In 1992, in Prague’s Powder Gate, Benish’s sculpture-installation, Encuentro created a mystical meeting point of Native-American artifacts in Central Europe. (Encuentro is the Spanish word for encounter, in English.) The Powder Gate is a historic gothic tower, an ancient entrance to Prague’s Old Town, not usually used as an exhibition space. Inside the tower, Benish constructed a pyramid of rusted scaffolding, representing the swords of Spanish Conquistadors; hanging from this were glass slides noting solar phenomenon and the astronomical belief systems of the Chumash tribe, natives of the California coastal area. Other cards were decorated with Indian, Greek and Roman motifs. In the lower part of the tower were obscured symbols of modern American culture: consumerism and media signs. Completing the spiral at the bottom of the tower were empty glass slides that mirrored the clear light and colors of the stained glass windows of the room. Encuentro introduced obscure, though highly advanced native-American astronomy to the homeland of European alchemy; in Prague, the natural light from the tower’s stained glass windows welcomed and nourished the ancient symbols of knowledge from the New World.
Tony Ozuna, Umelec magazine, 2005