Moldova (Republic of) 2026

Title: On the Thousand and Second Night
Commissioner: Oleg Nica, Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to the Italian Republic
Curator: Adelina Luft
Exhibitor: Pavel Brăila

The project responds to the Biennale’s theme “In Minor Keys” by focusing on low-frequency registers such as murmur, attention, and proximity.

The installation features an ensemble of carpets suspended between the floor and the vault by drones. While the carpet is a domestic object associated with care and continuity, it is here supported by technology commonly linked to surveillance and armed conflict. This arrangement symbolically reverses roles: the drone no longer restricts but protects, transforming an instrument of domination into one of support. The project draws on the tradition of hand-woven carpets from Moldova and the Middle Eastern motif of the flying carpet from “One Thousand and One Nights”.

“On the Thousand and Second Night” continues an inquiry initiated with Brăila’s 2018 work “Magic Carpet”. By reimagining the drone’s function, the installation addresses the fragility of modern airspace and borders. It reclaims storytelling as a gesture to keep future possibilities open, using flight as a metaphor for solidarity and collective imagination.