Tur de Arhitectură

Art Encounters: Timișoara as a Landmark; The Invisible City Tour

Project team: Sandra Andrei, Roxana Pătrulescu, Oana Preda, Dan Alexandru Bunea

Guides: Cristian Blidariu; Loredana Gaiţă and Roxana Pătrulescu

Established in 2016, Tur de Arhitectură is a unique local initiative which places the knowledge and experience of architecture, built, and lived environment of Timișoara, at its core. A team of architects, passionate about the history of Timișoara, conduct well-researched tours in the city spanning across various themes such as historical neighborhoods, educational buildings, and old ways of habitation. Beginning in December 2018, the collaboration with Tur de Arhitectură marked an important part of the first research visits by artists at the Biennial and informed several projects. As a continuation of this ongoing dialogue throughout the Biennial, Tur de Arhitectură crafted two special tours. Art Encounters: Timișoara as a Landmark will explore the relationship between public space, local history, and artistic interventions through the works of several Biennial artists. The tour will link the Maria Theresia Bastion to Huniade Castle, as well other locations which host works by Biennial artists, such as Prince Eugeniu of Savoya House, the North Train Station, the West University and the Southern Park from the Soarelui neighbourhood. The Invisible City Tour is focused on Timișoara’s cultural infrastructure. Those attending the tour will become familiar with conventional and informal spaces, visible or less known where encounters with art take place or took place. AR

 

The Architecture Tour cultural project organized by the Timiș Branch of the Romanian Order of Architects was launched in 2016, coming out of the collaboration between a team of architects who were fascinated by the development and history of Timisoara, and are eager to convey the results of their research in order to raise awareness and hold the public sphere accountable. The Architecture Tour offers architectural guided tours for the general public. Each cultural route takes shape around a specific theme for Timișoara—its neighbourhoods’ identities, edification and dwelling, the direct relationship between architectural design and the perception of the built environment, inhabitants’ stories and that of the built heritage, etc.—with the final purpose of creating a better knowledge and understanding of the local built environment in order to promote both material and immaterial local heritage, stimulating the citizens towards an active and conscious attitude when using and shaping Timișoara’s urban landscape.