in Timișoara, Romania, curated by Oana Stănescu. Titled “Cover Me Softly,” the biennale brought together 64 artists and explored the notion of “covers” as relational and transformative acts across various disciplines, engaging the public in discussions on architecture, art, and authorship.The theme of Covers, seen as acts of shelter, transformation, and reinterpretation, encourages to rethink knowledge structures and fostering ecological creativity. The Biennale encourages public engagement and interdisciplinary exchange. More about the theme of this year’s Beta Biennial can be read in this interview with curator Oana Stănescu.
About Delfina’s contributions to the Biennale: “Silence” and “Fashion Forensics”
Silence
In collaboration with designer Lee Roach, Delfina presented “Silence,” an interpretive cover of Constantin Brancusi’s “Table of Silence.” Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) was a Romanian artist and is known as a pioneer in modern abstract sculptures. Constantin Brancusi believed in distilling forms to their purest, most essential shapes, affirming “simplicity is resolved complexity.” He was described as ‘one on the inside of things, who stands on the ground an equal among rocks, trees, people, beasts and plants, never above or apart from them’.
Through a respectful approach to materials, his work arises from an attunement to the spiritual through material elaborateness of simplicity. In The Table of Silence, the use of stone reflects a close connection to the earth and an appreciation for the natural world’s intrinsic qualities. Brancusi must have been a noisy neighbour, continuously hammering, chipping and polishing. Yet, his work offer a serenity that embodies the essential attitude of silence as a place for re-connection.
The piece ‘Silence’ emphasises simplicity and a close connection to nature, using locally sourced stone with minimal processing. The work reflects on silence as a means of reconnection, aligning with Brancusi’s focus on essential forms. Delfina and Roach’s piece will be donated to the Timisoara municipality, further linking the work to its local context and community.
Fashion Forensics
Collaborating with Zowie Broach (Royal College of Art) and Brian Kirby, Delfina also showcased “Fashion Forensics.” This project critically examines the ethics of fashion replication through the case of Madonna’s ‘The Pointed Shirt Dress’ and its subsequent collaboration with H&M. The original ‘Pointed Shirt Dress’, a design that was gifted to Madonna by BOUDICCA Couture in 2005, is compared to its subsequent collaboration of Madonna with H&M resulting in the mass-produced H&M version. This comparison reveals how craftsmanship and its depth are getting lost when original artistic designs are flattened by industrial manufacturing processes.
This piece directly addresses the tensions between originality, authorship, and mass production—core themes in the Biennale’s exploration of covers.
‘How can art and design cultivate critical expressions rooted in ethics of care and relationality to influence ecological, social, and economic structures?’
Delfina Fantini van Ditmar, PhD, focuses on ecological design and reflective practices as Professor of Biodesign and More-than-Human Perspectives. With a background in biology and design research, she explores paradigm shifts and material ethics, advancing regenerative and more-than-human perspectives
The research group Biobased Art and Design capitalises on the role of artistic practice in unlocking the unique potentials of living organisms for everyday materials and communicating these to a broader public. In doing so, the group aims to instigate and accelerate our widespread understanding, further development and usage of such materials. The group’s research approach encourages tangible interactions with the living organisms, such as algae, fungi, plants and bacteria, to explore and understand their unique qualities and constraints through diverse technical and creative methods taking artists, designers and scientists as equal and active partners in the material creation.
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