The Romanian Cultural Institute in Tokyo supports the exhibition project "Floral Whispers. SONIC FACTS OF CLIMATIC REVERBERATIONS", presented from October 24 to 28, 2025 in Matsudo–Tokyo, as part of the International Science and Art Festival. The project is organized in partnership with the Austrian Embassy in Japan and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Tokyo.
Selected to be included in the Matsudo–Tokyo Art and Science Festival https://science-art-matsudo.net/en, an event that is part of an international network dedicated to the links between art and science and connected to the famous Ars Electronica, the project brings to Japan an interdisciplinary perspective on the relationship between the natural environment, sound and the impact of climate change.
The traveling project, created by Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan together with Pavel Brăila, continues an artistic research on the disappearance of flora and fauna from the arid areas of Southern and Eastern Europe, now extended to Tokyo. In collaboration with artist Pavel Brăila, a sound extension was added that complements the visual dimension of the installation.
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Floral Whispers https://science-art-matsudo.net/en/program/talk
Climate change, soil pollution, and various other factors are contributing to the global decline of plant life and the collapse of ecosystems. Paleoclimatology relies on "natural archives" such as pollen records to reconstruct lost flora and predict future climate dynamics.
Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan collect pollen grains from arid regions on the brin of desertification, preserving a botanical record of vanishing flora. These samples, which may serve as future scientific material, reflect their interest in pollen as a paleoclimatic proxy and the vital role of pollinators like bees in sustaining ecosystems. The potential loss of bees poses an existential threat to life on Earth. Inspired by the fact that the first-ever recorded sounds were etched onto beeswax cylinders, they use this connection to reflect on today’s environmental collapse.
For Climate Dignity, Benera and Estefan collaborate with Pavel Braila and a community of honey bees (Apis mellifera) to create a music record made of beeswax. The record, fragile by nature, can be played only a finite number of times, with each use wearing away a layer of its material memory until it dissolves into silence.
