At Romania’s Beta Biennial, academic and curator Oana Stănescu explains how 2024’s theme ‘cover me softly’ allows for new forms of congregation, interconnection and even jubilation; undercover, we may dance through the questions of the day.

This conversation has been developed within the context of KoozArch's media partnership with Beta - Timișoara Architecture Biennial.

KOOZ Let’s start with the theme of this year’s Biennial: ‘cover me softly’. What prompted you to explore the notion of ‘cover’ as a prompt, and what is the value of discussing this idea today?

OANA STĂNESCU We felt it was important to find a way to connect at a more visceral level. It’s an exhausting, overwhelming time. We wanted to see if we can return to basics — from an architectural perspective as well as a social one — to remember what it is that is worth fighting for and why despair is not an option. Music moves us and it doesn’t require words or explanations. It also brings people together physically, in space. Covers became the way in, a means to look at architecture from a different perspective; one revelling in interconnectedness — in conversation but also one closer to its primary purpose, meaning to cover, to protect. Simply put, it’s the excuse to dance our way together through some of the questions that we are confronted with today.

KOOZ The Biennial promises to bring together practitioners from various disciplines in a choreography of public exhibitions and programmes. Is the city of Timișoara a stage for this performance or is it one of its dancers?

OSI would say both, and I couldn’t imagine a more perfect place for this conversation. There is a freedom here that is increasingly hard to find in the West. There is also an appetite and energy that feels sincere and refreshing. The exhibition is facilitated by both. Most importantly — and I cannot speak enough to the awe-inspiring team — I am beyond moved by each and every person working on this: from Beta to volunteers, to various local communities. Our hope is different publics receive this feeling as well and become an extension of the collective.

KOOZ The main exhibition is hosted in Timișoara’s Liberty Square — specifically in the military Garrison. Can the site itself be considered a cover, in relation to the first building that stood on it? How will the exhibition unfold within the spaces of the current, 19th century building?

OS We are extremely lucky to be in the Garrison, a building that has only been open to the public in recent years. The space is “on display” and thus an integral part of the exhibition. We are embracing the many layers of history that it has been through, while also uncovering some of the original, spatial qualities, opening up all sorts of corners, the attic, the basement, secret stairways that no one has really been to. We are thinking of the Garrison as a club: a social club, a dance club, a place where you can wander at any time and discover something. It’s an open invitation to dwell in the space, to return, to inhabit it, to take ownership of it.

KOOZ The exhibition addresses a number of topics which range from Shelter, Transformation, Adaptation, Masking and Mimic. How do each of these explore and define the notion of cover?

OS We loosely considered 5 cross-disciplinary interpretations. The literal cover (noun), concerning architecture’s elemental role of shelter. The cover as transformation, starting from the existing and raising questions of adaptive reuse. The cover as process: learning from the past, creating something new through repetition and adaptation, a process more common to fashion and industrial or graphic design. The cover as mask, looking at questions of covering one’s back; of protection, of camouflage; of disguise and identity — closer to music, fashion and the rituals of club culture. And last but not least, the cover as mimic, exploring questions of labour, of translation, into the digital or virtual and its reflection back. The exhibition is more fluid than didactic; a loud, playful symphony.

KOOZ The Biennial will be activated through a public programme, including an audio channel and a calendar of movies. How do these sessions seek to further the questions put forth by the Biennial? How do these formatsextend beyond the event, to reach the everyday citizen or casual passerby?

OS Over the duration of the six weeks, we will have a continuously animated schedule of concerts, lectures, parties, workshops, conversations, lunches and performances. These are as much part of the exhibition as the showcased projects; they will span a spectrum of topics from art and music, to fashion and plants, to VR and psychoanalysis. ‘cover me softly’ wants to instigate rather than answer. If we are true to our goals of collectivity as the precondition to imagining futures, we need to hear — rather than dictate to — everyone. And I think music is a perfect glue in that sense, it doesn’t require specialisation of any kind — sure you can know more about a melody, but it will hit you, background notwithstanding. I hope non-architects allow themselves to feel the same about architecture. I hope the days of disciplinary cliques are behind us; insularity is a big part of what got us into this difficult present in the first place.

KOOZ The format of the Biennial is frequently questioned in terms of the value that it leaves behind, especially in regards to the city that plays host. What are the conversations and traces you’d like to grow beyond the timeframe of the Biennial?

OS We wanted the biennial to kickstart a conversation. We have been working on a book of essays, interviews and covers, which will be released during the biennial, allowing the ideas born here to travel. Pragmatically, we hope the building will be embraced in its full splendour, and treasured accordingly, from here on. More importantly, the various forms of togetherness, enabled by the exhibition and programming, are a way of planting seeds. Our biggest hope would be for the spirit running through this biennial to snowball.

Bio

Oana Stănescu completed her architectural studies în Timișoara, working internationally before establishing her studio in New York and Berlin. She is also a co-founder of the collaborative project Plus Pool in New York. Through her projects, Stănescu encourages us to rethink our relationship with the built environment and explore the possibilities of creating urban spaces that prioritise livability and sustainability. Recent notable works include the revitalisation of a 500-meter funicular, global retail stores for Virgil Abloh’s Off White brand, “Seriously Fun” at the MoMA in New York, “Mutts” at the 2022 Coachella music festival, and “Fresa” at the 2023 Concéntrico International Festival of Architecture and Design in Logroño, Spain. Most recently, she established the interdisciplinary Blueprints of Justice Studio at MIT in collaboration with the Stanford Legal Design Lab and Virgil Abloh. In 2023, she established and started curating the “Nonprofessionals” lecture Series at EPFL in Lausanne.

Federica Zambeletti is the founder and managing director of KoozArch. She is an architect, researcher and digital curator whose interests lie at the intersection between art, architecture and regenerative practices. In 2015 Federica founded KoozArch with the ambition of creating a space where to research, explore and discuss architecture beyond the limits of its built form. Parallel to her work at KoozArch, Federica is Architect at the architecture studio UNA and researcher at the non-profit agency for change UNLESS where she is project manager of the research "Antarctic Resolution". Federica is an Architectural Association School of Architecture in London alumni.