According to The Sedimentary Record, the sand of Normandy beaches conceals 4% debris of bombs and metal fragments (“magnetic sand”) from the D-Day landings – the battle that helped end the Second World War and redrew the map of Europe. The “magnetic sand”, along with other examples, are forming the layer of Debrisphere, which stands for a type of artificial terrain, concealed by nature. Debrisphere is the yet-unnamed stratum of the Earth crust, a supra-stratum of the Lithosphere. It contains the worldwide man-made landscapes: the artificial mountains of Germany, the “blooming deserts” of Israel, the military coral reefs of China and the United States, and other similar constructions around the world resulted from, or still serving, conflict and war.
Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan are an artist duo who use research-based methodologies to reveal the invisible patterns that lie behind certain historical, social, or geopolitical narratives. Their work focuses on installations, videos and performances. They investigate the phenomenon of man-made landscapes around the world, where the making and marking of landscape (as a form of spatial modification) goes hand in hand with heightened state violence and the overexploitation of resources.
Benera and Estefan are co-founders of the Centre for Visual Introspection in Bucharest, where they curated a series of workshops, public art projects and publications between 2008-2011.