Between September 17 and October 12, 2024, the association Qolony (Colony for Art and Science) invites the public to visit the exhibition Fusion:AIR: Biophilia Technophilia, an immersive event that explores the boundaries between nature and technology through the works of outstanding contemporary artists.
The opening of the exhibition will take place on Tuesday, September 17, from 7:00 p.m., at the Gallery / SAC - Spațiul de Artă Contemporana (Str. General Berthelot no. 5).

Fusion:AIR is one of the most important projects of the Qolony association, an endeavor that aims to help promote the inclusion of artists in innovation and research activities, giving science the language of art.
"What we propose in Fusion:AIR is high-level research addressed to artists. This year the artists were selected by a jury made up of researchers from the 5 partner institutes. In these residencies, artists and researchers carried out experiments together, the result of which is now exhibited at the /SAC-Berthelot gallery. We are at the 4th edition of these residencies, which came with news: we opened the doors to artists from abroad and the Romanian artists were selected following an open call. Each artist collaborated and experimented with researchers from partner institutes, and now you have the opportunity to see the results.” (Mihaela Ghiță, artistic director and initiator of the Fusion:AIR project – artistic residencies in research institutes).
Fusion:AIR 2024 has the theme Biophilia - Technophilia
"Fusion:AIR stands at the intersection of biophilia and technophilia, offering an innovative vision of how contemporary art can contribute to overcoming the global ecological crisis. Inspired by the manifesto "Living in the Anthropocene" (Crutzen & Schwägerl, 2011), the exhibition refuses both the utopias of a lost natural paradise and the dystopias of a completely artificial world, proposing instead a territory of interpenetration and hybridization between human and nonhuman, between organic and technologically. Participating artists find their inspiration in posthumanist and eco-phenomenological theorists, outlining new relationships between born and built, between nature and culture. Fusion AIR: Biophilia Technophilia brings to the fore creations that harness the laws of nature and technological innovations, reflecting both the beauty and complexity of the contemporary world." (Raluca Oancea, curator of the exhibition.)
Fusion Artists 2024
This year's edition brings together 6 artists, including 4 Romanians and 2 foreigners: Alexandra Costea, Denis Flueraru, Maria Nalbantova (BG), Mihai Popescu, Ole Blank (DE) and Zoița Delia Calinescu.
Alexandra Costea investigates in Immemorial Structures the memory and microscopic structure of stone, exploring the preservation and transformation of zeolitic volcanic tuff through plasma treatment. The work raises questions about perception and memory in the face of the passage of time. Denis Flueraru reveals through the interactive installation Solara the fragile relationship between humanity and the sun, emphasizing how the source of life can also become a risk factor. No one knows what the sound of solar explosions is, but Denis invites visitors to discover it through an interactive installation. Bulgarian artist Maria Nalbantova places retrocausality, a concept from quantum physics that suggests effects can influence causes, at the heart of her work The Pool is Never Empty. "We don't know yet if the future can influence the past." The work talks about the history of the Oteteleșanu Manor which functioned as a girls' school. Now at Măgurele, many female researchers work and are active. Maria's work explores the fluid connections between the human and the nonhuman, using water from Oteteleșanu Lake and microscopic images to speculate retrocausality. Mihai Popescu (How long should art/memory last?) compares the durability of traditional scrolls with the fragility of modern digital media, inviting visitors to reflect on how art and memory can be preserved over time. Ole Blank proposes the Midnight Feast, an interactive sculpture involving earthworms as the main actors, symbolizing the transformation of natural materials into a new fertile layer of soil, demonstrating the regenerative continuum of nature. Zoița Delia Călinescu will present the experiment The Success And The Failures Of A Beautiful Practice which studies the impact of different irrigation methods on plants, including experimental techniques such as plasma-activated water, in order to discover solutions for adapting to the future climate.
The exhibition can be visited until October 12, 2024, from Thursday to Saturday, between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Free access.
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