Between May 16 and 25, Bucharest becomes the main stage of creativity, transforming through Romanian Design Week 2025 into a city of design, ideas, and cultural dialogue. With over 150 organizations involved and a program structured into six formats dedicated to contemporary design and its future, RDW is offering a landmark edition. Organized by The Institute and presented by UniCredit Bank, the festival celebrates collaboration, sustainability, and the power of ideas that can transform the city, offering the public a rich urban experience where design breaks patterns and creates authentic connections.
RDW Design Flags highlights the international dimension of the festival, bringing together 12 exhibitions curated by embassies and cultural institutes that explore essential themes such as sustainability, inclusion, and innovation. From Denmark, Spain, and Italy to Austria, Moldova, and France, this format, presented by Purcari, connects the local audience to global perspectives, transforming the festival into a vibrant network of ideas, dialogue, and cultural collaboration.
As part of RDW Design FLAGS 2025, the Austrian National Tourist Office presents a unique exhibition – Austriada. Spanning 70 years of illustrated journeys, the exhibition visually documents the evolution of Austria’s tourist imagination across seven decades. Austriada takes visitors on a time-travel experience through a living archive of black-and-white photography, naive illustrations, pop-style posters, and objects tied to seasonal holidays.
Moving through cities, years, and eras, the exhibition draws an emotional and historical route through Austria’s touristic landscapes, reimagined through the eyes of the creators who once illustrated them. It is a curatorial and visual storytelling gesture that blends national identity with design aesthetics. Austriada invites Romanian audiences to reflect on how the desire to travel is constructed and how collective visual memory shapes European tourism.
With this proposal, The Institute encourages the exploration of design as a cultural infrastructure—one that not only builds nation-branding narratives but also forges connections between generations, cities, and visual forms. Austriada is more than a nostalgic collage: it is an invitation to critically revisit visual history and a celebration of the imagination that propels us elsewhere.
For this interview, we spoke with Polina Ivanova, Market Representative for Romania at the Austrian National Tourist Office, who brings experience in B2B marketing across Eastern Europe and now leads the Austrian tourism strategy for the Romanian market.
1. The participation of the Austrian National Tourist Office in RDW Design FLAGS opens a dialogue between visual memory and contemporary design. How does Austriada reflect the institution’s mission to promote Austrian culture beyond its borders?
At the Austrian National Tourist Office, we’re constantly engaged in sharing Austria with the world. But some aspects we encounter every day rarely make it into the spotlight: topics that Austriada seeks to bring forward don’t usually fit into traditional tourism communication. And yet, when we talk about them with friends and colleagues, we realize how deeply they resonate.
With this exhibition, we invite guests to connect with Austria in a more personal way — beyond what any campaign can offer. It is meant to be a conversation “auf Augenhöhe”, as Austrians say: at the level of the eyes, from equal to equal. We’re not broadcasting, but opening a space of stories, simply as a companion. Austriada is a special project.
2. The exhibition marks 70 years of visual communication in tourism. How did you approach building this curatorial journey, and what were the key criteria in selecting the materials?
Before the Austrian National Tourist Office was established, the country already had, of course, some form of visual touristic representation. But it is for the past 70 years that this image has been centrally curated. We first wanted to identify the visual symbols that, over these decades, were chosen to represent touristic Austria towards the world — and to exhibit them like some keen collector’s album. Yet the more we explored this idea, the more it became clear: telling stories or showing images to potential tourists is intrinsically tied to how a nation sees — or wants to see — its own face. That’s how we came to a different question: How does tourism communication contribute to what a country actually IS, and how does this influence unfold in practice.
The materials selected for the Austrian wall play with this set of questions. We aimed to illustrate the key motifs that not only shaped Austria’s touristic image, but also became intertwined with the country’s identity itself. We also tried to offer the visitors a look behind the curtains of the National Tourism Marketing Organization that broadcasts these motifs beyond Austrian borders.
3. One of the pillars of Romanian Design Week is interdisciplinary collaboration. How was the process of working together between the National Tourist Office, the exhibition curators, and the designers involved in telling this illustrated story?
