Within the framework of our MANIFEST project, 12 artists and artistic groups were given the opportunity to participate in the program’s residency in Hungary. The project is dedicated to cultivating collective memory on the topic of the transatlantic slave trade through art projects.
Together with our international partners (Khora, CUMEDIAE Cultural and Media Agency Europe aisbl, Associcao Cultural Gerador, Les Anneaux de la Mémoire), we organised and started the project in 2022. The first event was an art residency in a small Hungarian village called Zsennye, where the selected artists could meet and get to know each other for the first time.
On the first day of the 10-day-long residency, we gathered in Budapest, from where we set off to our destionation to the castle in Zsennye. A short break on the shores of lake Balaton eased the three-hour-long journey. Thereafter, the artists took their rooms in the castle, which served as accommodation, and got to wander around the building.
The next day, everyone joined the workshops, where the invited experts touched on many areas of the topic of the residency, starting with a historical overview. In the following days, the program series also covered specific topics, such as Afrofuturism and Hungarofuturism, the state and characteristics of today’s Hungarian contemporary art, and the aspects of the transatlantic slave trade in Hungary.
At these presentations, questions were asked and through the emerging discourse the artists were able to extract important information for themselves and for their projects. By getting to know the Hungarian aspects of the topic, the artists acquired a knowledge that could serve and add a new perspective for the work processes of the following days. Combining this with individual consultations with experts, the artists continued to contemplate and work on the narrative and the implementation of their projects.
Life didn’t slow down in the evening either. Somehow everyday ended up in a small party where, in addition to having fun, there was time for a few professional discussions. These parties culminated on Friday with our invited guest, DJ Bebe and with the arrival of several of our foreign partners.
Overall, the entire residency had a joyfulness to it. Taking advantage of their free time during the day, the artists had walks and toured in the beautiful park of the Zsennye castle, they had discussions, exchanged ideas, made friends and worked on their projects.
Fortunately, MANIFEST did not end with this event. We will meet again next year at our next location, in Lisbon!
