After 7 months and more than 5,000 visitors who digitally travelled through Timisoara's history and enjoyed unique cultural and historical explorations, the immersive cultural space Cazarma U - Digital Culture Space, organised by Spotlight Heritage Timisoara as part of the International Festival of Digital Culture and Heritage will come to an end this month!

The Spotlight Heritage Timisoara project, part of the national cultural programme "Timisoara - European Capital of Culture in 2023", occupied a space for 7 months and transformed it into a special immersive experience, combining the past with the present and crossing the boundaries of time with the help of virtual and mixed reality digital technologies, offering unique opportunities for the public to discover Timisoara from another time.

Art, history, culture and heritage have been at the intersection of the digital and the real, tangible world over the past 7 months. The festival was a unique opportunity to discover Timisoara's history and art through advanced digital technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality or even through interactive quiz games.

Until 30 November, the public can visit digital installations such as Patterns of Poetry, by artist Marius Jurca (13m10j), is an interactive installation with custom software through which you can discover Timișoara through poetry and colour.

Those who are eager can try the digital applications made by the students of Politehnica University Timisoara, where they can visit and explore the city, becoming virtual tourists of Timisoara, through virtual reality glasses or try their luck in solving the mixed reality game, which lets you interact with 3D scanned heritage objects, learning their story in a unique and interactive way.

"Our experience, Spotlight Heritage Timisoara, in the Cazarma U - Digital Culture Space, integrated in Sculpture after Sculpture was unique, a symphony between art and technology, where heritage was brought into the contemporary, through digital technologies to tell unique stories through innovative artefacts. The show "Heritage under the spotlight - a leap into freedom "was an exciting moment that brought to life the recent history of the city in the courtyard of the U Barracks. We were delighted that the apps were used by many officials and thousands of visitors from different countries, hundreds of children and young people, who discovered the city, but also the highly topical digital technologies. Personally, I thank the Triade Foundation, our partner, for the openness shown, the UPT student volunteers and the cultural mediators who were the bridge, especially during the weekend, between the digital and the human. ", Diana Andone, director of the e-Learning Centre (CeL) of Politehnica University Timisoara and coordinator of the Heritage in the Spotlight Timisoara project.

The U Barracks - a historical space multifunctional brought to life by passion

From May to November 2023, the U Barracks was the venue for the event after SCULPTURE / SCULPTURE after, organised by the Triade Foundation, marking the creation and development of a cultural space dedicated to the connections between people, art, technology and heritage. Under this umbrella event, the U Barracks became the place for the projects organized by the Polytechnic University of Timișoara, where generations of young students, passionate about technology and art, together with national and international experts and artists could freely express themselves and present Timișoara as it is: a vibrant city, full of creative minds and passionate souls.

In the U Barracks, since its opening until today, events and projects have been organized and can still be visited such as:

• Cazarma U - Digital Culture Space - Heritage under the spotlight Timișoara, Polytechnic University of Timisoara

International Festival of Digital Culture and Heritage | 04.05 - 30.08.2023 - 30.11.2023

U Barracks - Digital Culture Space is an immersive cultural space, open to all those who want to experience the stories of Timisoara, guided by augmented and virtual reality technologies. Looking down on the city from above, visitors discover the history of the city's 5 emblematic districts, revealed through 3D videos and 3D digitised objects of the museum's heritage. They can visit through an immersive 360° experience buildings, squares, monuments and specific locations of Timișoara with the help of VR goggles and map through mediated experiences the path of the Heritage under the Spotlight project.

In the same space was also exhibited the work of Cristina Turcu, master student, "113 in Timisoara", which has produced both a video and print intervention on all the landmarks identified with stories in the Spotlight Heritage app, allowing a comprehensive view of the city's cultural, architectural and historical diversity.

An edutainment activity was developed within the Festival "The SH game" whereby all participants could answer 3 questions about the city's history and digital technology with their own phone and receive promotional materials for correct answers. Over 2600 people completed and played the HS Game.

The space also hosted over 45 guided tours, every weekend and on request, which brought together over 5000 visitors participating in these tours, from cultural experts, artists, curators, scientists, architects, students, children and teenagers, seniors, people with disabilities, official visits were organized for great personalities (including German President who visited space and tried all the applications), ambassadors, European diplomats and specialists from over 20 countries.

• Land Bodies, Decomposing Mass (Bodies of earth, decomposition of matter) - 3D video installation by 𝗜𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝗕𝗷ø𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗮𝗹𝗶 (𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗮)

International Digital Culture & Spotlight Heritage Festival | 24.05 – 11.06.2023

The project is an audiovisual collaboration between Ingrid Bjørnaali, Maria Simmons and Fabian Lanzmaier, focusing on peatland ecosystems and their interpretation through various recording and 3D computing technologies. The work explores specific peatlands in Finland, Norway and Canada from different perspectives, decentralising the human experience and focusing on the idea of natural landscapes as sources of life.

• Heritage in the Spotlight - A Leap into Freedom", Barracks Court U

Heritage under the Spotlight Timișoara - Spotlight Heritage Timișoara | 23.07.2023, organised by Politehnica University Timișoara, Magnum Team Sport Dance Club, National Museum of Banat

The show "Heritage in the spotlight - a leap into freedom" was a moving moment of courage and the fight for freedom, bringing to the forefront the impressive stories of the young people of Generation X, who shaped the destiny of an entire nation and became martyrs for freedom. The event brought together over 500 spectators who relived the momentous moments in the history of a city where the voices of freedom were first heard and shaped the history of the entire country.

The event was organized in partnership with Magnum Dance Sport Team, Triade Foundation and took place on 23 July 2023. The artistic performance is based on the experience, dramaturgy and choreography of the collaboration between Politehnica University Timișoara and Magnum Dance Sport Team, together with the National Museum of Banat, accompanied by music composed by Dan Simion. 

Sculpture as an imprint of Romanian art

Sorina Jecza and the approach to bring sculpture into the spotlight.

The Triade Foundation continues to invite the public to explore the exhibitions and cultural installations in the U Barracks before the closure on 30 November 2023, and to take the opportunity to visit the latest exhibits that can be found in the rooms of the U Barracks, as well as the various spaces of the partners, such as the space of the Recaș Wine Cellars or the space of the Politehnica Timișoara University, with the project Spotlight Heritage Timisoara.

Sorina Jecza, director of the Triad Foundation, said: "In 7 months in this space was the moment we managed to show that sculpture exists. Romanian sculptors who validate the existence of sculpture according to the model that Brâncuși bequeathed to us can justify their presence, and what we had proposed was that we validate this presence of sculpture in Romanian art."

Digital components of the project are accessible online at https://spotlight-timisoara.eu/ and through mobile applications which can be downloaded from Android and Apple stores by searching for "Spotlight Timisoara" or scanning the QR code attached to this release.

• App link for Android users: https://is.gd/SjiIgv  
• App link for iOS users: https://is.gd/y6JxeV  

Event information is also available on:

• Web page:: https://spotlight-timisoara.eu/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpotlightHeritageTimisoara/
• Twitter: @spotlight_TM21
• Instagram: @spotlight_tm

Spotlight Heritage Timișoara / Patrimoniul sub reflectoare is a digital cultural initiative of the Politehnica University of Timișoara realized in partnership with the National Museum of Banat, part of the Cultural Programme Timișoara 2023 European Capital of Culture. Cultural project co-financed by the Center for Projects of the Municipality of Timișoara, Timiș County Council, Ministry of Culture, Romania, EEA and Norway Grants.