Benera and Estefan
DesFacerea Lumii / UnWorlding (Wisdom of the Earth), 2024
Video installation (4K video, color, stereo sound, 16:26 min, salt sculpture 56 x 26 x16 cm, hay).

A life-sized salt replica of Constantin Brâncuși’s iconic Wisdom of the Earth stands quietly on an open pasture, among grazing animals, absorbing their gaze as much as it invites them to taste and touch it. This slow transformation of the work narrates a creation story driven by nature’s hand rather than human control.

This work is part of a series under the title UnWorlding based on Günther Anders’ concept of human “unworldliness” which suggests that alienation from nature is an inherent aspect of the human condition. Unlike other animals, humans are fundamentally detached from the natural world, a separation magnified by the rise of modern science.

Drawing on cosmologies like the myth of Auðumbla—the primeval cow who shaped the world into being by licking salt blocks from the primordial void—salt emerges as a medium for reconnecting with a premodern, holistic consciousness of nature. Far more than just a material, salt serves as a bridge between worlds, dissolving back into the natural cycle. This process invites a reciprocal relationship that transcends the nature-culture dichotomy, fostering a fluid ecology of connections and new ways to imagine our entanglement with the earth. 






DOP: Tudor Cioroiu | Format Studio
sound composition: Simina Oprescu
focus puller & camera B operator: Barbu Nitelea
colour grading: Lucian lordan
project manager: Georgia Bacinschi

Photo ©  Remus Dăescu

This project was commissioned and co-produced by the Art Encounters Fundation, Timisoara, 2024.