Researchers
2023
Photos, metallic frames
Public space:  St. Gheorghe Square / Praporgescu Street

The work represents the installation in a public space in the historical centre of Timișoara of seven photographic panels each representing researchers active in scientific institutes in the city. In the contemporary media context, the specialisation in science in research institutes is almost invisible. The work proposes to reflect on the status of science and rational knowledge in the current Romanian society, when research and innovation budgets are extremely low and the amount of science in school subjects for students is decreasing.

The motivation behind the choice of this subject is the artist's conviction that the progress of science and technology is essential for the development of society in Romania. The documentary photographs depict researchers working in Timisoara in their spaces of scientific experiment and creation and have an aesthetic close to journalism, which orient the viewer towards an objective reading of the visual information in the images.

Bio

In his artistic projects of recent years, through photography and video, Matei Bejenaru investigates the materiality of the photographic medium and the politics of representation in the documentary format. Using the technological platform specific to analogue images, whether static or dynamic, he brings to the forefront the photographic process as a witness to the crisis of singularity and artistic engagement.

His artistic projects have been presented at Tate Modern London, Level 2 Gallery (2007), Taipei Biennale (2008), Athens Biennale (2013), Museum Europäischer Kulturen, Berlin (2015), Bozar Brussels (2018), BRD Scena9 Residency Bucharest (2022). He is the founder and artistic director of the Periferic Contemporary Art Biennial in Iasi (between 1997 and 2008). He is a founding member of the Vector Association in Iasi, and was president of the institution between 2001 and 2011. Between 2003 and 2007 he was the artistic director of the Vector Gallery in Iasi. During the same period he initiated and managed the social culture project cARTier, realised together with colleagues from the Vector Association. In 2011-2012 he was visiting professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada). He lives and works in Iași.