Timisoara boasts 1000 events this year, including play featuring John Malkovich

Timisoara mayor Dominic Fritz said that there will be over 1000 events in the city this year, including a play featuring American actor John Malkovich, as well as the Brancusi exhibition starting in September. The city holds the title of European Capital of Culture this year.

During a recent interview, Fritz said that the title is an honorary one awarded by the European Commission in recognition of a city’s potential. “The fact that Timisoara was chosen means we can show that it is a city, a region, where for centuries we have lived European values, diversity, respect, innovation, and that's a chance, a strategic opportunity, I would say, for Romania, to put ourselves back on the European map and to radically change the narrative about Romania abroad," he said, cited by HotNews.

The mayor argued that people who have never been to Romania have a somewhat distorted and prejudiced image of the country. They think of Ceausescu, children living on the street, orphanages, and Dracula. That's why the shock for those who come and see what it is actually like, Fritz said.

"There will be over 1000 events in total, from contemporary dance, exhibitions, theater, and concerts. There will be some highlights, some peaks that will attract many people. And our hope is that once attracted by a peak, they will also look at certain smaller projects and events,” Fritz added.

“We start with some major exhibitions. Adina Pintilie, who won the Golden Bear in Berlin, and had the Romania pavilion at the Venice Biennale is bringing her exhibition to Timisoara. In September, we will launch the largest Brancusi exhibition in the last 50 years in Romania, I believe the only major Brancusi exhibition aside from Paris and Brussels, and London. There are works from the Pompidou (Paris), London, from Romania. It is a serious exhibition with serious works that will certainly attract people specifically for this. We have theater troupes from Europe coming and putting on a play with local troupes, and the same with orchestras. We have a major event in September where there will be over 400 musicians on stage in one of the largest music events. An orchestra from Germany will come, and so will the National Orchestra of France. Timisoara local Cristi Măcelaru is the conductor. John Malkovich will also come to stage a play," the mayor added.

According to an official press release, the You Are Another Me - A Cathedral of the Body project by Adina Pintilie will be presented for the first time in Romania, at the Kunsthalle Bega, in the official opening of the "Timisoara 2023 - European Capital of Culture" program. At the opening event (February 17-19, 2023), the artist Adina Pintilie will be present, together with the curators Cosmin Costinaș, Viktor Neumann, the protagonists Hermann Müller and Dirk Lange and the creative producer Bianca Oana.