Every Thursday evening, while waiting for Brâncuși, we stand with the ethnosculptures next to the metallic monolith in front of the Museum of Art. Many friends, fascinated by the beauty of old woods and the imprint of humanity, time, and beauty in them, stop by to see us again and again. Numerous strangers and passers-by, drawn to the most beautiful place in the city, also stop to discover the ethnosculptures. Tourists from all over the world converse about the twists and turns in languages like Japanese, Korean, Romanian, English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, and more. Young Nepalese people take their break from delivering food while sitting under the gentle shade of art. Artists, lovers, and beautiful girls take Instagram-worthy selfies in the exhibition, and retirees with time and a desire for conversation gather.
Some of these people are eagerly waiting for Brâncuși, while others have never heard of him. Some see a suveica (a traditional Romanian spinning wheel) for the first time, while others rediscover memories and stories in the forms of the exhibition. But all, absolutely all, are delighted with the ethnosculptures and this fertile season of Timișoara.
In anticipation of the Brâncuși exhibition in Timișoara, visual artist Mihai Donici creates a project of 20 ethnosculpture exhibitions that prefigure the world of Brâncuși's forms. The project takes place over a period of 5 months and includes exhibitions in Unirii Square every Thursday between 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM. The exhibitions are conceived in an evolutionary manner, with different pieces exhibited for each event, resulting in constantly changing artistic configurations. Designed as an urban intervention with artistic means, the project offers an immersive experience inside a large popular culture and its captivating mythology. The accompanying performance is interactive, with the spontaneous audience being invited to play the traditional toace drums and handle the "scare-the-crows" tools. The exhibitions also aim to prepare the local and transient cultural public for the contextualized reception of the Brâncuși exhibition this autumn.