The theater hall of the Bethlen Téri Színház hosted the presentation of the DemArt art project plans, where the representatives of the three selected projects, Dorottya Márton, the Metrum Ensemble and Kristóf Szabó, presented what kind of artistic work they would create focusing on the stories and characteristics of the 7th District. In 20 minutes each, the artists presented the purpose and justification of the art project, its impact on the community and their relationship with the community. The workflow and detailed budget of the art project, during which the work is created. They presented what kind of permissions they might need and how they would prepare and present the work. At the event, curators and guests had the opportunity to ask the artists questions.
Read more about the art projects at the bottom of this article or via the link below: Artists Selected – DemArt Project for the Seventh District of Budapest
After the presentation of the three proposals, the local curators – Dorottya Ács, Dominika Gergő, Juda Jelinek (Introducing the curators of the DemArt project)- decided on the winning art project in a separate meeting. In making their decision, the curators referred to the basic criteria set out in the call for entries and based their decision on the quality of the 3 prototypes and accompanying presentations. The curators evaluated the three competing entries on criteria such as “level of connection to the district”, “demographics of the district addressed”, “genre possibilities”, “possibilities for collaboration with curators and local communities”, “participatory nature”, “transparency”, “longevity of the work”.
All three works are excellent projects of artistic and social value in their genre, and the Metrum Ensemble, entitled Musical Walls, was selected by consensus. According to the unanimous opinion of the curators, Musical Walls is a diverse, unique creation with the strongest connection to the territory, able to interact with a wide range of residents in the 7th District in unexpected ways. Community interaction, research and mapping of the area’s musical and cultural past and present are essential to the creation of this work.
The Metrum Ensemble‘s project, Musical Walls, is an artistic creation to explore the musical past and present of the 7th district with a wide range of professionals (reporters, composers, performers, as well as an industrialist, webmaster, music historian and a technician). Their goal is to create works, music boxes, that depict the stories of the 7th District, as its musical past and diversity are well known: Jewish tradition, cabaret in Belső-Erzsébetváros, gypsy and saloon music in the körüt cafés, workers’ choirs in Chicago, church music, concerts in a party district.
The Musical Walls project simultaneously deals with the area’s musical, sound art, ecological, community past and present. They want to make this rich heritage accessible by creating public music-visual installations that strengthen the district’s identity. The audio material is played from players hidden in works of art, and the online content will also be available with the help of posted QR codes.
The musical installations will be heard “addressing” us at 7 different points in the 7th district. The aim of the project is to encourage cultural awareness of the district, as they use traditional sound materials from the past combined with the current sounds of the district.
The art projects:
One of the three art projects is the Metrum Ensemble’s ‘Musical Walls’ project. The Metrum Ensemble is a prominent player in Hungarian musical life. Their motto: playfulness and responsibility. They want to explore the musical past and present of the 7th district: Jewish traditions, cabarets, gypsy and saloon music, in the cafés on the körüt, workers’ choirs in Chicago, church music, concerts in the party district. The project will present the musical heritage of the 7th District in a way that is accessible to everyone, by creating public music-visual installations.
Kristóf Szabó – KristofLab consciously uses the term KristofLab, referring to its interdisciplinarity and media art activities as a kind of brand. Kristoflab made it to the finals with the ‘Section drawings of Erzsébetváros’ project. Kristof presented a prototype of a 3D public installation. During the artistic process, Kristóf divided the area of the 7th district into 7 shapes and created an abstract spatial body from them. The pictures stretched in the structure of the object are photos from the fortepan, which reflect the memories of private people. Each is part of a forgotten story.
The third presented work is Dorottya Márton‘s project plan entitled ‘Editorial messages’. Dorottya Márton recently graduated with a Master’s degree in Documentary Filmmaking (DokMA) at the University of Theater and Film Arts. The project is a community film in which female participants of the 7th district of different ages and backgrounds respond to letters from the readers of Nők Lapja magazine from the 1950s to 1989. This project aims to create a subsequent dialogue between women’s voices formulated under the censorship of communism and the diverse urban communities of the district. The film looks for the answer to how the situation of women has changed since then and what this says about our present.