We are delighted to announce the selected artists for the 2026 edition of Night as Commons, our six week international residency program in Vármező / Câmpu Cetății. From 141 applications submitted from 26 countries, the international jury has selected five artists whose practices explore darkness as a space of perception, ecology and transformation.
Jeanne Artemis (Germany) is developing an autonomous analogue sound system that translates nocturnal biological rhythms into evolving sonic ecosystems experienced in complete darkness.
Audrey Briot (France) is creating experimental textile antennas to investigate how atmospheric and biological processes transform radio reception across the day–night cycle.
Max Čuhel (Czech Republic) is conducting a comparative study of nocturnal pollinators between Vármező’s Dark Sky landscape and Prague’s light polluted industrial zone, using sculptural light traps as both research tools and artworks.
Emma J Davis (Australia / Italy) is exploring how darkness reshapes spatial experience through walking, mapping, drawing and embodied observation, creating an open-ended archive of nocturnal conditions.
Dominika Márton (Hungary) is researching night vision, visibility and protection through speculative textile experiments inspired by animal eyeshine and human nighttime technologies.
During the residency the artists will be supported by three mentors:
Irina Dumitru (Bucharest) - Physicist specialising in quantum information and interdisciplinary research on technology and society.
Anna Szabó (Cluj) - Botanist and ecologist with over 25 years of experience in biodiversity research, habitat conservation and ecological restoration.
Attila Tordai S. (Cluj) - Curator working across contemporary art, critical practices and interdisciplinary research in Central and Eastern Europe.
We look forward to welcoming the artists to hypha_etc and beginning this shared exploration of darkness, perception and ecological imagination.
The project is produced with the support of Culture Moves Europe (a mobility scheme funded by the European Union and implemented by the Goethe-Institut)