The absence and presence of the body is the central topic of Rumanian performance artist Catalina Gubandru. In her three weeks at the art hermitage she first concentrated on her own presence and then at the presence of the surrounding animals, sounds, light and things - how they appear, disappear and which traces they leave behind. She uses performances, texts, photos, videos, drawings and installations and works on conceptual art in nature in which the idea of an artwork always plays the greater role than the finished product.

During her time here, she spend a lot of time with the donkeys Brauni and Flocke who were her pets in the artist residence. She watched them, drew their traces and established friendly rituals with them.

Her stay on Rietzer Berg in the midst of nature with the fields, woods, donkeys, birds and dear was her most powerful nature experience so far. She spent little time sleeping to use the time to the fullest and don't miss the most special moments of the day: like sunrises when it's still cool and the grass is wet and she could watch the forest animals.

Apart from watching and writing, she made drawings with coal from the fireplace and painted the traces and lines that she watched.

The independent artist has traveled to China, France, Austria and Germany for projects and will stay in Sweden twice this year. 

The goodbye from the donkeys was the hardest and she could have easily stayed three more weeks. 

The absence and presence of the body is the central topic of Rumanian performance artist Catalina Gubandru. In her three weeks at the art hermitage she first concentrated on her own presence and then at the presence of the surrounding animals, sounds, light and things - how they appear, disappear and which traces they leave behind. She uses performances, texts, photos, videos, drawings and installations and works on conceptual art in nature in which the idea of an artwork always plays the greater role than the finished product.