I think it was a real journey for everyone involved, and the best part is that all parties had the openness to rethink the vision again and again. The only thing we didn’t want was to create just another advert. We felt that it was important to tell the story as it was: partly beautiful, partly sad, sometimes cute, other times bold and expressive. And also self-ironic — the tone Austria would most likely choose to portray itself.
Together with Oana Pop (Introvert Media), one of the main driving forces behind this project, we went through hundreds of materials: old brochures, reports, magazines — to extract the core elements of ANTO’s communication over the years.
Liana Popa and her creative studio Elanul Galben did an amazing job visualizing ideas and shaping them into a curatorial structure when we felt overwhelmed by the amount of information and the many details we wanted to include. And the flexibility and patience of the RDW organizers’ team was something truly special.
4. The photographs, illustrations, and posters showcased tell a story not only about Austria, but also about aesthetics and the eras they emerged from. How has the visual image of the country evolved over the decades, and what role has design played in that transformation?
As the exhibition shows, even though most of the narratives repeat themselves over the years, their visual language has been changing over time. In the early phases, a lot of identity was expressed through pre-computer graphics and illustration, and you can often tell the decade by the style of the artwork. Later, photographs started to appear on posters and brochures. I think this also shows a more general shift towards putting forward a personal view on holidays, a growing attempt to connect with people’s feelings by creating instant associations.
Digital progress and overall globalization also increased our demand for context, so the messages started being adapted to specific audiences, moments, and moods. Instead of one-size-fits-all imagery, tourism marketing finally reflects the diversity of the real world, with visuals becoming more situational, spontaneous, and emotionally charged. If you look at our current campaigns, you’ll see not much more than authentic images of people sharing positive feelings — or, as we say, the special “Lebensgefühl”.
5. Austriada offers an emotional “time machine.” What kind of relationship do you hope to spark between the visitors and the archival materials—between tourism’s past and design’s present?
Some of the visual objects in the exhibition are simply beautiful, some are funny, and most of them were created in their time with a special kind of devotion. We hope they will be seen for what they are — like a Wunderkammer of tourism advertising. At the same time, each of these objects is a representative of its era. Maybe a brochure or a postcard will spark someone’s own memories of the past or add a few details about how the world used to work before it became part of one’s personal memory.
6. RDW 2025 envisions the city as a co-created space. What role can the exhibition play in reactivating cultural spaces through visual experiences rooted in archives, nostalgia, and recontextualization?
We learn from many spheres that tracing things back to their roots helps us live more consciously. Of course, we’ll never get everything explained by studying the past — but approaches like this still help us start a dialogue. And in the end, it’s human engagement and interaction that bring life to a space.
7. How do you see this exhibition contributing to the broader European conversation about national identity, tourism, and visual communication in the post-digital era?
One of Austriada´s implied messages is that simple holiday consumption isn’t just boring — it’s partly an illusion. Every time we go on a trip, we influence and even shape the space we visit — and it, in turn, shapes us. Everything leaves a trace, and there is always someone on the other end of the line. We’re all interconnected in ways we probably can’t fully grasp yet. But I think we’re starting to get there.
8. What challenges did you encounter in reconstructing this illustrated history? Were there defining moments in the research, documentation, or selection process that shaped the final form of the exhibition?
Probably the main challenge — and discovery — was realizing that there’s no central place within the Austrian National Tourist Office that tracks its own history. No person who could answer all the questions at once. It’s both logical and strange: the institution exists, but to find traces of its self-reflection, you really have to dig deep. Fortunately, I have colleagues who’ve been working at ANTO for around 40 years, and their personal memory offered a hand of support. I was also able to access many materials from our company archives in Vienna and send them to Bucharest.
Oana Pop, with her years of experience in promoting Austria, was a fantastic sparring partner — with a fine, intuitive feel for the topic. In constant dialogue with her, and thanks to her coordination with all the involved parties, the exhibition content took shape.
