The year of the European Capital of Culture program saw numerous landmark exhibitions and art events in Timișoara. Inventions and Magic, the retrospective dedicated to Romanian-born surrealist artist Victor Brauner and the first retrospective in his country of origin, after Sculpture / Sculpture after, a seven-month-long project looking at the evolution of Romanian sculpture while also featuring guest artists in temporary exhibitions, Adrian Ghenie, The Impossible Body, with recent works of one of the most popular contemporary Romanian artists, and the 5th edition of the Art Encounters Biennial My Rhino is not a Myth were just some of them, and more are ongoing, extending into 2024.

Romania’s Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale is exhibited for the first time this year in Timișoara as well, in addition to Cluj, Reșița, Iași and Bucharest. The exhibition focuses on the concepts of invention and innovation applied to contemporary local architecture and technological endeavours, and their educational impact. In the country, visitors can see parts of the pavilion, which explored four research areas, namely Romanian Technical Innovations and Inventions, Lateral Pedagogies, the Instant Garden / Genetic Seed Bank and the Co-Future Thinking installation.

The Forgotten Innovations section features technical artefacts exhibited in the pavilion, among them an aerodynamic vehicle with wheels inside the body of the car, designed by engineer Aurel Persu or an electric vehicle from the beginning of the 20th century. The story of Henri Coandă’s desalination plant meant to turn seawater into drinking water only using solar energy is also included in the show. Furthermore, the public can see, in the Lateral Pedagogies section, examples of new design practices in Romania, such as the Clay House at Capul Dolosman, Take A(l)titude – the rescues point in the Fagaras Mountains, or the Bunești School.

The exhibition can be seen at Isho in Timișoara until January 15th. In Bucharest, it will open for visitors at the 2024 Romanian Design Week.

The alternative and experimental art venue Kunsthalle Bega hosts until February 11th The Twist. Five Provincial Stories from an Empire, “a large-scale interdisciplinary project mapping the symbolic levels gathered in the culture of the historical Banat region over time.” Works by Horia Bernea, Ștefan Bertalan, Ion Condiescu, Roman Cotoșman, Cristian Dițoiu, Constantin Flondor, Dani Ghercă, Ion Grigorescu, Ana, Maria Micu, Ciprian Mureșan, Paul Neagu, Sorin Neamțu, Mihai Olos, Iulius Podlipny, Șerban Savu, Liviu Stoicoviciu, Napoleon Tiron, and Bogdan Vlăduță are included in the exhibition curated by Călin Dan and Celia Ghyka.

Rituals, Keepers and Storms, with works of the late artist Ioana Nemeș, is on display at the Art Encounters Foundation/ Isho House until March 9th. Curated by Diana Marincu and Kilobase Bucharest, the exhibition is meant as a “necessary gesture of reassessment and documentary research of the body of works Relics for the Afterfuture (Brown),” created by the artist between 2009 and 2010. The public can see the sculptures, installations, and paintings of the series Relics for the Afterfuture (Brown), which uses natural materials (horn, wool, wood, fur) and traditional methods combined with sleek resins, faience, concrete and contemporary production techniques. The exhibition also includes a set of mural paintings from the series Monthly Evaluations, which the artist elaborated between 2005 and 2010 “to record, dissect, understand and describe intangible things such as life or time,” and the series of drawings The Healers.

A highlight event of Timișoara’s European Capital of Culture program, the exhibition Brâncuși: Romanian Sources and Universal Perspectives, curated by Doina Lemny, can be visited until January 28th at the Timișoara National Museum of Art. The exhibition takes visitors on a tour of the various stages of Brâncuși’s artistic journey - with references to his biography as well - from the Écorché created while he was attending the School of Fine Arts in Bucharest to maturity works. Among them is the Bird in Space alongside the story of its encounter with the U.S. Customs in a case settled later in court. The Kiss, Mademoiselle Pogany, Head of a Child, Prayer, and Sleeping Muse are among the 22 sculptures on display in the show, which also looks to point out the artist’s connection to his home country. A unique selection of photographs alongside fragments filmed by Brâncuși himself is included in the exhibition, described as “a unique opportunity to discover and admire the works of the artist who managed to wield the cultural heritage of his country of origin most subtly, imbuing it with universal values.”

Visitors of the Museum of Art in Timișoara (MNART) could be treated to similarly large exhibitions in the future. Speaking at the press conference marking the official end of the city’s European Capital of Culture program, Alin Nica, the president of Timiș County Council, called this year’s exhibitions at MNART “only the warm-up for what will follow.” He mentioned plans for a Monet exhibition “but also other surprises we are working on in partnership with prestigious museums in Europe, which earned a partner in the Timișoara National Museum of Art, and we earned their trust to host valuable heritage items.”

More on the events taking place in the city until the end of the year here.

(Opening photo courtesy of Timișoara2023)

simona@romania-insider.com