Belu-Simion Fainaru: Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour

It is tempting to look at time in measurable units – seconds, minutes, hours. These carefully sized moments become attached to places, pinning memories down like signs onto a map that no one dares to forget. In his latest solo show at Galeria Plan B in Berlin, Belu-Simion Făinaru confronts the paradoxical temporal relation between impermanence and the desire for change.

Time has always been central in the artist’s approach to relational aesthetics, carefully allowing the context and his audience to partake in the open-ended premises of his work. Approaching universal themes such as war, migration and loss, the artist derives inspiration from his own personal experience, reflecting on his East-European upbringing and his family’s immigration to Israel.

The early 90s saw to his international artistic recognition in prestigious biennials and events, leading to the anecdote of his participation in documenta IX whereas Făinaru hands in his work for the show by conveniently taking out of his pockets a small mock-up of a boat, an egg and a glass. The pertinent commentary to the gated resources of the art world, the resulting installation titled You have always to start anew (1991) was and still is a declaration of nomadic vulnerability and humour, encouraged by the curatorial team at the time, with a deep understanding of the changing socio-political context of the 90s. Throughout his prolific career, Belu-Simion Făinaru witnessed and reflected upon the increasing effects of globalisation, only made more pervasive by the advent of digital and virtual realities. The artist further created contexts of seemingly impossible dialogues, through his involvement as the director and curator of the Mediterranean Biennale or as a founding member of the AMOCA, The Museum of Contemporary Art Sakhnin.

The artist’s works verge on Arte Povera’s principle of discovering what is already there and what remains longer still (or what can be displaced altogether), and postminimalism, underlining scarcity or accumulation at will. It is fascinating to discuss his works starting from spatial coordinates, since it is bewildering to see how each new exhibition context provides and adds additional layers and previously unrealised connections. A subtle matter, and certainly less discussed so far, is that of time in Făinaru’s artistic practice.