hybrid, 2017, Faux-leather, foam, 6 x 160 x 90 cm
Nona Inescu, Litho/Swing IIII, 2017, Stone, leather and stainless steel chain, 32 x 20 x 19 cm
Nona Inescu, Ring Concretion, 2017, Stone, leather and stainless steel, 19 x 17 x 6 cm
Nona Inescu, Untitled (Formation), 2017, 3D animation, sound, 2’30”
Nona Inescu, Lithosomes, 2017, Installation view, EXILE
Nona Inescu, Concretions (Geophilia) II, 2017, Archival inkjet print on Hahnemuhle paper, 60 x 40 cm (framed)