Romanian Pavilion: The Latest Architecture and News

The Romanian Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia will showcase innovative, yet unusual ideas and past technological innovations as a source of inspiration for creating more enjoyable and resilient urban environments. Titled “Now, Here, There,” the project was chosen following a national competition. The curatorial team composed of Emil Ivănescu, Simina Filat, Cătălin Berescu, and Anca Păsărin suggests turning to forgotten early 20th-century inventions to open up the field of possibilities for future developments. The team also collaborates with a number of specialists and institutions, including the National Technical Museum in Bucharest, which will provide a series of original artifacts to be on display for the duration of the exhibition, from May 20 to November 26, 2023.

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Romania’s contribution to the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale showcases a new perspective on mass migration, a phenomenon with a wide array of causes, ranking high on the international public agenda. Titled Fading Borders and curated by architects Irina Meliță and Ștefan Simion, the exhibition explores the challenges and opportunities of migration and its consequences on the built environment. Using Romania as a study case, where three million people have left the country in the last decade in pursuit of a better life abroad, the curatorial project frames a conversation around the role of architecture in the successful management of the migration phenomenon, as territorial boundaries continue to fade around the globe.

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Romanian architecture office CUMULUS, won the first prize in the solutions contest to design Romania’s National Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2020. Entitled “New Nature”, the sensory experience will focus on the importance of natural elements.

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Selfie Automaton, an exhibition for the Romanian Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, utilizes an automated puppet show to raise the question: “can we—architects—mock ourselves? Can we imagine a less idyllic selfie?”

The exhibit contains seven “mechanical automata” with forty-six built in characters assembled in decided locations for the show. Unlike typical puppets, these wooden marionettes have been removed from their strings, which typically give them the "freedom of movement," and are nailed to various mechanisms that only allow for one repetitive gesture.