A dream come true, Timișoara European Capital of Culture 2023 brings this month an absolute personality and a peak moment of this year’s cultural program, in addition to an already beloved film festival, original and fascinating theater performances by some outstanding theater from both Timișoara and the country, several visual arts and sculpture events, plus a maritime expedition, now on its way to Elefsina, ECoC colleague from Greece this year.
The National Theater in Timișoara continues the FEST-FDR Seasons with a unique event, an absolute premiere for Timișoara, the play The infernal comedy, starring the famous actor John Malkovich, twice nominated for an Oscar, at the Golden Globes and the BAFTA Awards. There will be three performances, on July 20 from 7 p.m. and on July 21, from 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Infernal comedy is a show that its author, Michael Sturminger, who also signs the artistic direction, wrote especially for the famous actor, a monologue that the protagonist utters from the invisible line between the world of the living and the other world. The sound universe is underlined by the music of Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Weber, Gluck, and Boccherini and supported by the sopranos Susanne Langbein and Chen Reiss and the renowned Wiener Akademie Orchester, conducted by Martin Haselbock, creator of the show’s musical concept.
On July 12, the tenth edition of the Ceau, Cinema! the film festival begins with the projection of a masterpiece of Norwegian cinema from the silent period: The Bridal Party in Hardanger / Brudeferden i Hardanger (1926), made by Rasmus Breistein (Capitol Hall of the Banat Philharmonic).
The film will benefit from an original soundtrack, made and performed live by the artist Petre Ionuțescu from Timișoara, known by the stage name Trompetre.
On the same day, a book launch will take place: Ceau, Cinema! From behind the scenes. Also from the sphere of cinema, but in a different way, within the project See you at the cinema?! – The role of art cinemas and film festivals in the age of online platforms, a program financed by the EEA and Norwegian Grants, the Cultural Film Association organizes four discussion panels on the financing of film festivals, on attracting the public to festivals, on the role of cinemas in the age of platforms and about the importance of film education programs.
On July 13, the films from the Ceau, Cinema! competition will be screened: Victim, a suspenseful drama about a woman who seeks justice in a racist society, torn between family and the search for truth; Bread and Salt, a film inspired by real events and played by non-professional actors, and Gritt, a film about the artist Gritt who struggles for relevance and belonging in an unwelcoming society, but then goes through a process of radicalization in the name of art. The Focus Norway section and the films Eclipsa, The Biggest Boss and Another Lottery, among others, will also be available to watch in the festival program.
Another top event of July is the Tinerețe fără Bătrânețe și Viață fără de Moarte show, which will take place between July 25 and July 30. Tinerețe fără Bătrânețe și Viață fără de Moarte is a theater show with giant puppets and live music. Inspired by the story of Petre Ispirescu, the show plays a story of the supernatural Romanian folklore, about mythological philosophy, immortality, happiness, life, and death.
From the mythological characters specific to Romanian fairy tales to the arrangement of the audience, the show manages to highlight the well-known Romanian fairy tale with all its connotations but also to bring to the fore the importance of its contemporary interpretation. Organized by the Prin Banat Association, the show Tinerețe fără Bătrânețe și Viață fără de Moarte is one of the main moments of the Cultural Program Timișoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture.
In chronological order, July’s cultural program features circus and dance performances, art films, plays, sea expeditions, and sculpture exhibitions. Thus, on July 6, Le Plus Petit Cirque du Monde, an important circus and dance company from France, presents in Traian Square, together with the renowned contemporary dance company Unfold Motion, a performance as a laboratory in which artistic, urban, and civic initiatives bring together for the benefit and enrichment of all. Also on 6 July at Cinema Victoria, Art Encounters 2023 Contemporary Art Biennale presents a selection of art films that follow the narrative threads of the edition entitled My Rhino is Not a Myth: Streams of Navigation | Art Encounters Biennial 2023. Also, the Antagon Association will present on July 6 the fifth Muzicon showcase with Generale and OCVCP at Codru Urban Garden (Barracks U).
On the 7th of July, the Architecture Workshop ends with a workshop in the House of Prayer of the Synagogue in Fabric, bringing also an anniversary opening of The Secret Garden: Wonder and Reverence for the Natural World, at the Nursery. 1306 plants for Timisoara from Piața Victoriei. Also on July 7, the German State Theater in Timișoara proposes the Danube Destiny event, a different kind of guided tour of the capital of Banat.
During this tour of the city, guided by actors, the public will meet personalities from different eras of Timișoara’s history, about whom they will learn hitherto unknown and unusual details, both from their lives and from the history of the city. Also on July 7, the Distant Realities exhibition closes a surrealist exhibition by the artist Tincuța Marin, curated by the British curator Mark Gisbourne and exhibited at the Jecza Gallery.
