NONA INESCU RELICS. QUARRIES. RELIQUARIES.
Nona Inescu’s most recent solo exhibition investigates emerging topographies of coexistence. By studying the geological structure of the land, new patterns of human and non-human cohabitation are brought to the fore. This decoding of the techno-sphere allows for new, less extractive as well as less exploitative dynamics to transpire, which are then re-articulated through a series of sculptural installations, photography, and video work.
Concretion stones,
like natural reliquaries,
containers for past organic matter,
extracted from man-made sand quarries
or dropping down in a
water-carved valley,
anatomically-shaped imaginaries
a pareidolia exercise.
Exhibition: Relics. Quarries. Reliquaries.
Artist: Nona Inescu
Dates: 26/04—12/06/22
Space: Solo exhibition at Peles Empire, Karl-Marx-Straße 58, Berlin
A glossary
apophenia | \ ˌa-pə-ˈfē-nē-ə \
the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things (such as objects or ideas)
concretion | \ kän-ˈkrē-shən, kən- \
something concreted: such as a hard usually inorganic mass formed in a living body
a hard solid mass formed by the local accumulation of matter, especially within the body or within a mass of sediment
the process by which matter forms into a concretion
mimetolith | \ mǐ-mē-tō- lǐth \
a natural topographic feature, rock outcrop, rock specimen, mineral specimen, or loose stone the shape of which resembles something else -- e.g., a real or fancied animal, plant, manufactured item, or part(s) thereof.
a topographic feature (et alia) with any combination of shape and pattern that resembles a real or fancied animal, . . . . [Greek mimetes (an imitator) and lithos (stone)]
pareidolia | \ ˌper-ˌī-ˈdō-lē-ə, -ˈdōl-yə \
the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern
quarry | \ ˈkwȯr-ē, ˈkwär- \
an open excavation usually for obtaining building stone, slate, or limestone
an animal pursued by a hunter, hound, predatory mammal, or bird of prey
a thing or person that is chased or sought
to dig or take from or as if from a quarry
to extract (stone or other materials) from a quarry
reliquary | \ ˈre-lə-ˌkwer-ē \
a container or shrine in which sacred relics are kept
a receptacle, such as a coffer or shrine, for keeping or displaying relics
Nona Inescu (b. 1991) lives and works between Berlin, Germany and Bucharest, Romania. She completed her studies in the summer of 2016 at the National University of Arts in Bucharest (Photography and Video Department) after studying at the Chelsea College of Art & Design in London (2009-2010) and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (2010-2011). Her artistic practice is interdisciplinary and includes photography, installation, sculptures and video works. Based on a theoretical and literary perspective, the works focus on the relationship between the human body and the environment and the redefinition of this subject in a post-human key. The mediating properties of the body are rendered in several ways, projecting a translation of the world driven by affect, signaling its position as an interface between self and reality. Concepts of geological time and our intense interrelation with our surroundings compose an aesthetic of a primal contemporary togetherness in an organic and biological techno-sphere.
Photos by Daniel Poller, Nona Inescu.