Turn Signals—Design is not a Dashboard

FABER&UPT present: Turn Signals—Design is not a Dashboard
Turn Signals—Design is not a Dashboard is an exhibition that explores the collaborative capacities of design to transcend manufacturing conventions and to ignite a transformative trajectory for Timisoara’s creative ecosystem. 

Since Romania’s integration into the European Union, its manufacturing sector has surged. Simultaneously, the global manufacturing landscape has undergone a profound shift due to rapid digitalisation and global supply chain integration. Innovation has become pivotal for the country. The needed expertise is evident throughout Timisoara’s industrial parks, specialised labour, technical universities, and engineering excellence. Yet, design’s potential often remains untapped and incidental, concealed within academia, corporate IP, mechanics, tech, and profits—much like the discreet turn signal indicators on vehicles, manufactured in both local and multinational automotive plants in Timisoara. These indicators, intricately woven into engineering and discreetly nestled onto dashboards, exemplify design’s confinement to mechanics and technological complexities.

Demonstrating that design has a wider reach, the Turn Signals exhibition features multidisciplinary design practitioners from Romania and beyond having collaborated with local researchers on projects that bridge global and local perspectives, revealing the city’s products and resources, and connecting diverse places, people, and urgencies across various scales. Anchored in a commissioned report that explores Timisoara’s historical and contemporary economic and geographical context, Turn Signals employs different design media, storytelling, and lexicons to dislocate hidden narratives and untapped potential within Timisoara.

Participants: Théophile Blandet, Cinzia Bongino, Cristina Cochior, Jing He, Flora Lechner, Guillemette Legrand, Alina Lupu, Petre Mogoș and Laura Naum / Kajet Journal, Simone C Niquille /technoflesh Studio, Parasite 2.0, Santiago Reyes Villaveces

Curated by Martina Muzi, the exhibition is a component of the Bright Cityscapes programme, part of the Timișoara—European Capital of Culture 2023 program. The programme has commissioned original research and supported multidisciplinary teams to develop projects that use design for investigation, aiming to engage Timisoara’s manufacturing and academic ecosystems to transition from incidental design. Also included is the Atlas of Distances exhibition, arising from a collaboration between three design schools, running from September 22 to November 11, along with the Pedagogical Activism and Design Outside Standards conference on September 23. The programme will culminate with the launch of Bright Cityscape publication and a final conference on November 10.

The Bright Cityscapes program is funded by Timișoara City through the Center for Projects, The Romanian Order of Architects, The Flex and Alber Foundations an is supported by: Azur, Banca Transilvania, Continental, Flex România, Hamilton, Honeywell, Nokia, Vivalia and Autonom.

Martina Muzi is a designer, curator and educator who critically engages with design through its complex material logistics, geopolitical cultures, and social formations, from family to market and atelier to school. Through collaborative practice, she has presented her work at Venice Architecture Biennale, Vitra Design Museum, Istanbul Biennial, MAAT Museum, and M+ Museum of Visual Culture, among others. She leads the Studio Technogeographies BA programme at Design Academy Eindhoven, where she is also the curator of the GEO—DESIGN exhibition platform. 

FABER is an independent cultural centre, founded by a group of entrepreneurs from Timisoara in the fields of architecture, IT and civic and cultural events management. Confidence in the potential of Timisoara and the desire to contribute to the consolidation of the creative industry in the city brought them together in 2017.

UPT is one of the largest technical universities in Romania. With more than 13000 students and ten faculties, it covers a wide range of technical fields, such as computer science, architecture, chemistry engineering or mechanics. Since 2023 UPT initiated its Creative Campus program in the attempt to bring technical studies and creativity closer together.