The opening of the exhibition "The Iosefin Neighborhood and Valeria dr. Pintea - a novel in an exhibition"
- November 8th 2019 - Theresia Bastion of The National Museum of Banat
The opening of the open exhibition "The Iosefin Neighborhood and Valeria dr. Pintea - a novel in an exhibition" has gathered tens of visitors to the Theresia Bastion – cultural, educational and business people, seniors and young people, as well as representatives from Timisoara’s institutions. Visitors had the opportunity to relive the ancient stories of Timișoara, through the exhibits, specific for the old times, through the digital and augmented reality applications and through the stories of the Iosefin neighborhood, selected from the novel of Valeria dr. Pintea.
The exhibition aimed to illustrate the history of the Iosefin neighborhood and the stories of another time in Timisoara through a collection of exhibits, data and information of cultural and historical heritage - illustrated with the help of digital technologies. Centered around the memories collected from the novel of Valeria dr. Pintea (author: Liana Maria Gomboșiu, Marineasa Publishing House, Timisoara, 2013), the event launched, besides the museological exhibition, also the pavilion exhibition of the 16 significant landmarks located in the Iosefin neighborhood, brought back to life through the augmented reality application, but also through personal stories that the community was invited to share digitally. Within the exhibition, guests were able to test the digital and augmented reality applications "Spotlight Timișoara", accessible on an interactive table and digital tablets.
PhD Professor, Florin Drăgan, pro-rector of UPT took the floor in the beginning of the event, reminding us about the context of this event, on the occasion of the anniversary of a century since the establishment of Politehnica University of Timisoara.
„I will say that I am very glad that, 3 days in advance, as a preview of the entry into the year in which we are celebrating 100 years of UPT, we have this presentation and this result of the project initiated by our colleagues, in collaboration with the other institutions. Politehnica University of Timisoara, as it was from the beginning, almost 100 years ago, wants to be involved not only in transmitting knowledge and skills to students, but in all aspects - both cultural and even outdoor activities –anything that means the life and society of Timisoara ” – said the UPT pro-rector.
Further on, Dr.Ing. Diana Andone, the initiator of the project "Spotlight Heritage" and of the idea behind it, shared with the guests info about the digital component of the projet, its webpage and the reality augmented application.
„"We are very glad that this dream we all had, a handful of people from UPT, six years ago, has materialized today, in a quite obvious and quite complete form. It is a wish we have had, to tell the stories of Timisoara, in another way, to build overlapping layers over this beautiful city, representing both the history, the heritage of the city, but especially the stories of our communities, of the neighborhoods, of art objects, of technological discoveries, but also of their inhabitants. It is a combination of real life with digital life, because as you can see, several digital applications have been created. There is a powerful interactive website, there is a mobile application and there is an augmented reality application"”, explained the director of the e-Learning Center.
In addition, Dr.Ing. Diana Andone launched an invitation to the entire community, as well as to those who transit through Timisoara to share their own stories, within the project:
""Now is the time for the inhabitants. The other step is the one in which each inhabitant can tell his story. We called it "your story" and it will be the story of the inhabitants from the Iosefin neighborhood this year, which will be duplicated in the other neighborhoods and it does not just tell the story of those who lived there. It can tell the story of someone who just visited the neighborhood - I ate the best cake of my life in this confectionery. I kissed on this street corner. Three generations of my family lived in this house and this is my story. We strongly believe that the story and history of a city is built on the stories of its inhabitants. And we want to convert these in a digital way"explained Dr. Diana Andone
Ovidiu Dajbog-Mironthe representative from the Timișoara Association 2021 European Capital of Culture, explained the importance of this project as part of the entire agenda of the Timișoara 2021 - European Capital of Culture agenda.
""The project that my colleagues have already presented is a very complex one. It has a complex architecture, because what we see now is just a stage of what will take place in 2020, and in 2021. There will be other neighborhoods that will be under the spotlight. Besides this exhibition, which is organized in a dedicated museum space, we also have a street exhibition, with the panels found in the 16 objectives of the city and, of course, the digital component that Dr. Andone spoke about. What is important from the point of view of the association is this participatory component and the interactivity that exists. Because, besides the exhibition, the inhabitants of the city have the opportunity to tell their own story. And, in fact, this is the thing we are looking for, because it combines material heritage with intangible heritage - your stories keep this heritage alive”, explained Ovidiu Dajbog-Miron.
The surprise of the evening was launched by the host of the event - Marius Cornea - curator at the National Museum of Banat, who explained the connection of the exhibiton with the novel of Valeria dr. Pintea.
„"I invite you to enjoy the culinary surprise of the evening - a cake prepared according to the recipe of Valeria dr. Pintea, named after Liana. Liana Maria Gomboșiu is the author of the novel "Valeria dr. Pintea - a family novel", transformed by us into an exhibition. It is an exhibition presented in the form of panels, displayed in this formula, but also a street exhibition with 16 panels, with texts in Romanian and English about the buildings in Iosefin, fragments from the novel in Romanian, but also in English. These fragments of the novel were written in Romanian by Valeria's granddaughter, Liana Maria Gomboșiu, who lives in Bucharest and is an octogenarian and were translated into English by Valeria's great-granddaughter, who is with us – doctor Alexandra Nășcuțiu ", said Marius Cornea.
Finally, Dr. Diana Andone reminded us about the involvement of young generations in the "Spotlight Heritage" Timișoara.
""Marius came up with this idea to involve school students from William Skakespeare Highschool, who were already here, played with all the applications, enjoyed these posters and learned the old history of Timișoara in another way. Because, all these applications are under free license. They are free to be redistributed and to be created as educational objects by all the high schools in Timisoara. We wish that all generations could learn the beautiful history of Timisoara, but also the history told by its inhabitants, ", concluded Dr. Diana Andone.
The event was broadcasted live on the project's Facebook page:
2019 is the year dedicated to the Iosefin neighborhood, through the exhibition opened at Theresia bastion entitled: The Iosefin Neighborhood and Dr. Valeria Pintea- a novel in an exbition. The daily life of the Iosefin neighborhood is illustrated through the stories of Dr.Valeria Pintea (1893-1984), born Chiriță. Orignially from Lugoj, she married Dr.Vasile Pintea in 1913 and became a resident of Iosefin.Valeria is a fine observer of the daily life and a good storyteller, her memories of the neighborhood and the people reach us through her niece’s pen- Liana Maria Gomboșiu, author of the novel Dr. Valeria Pintea (Marineasa Publishing House, Timisoara, 2013). Citizen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then of Romania, Valeria is above all one of the many inhabitants of Iosefin.
Spotlight Heritage Timisoara is produced by Politehnica University of Timișoara and The National Museum of Banat in partnership with Timișoara 2021 European Capital of Culture Association, a cultural project financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Identițy, Timișoara City Hall and Timiș County Council.
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