Our understanding of the broader context was strongly influenced by the much larger research and exhibition project “Holidays in Austria” held in 2024 at the House of Austrian History — although we chose a different angle for our storytelling. And of course, it was Liana, our curator, who played the key role in shaping how the exhibition ultimately looks, what was included, and how it speaks to the guest.
9. The Institute supports design as a vehicle for ideas and a form of cultural education. How does Austriada contribute to this kind of infrastructure in the Romanian urban context?
They say you can only truly understand your native language after learning a different one. I think getting to know the backstage of tourism design in another country can help the interested audience reflect on similar processes in Romania or elsewhere, and perhaps better formulate the peculiarities of their own living spaces, whether at the scale of a country or a local community.
10. The Institute brings together diverse communities each year around the idea of responsible and collaborative design. How can Austria’s visual tourism memory become a starting point for contemporary intercultural dialogue?
As far as I know, Romania is also interested in developing its image as a tourism destination — and maybe Austria’s experience in this field could offer a useful reference in terms of tradition. Romania, on the other hand, is less formalized in this area; the country at this current phase has a very dynamic environment when it comes to individual initiatives, start-ups, and innovative ideas. So, dialogue in this field can be very fruitful.
Speaking broadly, from my personal experience, engagement with tourism also helps move away from one-sided, stereotypical views. Among tourism professionals, you rarely meet someone who speaks in radical terms or is unwilling to build a dialogue. I find that very interesting.
11. What kind of responses do you hope this exhibition will generate from the Romanian public? Can nostalgia function as a mechanism for cultural reconnection and reflection on how we travel?
I wouldn’t say nostalgia plays a central role here, at least not if we understand it as a longing for the past. In that sense, it just serves as a beginning of the conversation. I really like the idea of Fernweh, as addressed by one of our exhibition characters, the penguins photographer Willy Puchner. He described this concept in his book. While Heimweh is a longing for home or the past, Fernweh describes a yearning for the unknown, for what lies beyond and cannot be predicted. So even though we’re showcasing the past and tapping into nostalgia, I’d say we’re still playing on the side of Fernweh. We wanted to deconstruct the idea of an Austrian holiday — to let people confront this, reflect and take whatever they like back home (or to their next trip to Austria). We hope that the things one thought they already knew or associated with Austria will get a fresh look — even if some might call them clichés. Because behind every cliché, there’s a piece of reality. I believe that meeting this reality can help seeing the country with a more open and curious view. Let that be the higher goal of this exhibition 😊
12. If you had to summarize the essence of Austriada at RDW Design FLAGS 2025 in just a few words, what would you want the audience to take away from the experience?
Austriada is a journey of visual communication — and this year, it has reached the milestone of 70 years. Whether you know Austria intimately or have never set foot there, you’re already part of this conversation. Just think of the first three things that come to mind when you hear “Austria” — chances are, they reflect or challenge a set of shared narratives. So in a way, we’re all already on this road together. With Austriada, we finally introduce ourselves — and invite you to continue the journey with us.
Austriada is more than an exhibition—it is a visual journey documenting how the idea of “Austria” has been constructed, illustrated, and reimagined in the minds of travelers over the past seven decades. Through a curatorial selection that blends nostalgia, graphic design, and thematic installations, the Austrian National Tourist Office offers a space for reflection on how the aesthetics of tourism shape cultural perceptions.
Aligned with the values of The Institute, which promotes design as an infrastructure for ideas and a tool for intercultural dialogue, the exhibition becomes a bridge between generations, graphic styles, and communication models. Within the Romanian Design Week, Austriada reminds us that vacations, posters, or souvenirs each have their own story—and that design has the power to transform these stories into starting points for new discoveries.
Program & access
The festival can be explored every day across more than 100 locations throughout the city. This edition’s three main venues include the former CINA restaurant building (10 Benjamin Franklin Street), the ground floor of the National Gallery at the National Museum of Art of Romania, and Casa Fratelli, located at 9 Episcopiei Street.
