Data

Feb. 20, 2023

The Opening of Timișoara 2023 - a Retrospective

Press Releases

The Official Opening of the Cultural Programme Timișoara 2023 - European Capital of Culture, took place this weekend, delighting the tourists and the citizens of Timisoara with a diverse range of unique events.

The first part of the Opening Event offered to the participants a series of exhibitions, most of them remaining open after this first city celebration: Victor Brauner Exhibition: Inventions and Magic (17 February - 28 May), The Nursery. 1306 Plants for Timisoara (opened during the entire year), You Are Another Me – A Cathedral of the Body (17 February - 30 April), Mircea Nicolae – Small Things, Precious Things (17 February - 23 April), New Temporalities: Xenogenesis of SF (17 February - 2 April), Ritzi Jacobi & Peter Jacobi. Textures of Memory. Works from five decades (17 February - 5 May), Made up histories have long lives (17 February - 16 April), Bright Cityscapes: Mirroring the ecosystem (17 February - 2 April), Minitremu 10+ (17 February - 4 December), Chronic Desire - Chronic Thirst (17 February - 23 April). The central collective exhibition Chronic Desire - Chronic Thirst could be visited in various spaces in the city: the Maria Theresia Bastion, Timișoara Garrison Command, the "Corneliu Miklosi" Public Transport Museum and Stefania Palace. During the Opening weekend, over 10000 visitors crossed their threshold. The Nursery. 1306 plants for Timișoara – an intervention by MAIO Architects, which will remain open throughout the year, attracted thousands of people every day.

The great show of the Opening event brought together 17,000 people on the streets of Timișoara, especially in the Unirii Square. The artists who kicked off the weekend were Doctorul Sinteză DJ and Dj K-lu, followed by the Timișoara band Implant Pentru Refuz, along with the special guests Adrian Despot, Dan Byron, Ovidiu Takacs, Ovidiu Vinereanu, Dora Gaitanovici and the Ukrainian hip-hop soloist, Alyona Alyona. Later in the evening, the audience was given a treat through the sensational Muaré Experience air show, presented by the Spanish company Voalá Project and Duchamp Pilot band. Balkan rhythms were brought on the Unirii Square Stage by the Taraf de Caliu musicians, together with the Impex band, the chamber musician Alexei Ciobanu and Filip Simeonov, who offered an unforgettable experience in the heart of the city. The Opening Night ended with the electronic music of German DJ Fritz Kalkbrenner.

On the second day of the Opening, the Swedish-British artist Jay Jay Johanson was the central figure of the evening, performing a unique concert on the stage of the Timișoara Palace of Culture. The end of the Official Opening was marked by the sounds of violinist Lajkó Félix, accompanied by the Vołosi band.

This weekend was just the beginning of an unrepeatable year, which will bring out the best that Timișoara has to offer, through the values that contributed to its construction: innovation, multiculturalism, diversity.

The Mayor of Timișoara, Dominic Fritz, declared that the weekend was a real success, also thanks to the extraordinary energy of the people of Timișoara:

It was a weekend in which Timisoara and the citizens of Timișoara shone their light for the whole of Europe. We showed why we deserve this title: we are a lively, creative, welcoming and diverse city. Early numbers show over 60,000 people attending events these days in 32 venues. Everywhere was full of people. I bow to the creativity and energy of the organisers who staged 130 cultural events in 3 days. I thank all those who made this whole cultural machinery run smoothly: the more than 1,000 volunteers, the hundreds of professionals in uniform, my colleagues at the Project Centre, at the City Hall, at the Timisoara Capital of Culture Association and also all of those who made sure that the public services worked. I would end by saying to the people of Timișoara and our visitors, that this was just the beginning of a year in which more than 1,000 other cultural events await us, bringing us together.

declared the Mayor Dominic Fritz

We had the joy of bringing the Victor Brauner exhibition to Timișoara and showing it already to over 6 thousand art lovers. With this exceptional project, we are positioning Timisoara at the forefront of the artistic elite at European level. Timis County Council has invested over 2 million euros in the cultural infrastructure of the National Art Museum Timisoara and the results are already visible. The important officials present at the opening, as well as the people of culture who crossed our threshold at the National Art Museum Timișoara, welcomed this first retrospective of Victor Brauner in his home country and assured us that they will make it known throughout Europe. I thank all the partners who made this project possible and have put in this event thousands of hours of work.

declared Alin Nica, the president of the Timiș County Council

The Timisoara European Capital of Culture Programme continues throughout the year, encouraging those interested in art, performance, philosophy, architecture, design, cultural diversity, education, film, poetry, books and dance to take part in all the events that put Timisoara on the map of European Capitals of Culture. More details about the Cultural Program can be found on the website.

The Timișoara 2023 Opening is a program funded by the Municipality of Timișoara, coordinated and organized by the Timișoara Center for Projects.

The Timișoara 2023 Opening is a program composed of events produced by cultural actors and the community, with both public and private financing.

The national cultural program "Timișoara - European Capital of Culture in 2023" is funded by the Municipality of Timișoara, the Ministry of Culture, and the Timiș County Council.

Main partners: Banca Transilvania, Catena, Cramele Recaș, Linde, Iulius Town

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