Main Exhibition: In Practice – as opposed to 'in theory'

Architecture exhibitions rely on drawings, models and images to represent their much larger originals in the spaces in which they are exhibited. Inevitably, this introduces a theoretical distance from the practical reality and everyday use of buildings. The 6th edition of the Timișoara Architecture Biennial aims to overcome this disconnection, with curators Andreas Kofler and Tudor Vlăsceanu shifting the resources of Beta 2026 from display and logistics towards the repair and transformation of the exhibition venue.

The former ‘Ion Mincu’ Technical College was previously accessible only from the urban side and cut off from the Botanical Park by a fence. A series of in situ interventions developed for the biennial reverse this situation: the buildings can now be entered from within the garden and become part of a shared landscape. This new relationship between architecture, park and city opens up the possibility of future cultural use, which is also put into practice within the former school buildings. Most interventions were developed through an open call, while a series of ‘offices in residence’ work towards a shared proposal for the building’s further transformation.

This exercise in collective authorship adds up to a partially mocked-up 1:1 feasibility study that demonstrates how buildings reputed to have become obsolete can be adapted, transformed and put to new use. Demolition should not be the default. Visitors are invited to navigate a deliberately unfinished architecture in its beta stage, contributing to this evolving prototype through use. In this sense, ‘In Practice’ names an architecture that does not conceal the complexity that constitutes it and adds a meaningful new layer, acknowledging what came before while remaining open to what comes next.