Adina Pintilie’s new project You Are Another Me – A Cathedral of the Body will represent Romania at the 2022 edition of the largest contemporary art exhibition in the world, La Biennale di Venezia. The project is produced by Manekino Cultural Association, in co-production with Avanpost, Snaporazverein and ARAC Romanian Contemporary Art Association.

The 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, titled The Milk of Dreams, is curated by Cecilia Alemani. This year’s theme takes its title from a book by Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. “Carrington’s stories describe a world set free, brimming with possibilities,” Alemani said in a statement. Despite grim global circumstances, she promises “an optimistic exhibition, which celebrates art and its capacity to create alternative cosmologies and new conditions of existence.”

Adina Pintilie, winner of the Golden Bear at the 2018 Berlinale for Touch Me Not, brings to the public’s attention another complex artistic work that explores intimacy, body representation and its metamorphosis. Many of the protagonists starring in this new project have also performed in Touch Me Not. By creating an atmosphere of intimacy between her subjects, the artist seeks to offer viewers the same liberating sensation, urging them to overcome prejudices and social norms.

Since Romania is the only country that has two exhibition spaces at the Biennale – the Romanian Pavilion at Giardini and the New Gallery of the Romanian Institute for Culture and Humanistic Research – the installation will be divided into both venues and it will have two openings: on April 21 (Romanian Pavilion) and April 22 (New Gallery of the Romanian Cultural Institute).

Closely developed with curators Cosmin Costinaș and Viktor Neumann, the project promises a multimedia sensorial experience, where the exhibition spaces become contemporary “cathedrals” that celebrate the body and human connections beyond any preconceptions.

The Romanian Pavilion will be divided into two areas, a darker space and a second bright one, with screens showing static and moving images, designed to create “a spiritual bond that permeates the screen” – Cosmin Costinaș (curator). The exhibition at the New Gallery will complete the experience with a VR installation.

The 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia will open to the public from Saturday, April 23, to Sunday, November 27, 2022.

Melissa Antonescu

Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.