Access to the festival varies depending on the exhibition space. For the exhibitions held in the former Cina building, tickets are available online at https://bilete.romaniandesignweek.ro, with a 50% discount for attendees paying with a Mastercard issued by UniCredit Bank. Students receive a 50% discount for tickets purchased on-site, upon presenting a valid student ID, while school pupils, retirees, and individuals with disabilities benefit from free entry. These student and pupil discounts are offered with the support of the festival’s main partner, UniCredit Bank.
Access to the Casa Fratelli venue is free of charge, without a ticket, subject to venue capacity. For the exhibition at the National Museum of Art of Romania (MNAR), entry is granted with a museum admission ticket, which can only be purchased on-site. This ticket is separate from the one required for entry to the Cina venue.
The full festival program is available on the official website: https://program.romaniandesignweek.ro/, in the RDW app (available on the App Store and Google Play), as well as on Facebook and Instagram.
A collective project, supported by an extended community
Both the organizations participating in the festival and the Romanian Design Week partners reflect the collaborative philosophy of the event, collectively contributing to an edition that supports local creativity and international dialogue — from the main partner UniCredit Bank, to the support provided by the Ministry of Culture, the Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB — the Cultural Center of Bucharest, the Romanian Cultural Institute, the Sector 1 City Hall, and to the active involvement of private sector brands such as IQOS, Rompetrol, Mega Mall, Promenada, NEPI Rockcastle, Regina Maria Healthcare Network, Pepsi, Purcari, Kozel, Raffaello, and 5 to go.
Romanian Design Week is part of World Design Weeks.
Romanian Design Week is a project by The Institute.
Presented by: UniCredit Bank
Cultural project financed by: Ministry of Culture
With support from Bucharest City Hall via ARCUB
Cultural Partner: Romanian Cultural Institute
Exhibition Partners: The Order of Architects of Romania – Bucharest Territorial Branch, Bucharest Architecture Annual, Faber, Beta – Timișoara Architecture Biennial, Romanian Association of Luthiers, Mercedes-Benz Bucharest Fashion Week, The Order of Architects of Romania – Timiș Territorial Branch, Local Design Circle, Transylvanian Design Week, The Order of Architects of Romania – Brașov-Covasna-Harghita Branch, Human ± Nature Co-lab, Baza. Deschidem Orașul, Studio An An, Royal Danish Embassy, Embassy of Spain in Bucharest, Instituto Cervantes Bucharest, French Institute in Romania, Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Centre Bucharest, Embassy of Sweden, Austrian National Tourist Office, Czech Centre Bucharest, Embassy of Italy, Italian Cultural Institute, Italian Trade Agency, ARTCOR, Project1, Intro & Vitra, Retros Gallery, Fratelli XX, National Museum of Art
Strategic Media Partners: PRO TV, Kiss FM, Euromedia, YOOH
Media Partners: Radio România Cultural, Igloo, Haute Culture, Revista BIZ, Revista Zeppelin, Molecule F, Designist, Modernism, feeder.ro, munteanurecomandă.ro, Propagarta, Revista Atelierul, IQads, RADOR, Agerpres, Zile și Nopți, Spotmedia, PRwave, Glamour, The Woman, Happening, Arthood, Metropolis, ALIST Magazine, Dreamingof.net, Les Dedans, RIDA Magazine
Communication Partner: 5 to go
Creative Team: Claudia Draghia, Sebastian Pren
Advertising Campaign: Gavrilă & Asociații
Exhibition Design: Atilla Kim Architects
Digital Partner: Land of Web
Ticketing Partener: Entertix
Monitoring Partner: MediaTrust
About The Institute
The Institute aims to contribute to Romania’s modernization process by promoting the cultural and creative industries, as well as civil society. With over 25 years of experience, The Institute has built a community made up of entrepreneurs, professionals, and an audience passionate about Romania’s creative industries. Through all its initiatives, it supports the interests of the creative community in its relationship with state institutions and international organizations, contributing to the development of a solid infrastructure for creative entrepreneurship both nationally and internationally. It is the founder of Romanian Design Week, the DIPLOMA Show festival, the Civil Society Gala, Internetics, Cartierul Creativ, combinat.ro, and the initiator of ASAP Romania.
