The opening event of “TRANSMAT – ‘As-Built’ – Translocal Matters: Socially Engaged Arts and Design on the Borderlands” was held on the 28th of September 2026 in MODEM. The project is implemented within the framework of the Interreg VI-A Romania–Hungary Programme by MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Arts, as lead partner, in collaboration with FABER Timișoara.
MODEM and its partner in Timișoara, FABER, are embarking on a large-scale joint project within the framework of the Interreg VI-A Romania-Hungary programme, with the support of the European Union.
István dr. Puskás, vice-mayor responsible for cultural affairs, opened the event. He said that a dream had come true with this project, and this opportunity is important for Debrecen for three main reasons:
- firstly, the city’s international connections and its presence in the Central European region will be further strengthened with this collaboration;
- secondly, the concrete topic of this project. The discussion in the society of Debrecen. This project will offer us an important contribution to the dialog and the results of this collaboration. Integrate new knowledges into our city’s and our community’s life. It can make a substantive contribution to current urban planning debates and engage a wide range of local stakeholders, including educational institutions, civic groups, professionals, researchers, and interested citizens.
- thirdly, the exhibition spaces of MODEM — which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year — can be renovated. It is an important opportunity for us to get a contribution to our cultural life.
He wished a fruitful kick-off meeting for the participants.
Katalin Vizi, director of MODEM, made a short presentation about the institution’s past twenty years and how they connect to the project. She said that collaboration with cultural and educational stakeholders in Debrecen has been a top priority for MODEM since its inception. She highlighted key exhibitions – such as the 2019 Panel: Existence, Community, Aesthetics – Sixty-Year-Old Housing Estates and Project Makropædia, a joint venture with the Debrecen Reformed College – leading up to current exhibitions like Cultivators of Life: Growing Seedbeds of Knowledge. For twenty years, the MODEM collection has embodied a form of knowledge, education, and collaboration. MODEM has worked with numerous local and international cultural and educational stakeholders and partner institutions; the joint project with FABER – an organization that also possesses extensive experience in artistic projects – fits seamlessly into this tradition.
Oana Simionescu, the director of FABER, presented the organization. FABER is an independent cultural centre founded by a group of entrepreneurs based in Timișoara, hailing from the fields of architecture, IT, and the socio-cultural sector. The group was formed a few months after Timișoara won the title of European Capital of Culture in 2017. As Timișoara is also Romania’s second-largest industrial city, FABER acts as a bridge between industry and culture. They offer their buildings to the community. They host 300 events each year, a very high diversity of events. Their belief in Timișoara’s potential and their desire to contribute to the strengthening of the city’s creative industry brought them together in 2017, when they decided to purchase an industrial hall within the AZUR complex and transform it into the FABER building. She is an architect, so she is happy to participate in this project.
Finally, researcher Norbert Petrovici introduced the research team and outlined the research approach with a presentation. This is ongoing research. He is a researcher from the Department of Sociology, Babeş-Bolyai University. He is a Hungarian speaker in the sense that he is a Transylvanian Hungarian speaker, so he understands Hungarian. He gave a very quick overview of their research process. He pointed out that he publishes a paper before each chapter.
Debrecen and Timișoara are both situated in industrial regions whose development has been shaped by successive economic and political transformations. Factories originally established under vastly different conditions now operate within a new framework; in the meantime, ownership structures have shifted, and land use and production patterns have changed.
TRANSMAT – As-Built is a research-based contemporary art and design programme exploring the building and building-material industries, their materials, production processes, infrastructures and wider social, environmental and economic impacts. It connects Debrecen and Timișoara through artistic and design research into the role of construction in regional development and everyday life.
Co-financed by the European Union through the Interreg fund, under the Interreg VI-A Romania-Hungary Programme, the Project TRANSMAT is announced by FABER and MODEM as the next edition of Design Signals on FABER’s side, and a new collaborative project inviting artists, designers and architects to research across the construction and building materials industry in Romania and Hungary.
TRANSMAT connects Debrecen (Hungary) and Timișoara (Romania) through contemporary art, design, and creative cooperation. The project uses artistic expression and innovation to transform knowledge into culture, encouraging cooperation between artists, designers, and local communities on both sides of the border. It uses contemporary cultural infrastructure, art and design methodologies, and academic research to transform knowledge into cultural artefacts to generate a better understanding of the cross-border region at the public level.
Hozzászólások