A workshop dedicated to refugee mothers from Ukraine and their children, An Aesthetic of (im) Perfection will also take place on July 7 at the Youth House.
The Impuls Festival organized in the Fabric District, which started on June 22nd, ends on July 7th with a redefinition of the common imagination about the city and its inhabitants and with a connection beyond social and geographical barriers. A complex street art festival, with multimedia shows, circus and contemporary dance representatives, circus workshops, immersive dance, participatory architecture workshops, but also an extraordinary concert by the Josef Josef band ends the event, with the hope of continuity in the next season as well. The band brings a concert of klezmer music and gypsy music to Traian Square, in the presence of Erik Slabiak, the founder of the group Les Yeux Noirs, who in 2019 started a new musical adventure with five other musicians, under the name Josef Josef. From original compositions and traditional melodies to Yiddish and Gypsy songs mixed with current rhythms, Josef Josef’s repertoire is a true musical journey through the Balkans and Eastern Europe, into the heart of Jewish and Roma culture.
Also in Piața Traian, between July 7 and 8, will take place the festival Fabricultura, through which we will rediscover the charm of the Fabric neighborhood through great sculptures made of recycled wood, cutting-edge visual elements, and augmented reality. We are also invited to enjoy the culinary delights and hospitality of the merchants from Piata Traian .
From the category of UVT guests, Nobel Prize laureates, an important event for Timișoara will take place between July 6 and 7 in the Aula Magna of the West University in Timișoara: the conference of the economist Eric Maskin, laureate of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2007, with the title Financial crises: why they happen and what to do about them, moderated by the editor-in-chief of the Forbes Romania publication, Ionuț Bonoiu, an important voice of the media in the field of financial and economic analysis.
The 8th of July brings the first show of the summer season at the Basca Theatre, Casa cu maimuțe, a theater show that aims to explore various stories of the Fabric neighborhood in Timisoara, starting from urban legends as well as documentary and archive materials. With the historic buildings of the Fabric neighborhood as a background, especially the Ştefania Palace, known as the “monkey house” because of the four statues on the facade, the show focuses especially on the relationship between individuals and their relationship with history. This show can also be seen on July 20.
Between July 8 and 9, there will also be a sustainable design workshop organized by the HEI – House of European Institutes team, inviting creators, contemporary craftsmen, and product designers from Timișoara.
On July 9, the Contemporary Dance Summer School ends, bringing together in Timișoara young people passionate about contemporary dance from the region and the country, in a creative and formative environment. The Noi Re-Creăm Association will present the performance of 30 young contemporary dance enthusiasts who collaborated for 10 days under the guidance of choreographers Lavinia Urcan and George Pleșca.
Also on July 9, will take place the play Ce-am avut. Ce ne-au dat, an artistic/documentary research of the phenomenon of migrants and the waves of refugees that arrived in Romania not only recently, with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, but also in recent years. The text talks about migration and the destinies of refugees, based on real stories written by Romanian and Ukrainian playwrights. The music and choreography of the performance are signed by artists from Ukraine, who joined the team from the Basca Theatre. The play, directed by Alexandru Mihăescu, will take place also on July 21.
On the same date (July 9) will close Circular Catalysts, a program designed to generate new collaborations between Romanian and British designers, artists, and craftsmen and to facilitate fertile conversations around sustainable production practices and processes.
July 10th is also the last day you can visit the Memory Laboratories at the Casa cu Iederă, a concept initiated by Renée Renard in 2017 and which starts from the premise that any space (natural or man-made) is not only a silent witness and ever-present of human existence but also a complex collage of histories and events, a true storehouse of memory. The new series of Memory Laboratories in which the stories of the houses in Timișoara are presented at the mysterious House with Ivy/Casa cu Iederă, inaccessible to the public for many years.
Continuing the journey through July, George Pleșca, from the Contemporary Creative Dreamers dance company from Bucharest, comes to Timișoara with a premiere contemporary dance show, What Remains, an original production dedicated to Cadre&Forme 2023, which will take place at Casa Tineretului on July 11.
Until July 14, you still have time to visit Bastion 2’s HYPERESTESIA project, which addresses the interference between knowledge of the world in the classical sense and the impact of technological art that brings with it an enriched experience of the senses.
Also on July 14, from 8 p.m., you are invited to an original dance show at theJohn Malkovich Theatre, My Invisible Noisy Inside, a contemporary dance performance, a declaration of human duality, and a personal analysis of everything visible and invisible. Between July 14 and 15, there will also be a workshop held at the Youth House by Vittoria de Ferrari Sapettom, who begins her research by deepening different dance techniques and martial arts.
