Film screenings, literary and musical programs are awaiting the interested among contemporary art exhibitions in Budapest City Park, at the Art Moments Festival starting this Thursday.

Lasting till 20 August, the Art Moments Central European Visual Art Festival (AMS) aims primarily to provide an opportunity for contemporary artists of fine and applied arts to showcase in an unusual environment, said Szabolcs Erdélyi, main organizer of the festival at the press conference in Budapest presenting the programme this Wednesday.

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On the approximately 800 square meters of dock, built on the boating lake of Budapest City Park, the audience may see the works of Central European, Hungarian and Arabic artists among literary discussions, readings, a musical slam poetry evening, film screenings, workshops, a salsa evening and an interactive city knowledge competition, which all strengthen the assortment of the festival.

Cap Kuwait is preparing for the programme with a live performance, the contemporary Arabic arts organization Abu Dhabi Art Hub of the United Arab Emirates will make its debut on the festival, the exhibition titled ‘Best of Graduation’ picks among the works of the graduate students of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and the University of Pécs, as well as submitted plans for a call for applications in design can be seen by the visitors, which are all envisaged labels for different wines. At the event, sculptures of Munkácsy Prize-winning sculptor Imre Pistyur can be seen as well as the sculptures of Zénó Kelemen placed on water, and the video series of Zsolt Asztalos, a joint project between Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) and Mercedes Benz.

Guests of the literary events will be among others János Térey, Bori Rutkai and the Specko Jedno, László Dés, György Dragomán, Anna T. Szabó, Evelin Tóth and the TrioM jazz trio, and several slam poets, including Kata Mavrák ‘Hugee’ huge, Zsófi Kemény and Máron Simon.

The programme of this year’s festival is organized around the theme of the ‘melting pot’, in the motto of ‘give space, leave room’. According to Áron Fenyvesi, the curator of the exhibition presenting contemporary artists from Central Europe, this region is such an ethnic melting pot since centuries, in which the creativity of many people and nations are involved.

Dezső B. Szabó, Deputy State Secretary for Cultural Diplomacy of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade emphasized that within the newly formed ministry, cultural diplomacy is now listed as an independent state secretariat, demonstrating the importance of such relations. As he said, they are constantly looking for those opportunities and non-conventional channels, through which the values and interests of Hungary can be displayed. As he put it, “Art Moments Festival is just such an intermediary channel that could carry and convey this effort”.

The festival will resume in September in the city of Debrecen and in Pécs in October.

(MTI, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)