The festival is the brainchild of Frank Eckhart, who started the event in Dresden to mark the 800th anniversary of the city?s founding this year. As part of the celebration, Dresden is involving its sister cities ? Budapest, Salzburg, Rotterdam and Wroclaw ? in the effort to discover new ways to beautify run-down or ugly public spaces.
?Dresden is known mainly for its Baroque art, so we wanted to start an event which showed the city?s new face ? naturally contemporary artists were given a role,? Eckhart told a press conference on the festival's opening day.
Budapest deputy-Mayor János Schiffer said Budapest has problems similar to those in Dresden. The capital?s residents have become so used to empty storefronts, firewalls and run-down squares that they hardly notice their great potential. The City Council of Budapest?s cultural city development programme is trying to bring new life to these places with the help of artists. Schiffer noted that the pillars and benches in the Nyugati tér underpass in the centre of the city would be covered with art when the area undergoes a renovation in August and September.
The Urban Potentials festival will feature a number of artistic installations all around Budapest until July 30. The installations will be organised by the Studio of Young Visual Artists.
One of the festival?s projects will be Sándor Bodó Nagy's Wave Counter, installed near the Roosevelt tér tram stop.
In the park in front of City Hall, near Deák tér, Gábor Kerekes will install his Mobile Street Stage, made of various found objects. The stage will host street musicians, artists, pantomimes, puppet theatres and belly dancers during the festival.
Miklós Mécs?s Stethoscope Storefront, at Bajcsy Zsilinszky út 22, invites passersby to become part of the installation with a walkman, discman or MP3 player.
While many of Europe?s big cities have covered the bare firewalls of buildings with art, Budapest has been slow to adopt this cheap and simple way to beautify the city. For the Urban Potentials festival, a firewall at Rózsa utca 32 will be covered with vines.
On July 14?16, visitors can enjoy outdoor film screenings at Köztársaság tér. The festival will also feature many other events, including city tours.