July 15th brings the #nextlevel TOWER [VR], where the public is invited to watch this production using VR technology and explore the interior of the Iosefin Water Tower, where the show was filmed.
Between July 12 and 15, there will be two unique events for Timișoara, two performances in live streaming mode, one from Elefsina, Greece, and another from Patras, which can also be watched using the Spotlight Timișoara application on VR equipment with free access. Also in Elefsina, the unique maritime expedition SEA 2023 Circumeuropa will present the exhibition of the Greek photographer Nikos Economópulos.
Back in Timișoara, but also VR mode, on July 16 you can watch the Copacul #treeoflife.inc [VR], a show by Teatrul Basca, directed by Alexandru Mihăescu. Also within the performing arts, between July 10 and 16, the interdisciplinary artist, performer, composer, and author Oana Hodade invites you to a walk through the city: you are here. The main subjects in the artist’s practice are memory, archives, and language, and she is interested in emotional communication in response to conceptual thinking in contemporary art.
Also on July 16, the fifth edition of the Art Encounters Biennale will close – My Rhyno is not a Myth, an edition dedicated to the intersection between art, science and fiction, hyper-digital realities, the modernist avant-garde and the world of contemporary art. Also in the area of visual arts, on July 19 the sculpture exhibition (La) Limitele Reprezentarii ends, an exhibition hosted by the Jecza Galleries, which aims to bring to the center of attention the historically consolidated periphery of some historically and ethnically significant cultural groups.
An interesting exhibition, Tabachera cu scorpion, which starts from the novel The Scorpion (Der Skorpion) published in the interwar period by the German writer of Romanian origin Anna Elisabet Weirauch, is a visual journey into a queer novel, in which the author proposes a subjective incursion formulated through the surreal method of objective chance in a “lesbian” universe. This exhibition closes on July 20 at Bastion 3.
The Wonder and Reverence for the Natural World, an exhibition that asks questions, and offers positive criticism of how we should behave with our non-human fellows, will close on July 21 at the Pepiniera 1306 from Piața Victoriei.
The days of July 22 and 23 bring into the spotlight a show loved by the Timișoara audience: Animal Crossing, a production of the Basca Theater that exposes notions related to borders, preconceptions, and conceptual limits. Also on the 23rd of July, Kinema Ikon brings to the Arad Museum Complex an interactive exhibition: kimæra / module 8 / Suzana Dan: Time Flies, about time that flies and which thus became an erroneous monument to the error that you can (or can’t) ) trigger with the simple push of a button. Also, between July 28 and August 20, kimæra / module 8 / Survival Mechanisms will take place, a project that consists of works in which the approaches are diverse in terms of technique and content, but a personal and extremely sensitive perspective on the world in which we live
From installations to gastronomy, on July 29 there will be a gastronomic workshop in the presence of Tiberiu Cazacioc, Slow Food activist, blogger (Observatorul Gastronomic), a new gastronomic meeting inspired by seasonal kitchen ingredients.
The end of July also concludes the International Digital Culture & Spotlight Heritage Festival, part of the project Heritage under the Spotlight Timișoara made in partnership with the National Museum of Banat and the International Festival of Culture and Digital Heritage, organized by the Politehnica University of Timișoara and which brought together curators, digital artists, teachers and students from Romania, Norway, USA, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Lithuania, and other countries in a manifestation of incursion into the cultural dimensions of immersive digital technologies.
Until the end of August 2023, from the same digital spectrum, you will be able to visit the Timișoara Spotlight Heritage – Parallel Worlds, organized in the B2 attic of the Maria Theresia Bastion, part of the Spotlight Heritage Timișoara project. The exhibition proposes a foray into the history of the neighborhoods through a baroque key: the allegory of the senses, presenting sequences of daily life in Iosefin (2019), Elisabet (2020), Fabric (2021), Cetate (2022) and Giroc (2023), a bedroom neighborhood from the communist period.
In this sense, in the attic of the Theresia bastion, cultural heritage goods from the collections of the National Museum of Banat will be exhibited, which illustrate the economic, social, and cultural life of the 5 neighborhoods of Timișoara, alongside various sources of memory: fragments of interviews and literary texts (novel, diary, memoirs).
The National Cultural Program “Timișoara – European Capital of Culture in 2023” is financed by the City Hall of Timișoara, the Ministry of Culture and the Timiș County Council.
Main partners: Banca Transilvania, Catena, Linde Gaz Romania, Cramele Recaș, Iulius Town, Profi
Main media partner: TVR
Mobility partner: Automobile Bavaria
