Journey on the datascape 

Event infosheet | HU press release

The 100-year-old Vajdahunyad Castle at City Park is a key element of our architectural heritage. The building complex was erected in response to a tender announced by the National Chamber of Industry, which identified certain stylistic elements to be used, and in accordance with the typical style of the age, i.e., in an eclectic and historicist style. It was part of the spirit of the age that historical memory dictated architectural styles as well. Although memory, as such, had been driving scientists and artists since antiquity, it was at that time that the social implications of memory were consciously applied. The concept of collective memory was introduced to the public in 1902 by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. On the occasion of the anniversary, an arts event will be organised to recall collective memory.

Peter Kozma's light installation provides Vajdahunyad Castle—the historic building complex from the Millennium, the district of Zugló, and, in a wider perspective, Budapest and Hungary—with new lights as well as with a 100-year-old distance of cultural and social history. It looks at and interprets the architectural, social, and cultural history of the building from a contemporary view: it reveals the social-historical implications of the Millennium Expo and analyses the relationship of the building to the environment, the history of the building and its institutions in an audio-visual series of compositions. Peter Kozma's visual art focuses on the interaction of light and space and their joint effect on human perception. His works are unique and innovative combinations of modern art and state-of-the-art projection and light techniques.

This time, the facade of the main entrance to Vajdahunyad Castle and its side facing the Városliget ice rink will be lit in an extraordinary manner. Twelve giant images, covering 3000 m2 each, will be shifted at 30-second intervals. The projection, as usual with Peter Kozma's public space works, is based on Ludwig Pani's projection technology. The projection reconstructs city space, the widest and most diverse artistic environment. It recalls architectural history as well as the functions of the city and the everyday aesthetic and cultural reality of the cityscape. As urbanisation spread, cities have now become social interfaces incorporating all cultural phenomena and the most explicit framework for their population. This art placed in city space will not only identify the borders of free areas of representation with an unusual rhythm, but it will also establish a specific social and communication medium: by thematising the feeling of 'togetherness', city projections transform an audience of larger than usual numbers into a community as participants share the experience of interpreting the projected images.

How can one define one's environment? It has been a basic feature of our recent past that as consumerism gains momentum, public life withdraws from public places, with the PR industry filling the vacuum. Vajdahunyad Castle is, by itself, a historic building with a commercial purpose. Although it is not focused on consumption, it is a means of demonstrating the operation of culture. Is it possible to intervene, to shape the functions of a public space using artistic instruments? Is it possible to link a hundred-year-old building to a network of modern cultural interpretation? Those are the questions posed by the four-day audio-visual installation by Peter Kozma.

The event can be best described as experimental art, "Gesamtkunstwerk": the projection is also accompanied by a sound installation. Towards Kós Károly Walkway the audience will perceive a sound collage, while in the direction of Olof Palme Walkway they will be entertained by DJs mixing music under the text-collage in real time. The light installation operates in a six-minute loop of images shifted every 30 seconds, while the audio part has been arranged into a 30-minute long loop. In cooperation with Dóra Berkes, Peter Kozma launched a project known as Raypainting in 1996, with its different stations at Városháza Square, the Elisabeth Bridge, and the Millenáris in Budapest. Audiences could enjoy Peter's own Light Art Installations in Essen, Warsaw, Duisburg, and Zurich recently. Citizens of Budapest are now given a new opportunity to reconsider their mental relationship to the built environment at Vajdahunyad Castle.

Main patron of the exhibition: Dr. Leonárd Weinek, Mayor of Budapest-Zugló.

Patron: Andrea Kinisch, District Councillor for Public Education and Culture.

Note: This archive mentions, refers to or displays Raypainting™, former collaborative work with Dora Berkes. The main visual artist for the Raypainting project was Dora Berkes, and she retains the Raypainting™ trademark. All business inquiries related to Raypainting should be directed to her.