Ari David (b. Romania) currently lives and works in Rotterdam.

Their practice explores how social and political structures shape the body, with a focus on identity, collectivity, and dissent. Working across writing, video, sound, textiles, and performance, they begin with gestures, acts, and bodily states that carry histories of discipline and resistance, tracing how these movements appear across different contexts: how they are described, how they are felt, and how they can be reimagined through material practice.

Ari’s work develops over time through research, conversations, and lived experience, returning to questions of how knowledge is produced and imposed within Western contexts. Moving between personal and collective experience, they are interested in looking at how dominant narratives can be unsettled and what kind of interval this opens up.

The residency was awarded following the open call held this spring and is part of Arc Bucharest 2026 project co-financed by The Administration of the National Cultural Fund Romania.