A Hungarian walk in Brussels

The Justus Lipsius House in Brussels has hosted the Council meetings since 1995. It is always the current president country responsible for the decoration of the place, and it is no different now during the Hungarian presidency either. While the Czech presidency's installation will probably be remembered as one of the most disputable artworks of the House, the participating Hungarian artists decided that they would rather like to present a summary of the country's culture.

The above mentioned carpet, made by Lívia Pápai textile artist, is probably the most imposing piece out of the many creations made especially for the occassion, with its 202 squarremeters of size. It will arrive in 23 smaller pieces to the House and be assembled on the spot. Walking along the carpet, the visitor can become familiar with the history of Hungarian culture and its most important icons, eg. St Stephen, King Matthias, the Chainbridge, Széchenyi, Liszt, the 'kokárda' (a red-white-and-green piece of ribbon, traditionally worn on 15 March, in rememberance of the 1848-'49 revolution) and the national Rákóczi flag. The fact that this part of the house is open to the public throughout the whole year makes the cultural carpet even more significant.

After the convincing entrée, there are plenty more of exciting projects awaiting the visitors and EU officials in the other rooms. A huge success at the Sziget Festival and Budapest Szabadság Square, the Olvasósziget (Readers' Grove) is now coming to the Justus Lipsius hall, bringing 800 volumes from Hungarian literature translated into different languages. The books are either sitting on a Rubic Cube-shaped bookshelf or hanging  frrom poem-trees. The readers can sit comfortably on antique furniture pieces, redesigned especially for the purpose by two designers of Tervhivatal (Zsanett Benedek and Dániel Lakatos) and Zsuzsanna Rátkai textile artist. The list of exclusive sitting instruments  continues with Ádám Hock's "musical armchair": as soon as one sits down on it, it starts playing - in the year of the Liszt bicentenarium what else than - a catchy Liszt tune.

However, there is neither reading, nor ambience without light. Here it is all taken care of by the unique lamps of the Fatér Mária Mlamp brand. They are made of various recycled materials: coffee cups, chewing gum balls, rubber boots, to mention only a few.

No doubt, the officials have access to the most artistic experience. The non-public parts of the building display a 2,8x2,8-meter Victor Vasarely painting,  photos on the theme of water by young Hungarian photographers (Zsolt Péter Barta ,László György Király,László Öveges, Zsolt Szamódy) and a reneissance exhibition of the Petőfi Literature Museum.

Links:

Lívia Pápai

http://w3.externet.hu/~doborl/

Mlamp

http://www.m-lamp.com/

Tervhivatal

http://www.tervhivatal.hu/

Zsolt Péter Barta

http://www.pigmenta.hu/kortars/alkoto.php?alk=24

László György Király

http://www.kiralylgy.hu/

Zsolt Szamódy

http://artportal.hu/lexikon/muveszek/szamody_zsolt

Petőfi Literature Museum

www.pim.hu