The grand inauguration of Timisoara as the Capital of Culture attracted a gathering of more than 60,000 people, while the Victor Brauner exhibition garnered the appreciation of over 12,000 visitors. The temporary installation “Pepiniera – 1306 Plants for Timisoara,” featuring a modular metal structure enabling the exploration of various uses of public space, saw a remarkable attendance of over 100,000 visitors in Opera Square. Additionally, since its launch in October 2023, more than 45,000 exhibition tickets for Constantin Brancusi’s works have been reserved. However, this is not the entirety of the story. This article delves into the prominent figures in the visual arts and the emergence of new exhibition spaces in Timisoara.

Upon being awarded the title back in 2016, Timisoara’s candidacy was centred around a cultural hub known as MultipleXity, specifically, the Centre for Art, Technology, and Experimentation, which is also referred to as the Corneliu Miklosi Public Transport Museum.

At this moment, as explained by City Hall officials, some of the spaces can be used as exhibition places, with a series of events having taken place there since 2019. The MultipleXity – Corneliu Miklosi Public Transport Museum is part of the MultipleXity Centre for Art, Technology, and Experimentation and hosts exhibitions, art installations, performances, and debates. The structure consists of metal and brick construction covering 2,148 square metres and includes five adjacent rooms. The museum’s courtyard features the former dispatcher tower, standing at a height of 59 metres, and a semicircular single-story building with a glazed façade towards the courtyard, covering 138 square metres. The urban space in the courtyard has been enriched by rearranged green spaces with extensive plantings of low and medium-height perennial vegetation and mature trees that ensure healthy growth.

The MultipleXity – Corneliu Miklosi Public Transport Museum / (c) Daliana Iacobescu

The MultipleXity – Corneliu Miklosi Public Transport Museum / (c) Daliana Iacobescu

Urban furniture elements have also been installed. On the southern side, the former tram repair workshops, with an area of over 13,000 square metres, provide exhibition spaces, multimedia spaces, and creative spaces. Additionally, the MultipleXity will integrate the activities of the Corneliu Miklosi Memorial House. The exterior spaces for MultipleXity were completed in February 2023 and are managed by the Timisoara Municipality Projects Centre.

However, due to various challenges at both the local and national levels, primarily stemming from insufficient funding, it was only in 2020 that an official competition for solutions was initiated. The competition was sponsored by the Timisoara Municipality and organised by the Order of Architects in Romania. The pandemic further delayed the city’s bid for the capital of culture by two years, and as of now, the centre has yet to materialise completely, with no fixed timeline for its development.

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While completely absent from the official Timisoara Capital of Culture programme, the city’s foremost cultural events for the current year were centred around two significant exhibitions: those dedicated to Victor Brauner and Constantin Brancusi. These exhibitions have received substantial investments from the National Museum of Art in Timisoara, exceeding EUR 2 million.

“I think the exhibition is about Brancusi’s importance for Romanian culture and, as it happens, Timisoara is not only the European Capital of Culture but also the country’s cultural capital this year. We should link Timisoara to Brancusi through multiculturalism and respect for tradition, a mix that has always ensured organic, healthy continuity in the evolution of a society. We are happy to be able to exhibit in Timisoara one of the great values of universal culture and art, as we did with Victor Brauner earlier this year, thus promoting two of the great artists who lived in France and contributed to the excellent relationship between the two countries,” said Ovidiu Sandor, the Commissioner of the Exhibition titled “Brancusi: Romanian Sources and Universal Perspectives,” as well as the President of the Art Encounters Foundation.

Brancusi Reimagined at Timisoara Capital of Culture 2023: interview with Ovidiu Sandor, the commissioner of the exhibition

However, the contemporary art community responded admirably to this official cultural programme by presenting a diverse array of exhibitions throughout the city. They have ventured into new alternative venues and even reopened local museums, such as the Huniade Castle, which had been closed and in line for renovations for several years. Among the city’s delightful surprises was Cazarma U, a unique alternative space that temporarily welcomed the public for TM2023, which will soon undergo extensive restoration to be turned into a hotel.

Moreover, Timisoara has officially opened a Museum of Water, an initiative by local water and sewer company, Aquatim. The museum is located at the city’s first water plant, where the first industrial machines for water extraction, processing, and purification in the Banat capital were installed. The location has been revived as part of a comprehensive intervention and rehabilitation programme carried out by Aquatim. It highlights the industrial Secession (1914) heritage of the former Urseni Water Plant, reestablishing the identity connection between people and iconic places for the city’s development. At the crossroads of science, technology, and the arts, the museum is a space for interdisciplinary experimentation and creativity where water, as a vital element, becomes a social bond, an object of investigation, and a source of inspiration.

“We also want to make Timisoara a true capital of the visual arts. This is the niche where we can be unique and competitive. We don’t want to compete with others in certain areas, such as Cluj, which is renowned for cinema, Sibiu, which has excelled with its theatre festival or Iasi, for creative industries. But Timisoara can be known for visual arts, especially since the highlight of the European Capital of Culture was Brancusi’s exhibition. We already have a National Art Museum equipped to the highest standards, so this is the niche where we can be visible and remarkable,” added Alin Nica, the president of the County Council.

This article was produced through funding from Energie! Creation Grants, awarded by the Municipality of Timișoara, through the Project Center / Centrul de Proiecte, within the Power Station component of the national cultural program “Timișoara – European Capital of Culture in 2023.” The material does not necessarily represent the position of the Project Center of the Municipality of Timișoara, and it is not responsible for its content or how it may be used. The article is part of a series which got published in Business Review’s November 2023 issue.