Romanian architect Oana Stănescu has been named as the curator for the Beta 2024 Timișoara Architecture Biennial. In a career spanning two decades, the architect, designer, writer, and educator has offered a “profound reading of contemporary architecture and design,” according to the biennial organizers.

“I am deeply honored, excited and nervous, thrilled and moved all at the same time,” Stănescu said about the appointment. “We live our lives within the confines of architecture, which makes it the perfect excuse for urgent socio-cultural conversations, especially in Romania’s unique position, with its simultaneous proximity and distance to the West.”

Having completed her architectural studies at FAUT (The Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism from Timișoara), Stănescu ultimately established her studio in New York and Berlin, with notable projects including retail designs for Virgil Abloh’s Off White stores, large-scale installations at MoMA and Coachella, and a co-founding of the collaborative +Pool in New York. In 2016, meanwhile, Stănescu appeared on Archinect Sessions alongside Dong-Ping Wong to discuss the evolution of the duo's careers.

The 2024 edition of the Beta biennial will take place in the Romanian city of Timisoara, the fifth edition in ten years. Since its inception, more than 40,000 people have participated in the biennial’s events and exhibitions, which each year seek to “open new alternative spaces in the city, or to enhance the potential cultural value of others and to experiment with innovative formats.”

The theme of the 2024 biennial is set to be announced at the beginning of the spring and will be related to the “How” and “Why” of architecture. The biennial also “promises to push the boundaries of architectural practice through an interdisciplinary, intersectional approach,” according to organizers.