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Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan, Rehearsals for Peace, 2023. Film still. Courtesy and © the artist. Selected for AFI’25 by Video-Forum, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), Berlin, Germany.

Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan

Rehearsals for Peace

(2022) 16 minutes 26 seconds

Selected for AFI '25 by Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), Germany.

Rehearsals for Peace (2023) draws on various folk traditions for warding off evil spirits, such as the Transylvanian custom of Urzelnlaufen.

Imagine a pastoral landscape where the rhythmic grazing of animals seamlessly accommodates the military training schedule, resulting in a surreal coexistence of sheep and armored vehicles. This peculiar juxtaposition characterizes the daily life of Cincu, a Transylvanian village nestled in central Romania.

A tale from the 16th century narrates the story of Ursula, a female figure disguised as a man, who successfully chased away occupying intruders (at that time, the Ottomans) using the supersonic sound of a whip. This account purportedly originated in Cincu, which today houses one of NATO’s key combat training zones in Romania.

Rehearsals for Peace breathes life into Ursula's legend within the present-day controlled pastoral landscape, employing the sonic might of whip-cracking as a spell. The film portrays a contemporary Ursula facing the modern armoured vehicles, and harnessing the potential of the local ritual. She assimilates elements from the military's choreographic lexicon, like tactical hand signals, and intertwines them with the ancient practice of whip-cracking.

The video Rehearsals for Peace (2023) is co-produced by the n.b.k. Video-Forum.

Artist Q&A

Where are you from and how did you become interested in moving image work?
We're from Romania where the first revolution was broadcast on TV in 1989, demonstrating how moving images can influence how we remember and understand historical events. However, sound is just as important as images in our work. We're moved not only by the moving image but also by the way sound moves us.

What inspired/influenced you to make the work?
Romania shares its longest border with Ukraine, which gives it a key strategic role in the ongoing war and hosts important military infrastructure. We're interested in how the military imagination shapes the world around us, landscapes, climates, and even entire communities. The idea for “Rehearsals for Peace” came to us during our trip back home to visit family in central Transylvania. It was hard not to notice how the rural landscapes had transformed into military training sites.

What are you working on at the moment?
Right now, we're working on a script that explores the monologue of an unstable, confused uranium isotope, examining how it can be both vital energy and a destructive force, all while seeking to make "peace with the earth."

Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan. Photo_ Victoria Tomaschko, n.b.k.

Artist Link

Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan have worked together since 2011, currently based in Vienna. They have recently participated in exhibitions and biennials including Manifesta 15, Barcelona (2024); Creative Time Summit, New York (2024); 1st Klima Biennale Wien (2024); Art Encounters Timișoara, Romania (2024 - solo); Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin (2023, solo); Biennale Jogja XVII, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2023); Laboral Centro de Arte, Gijon, Spain (2023); 5th Kyiv Biennale, Vienna (2023); Whitechapel London (2022); Museum Tinguely, Basel (2022); Migros Museum, Zürich (2021); 39th EVA International - Ireland’s Biennial (2020).

In 2022 they were awarded the Birgit Jürgenssen Prize by the Austrian Ministry of Culture. In 2023 they have been creative fellows at the Post-Socialist Art Center (SAVA) at UCL London.

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