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International meeting in Hungary
8th of April 2024
Exhibition
As part of the BarnCulture project, visual artists created works that were inspired by the barn. There are works that were installed in existing barns, and some that were inspired by experiences, materials, functions or techniques related to them. At our exhibition, visitors can enjoy the photo documentation of the works created and some of the originals will also be exhibited.
Roundtable discussion
What are the possible ways of cooperation between architecture and contemporary art today? What is the place of art in minimalist designs? What is the place of organic architecture or nature art in it? And how are traditions related to this in an age when the future of barns is not in farming, but in finding new functions? We were looking for answers to these questions with the help of our invited contributors and the audience.
Exhibition and round table discussion
8th of April 2024
We are happy to announce the first international exhibition of the artworks created in the framework of the BarnCulture project.
Twelve artists from three countries (Hungary, Germany, Romania) worked on artworks inspired by traditional barns. All of them will be presented on big size posters and the smaller originals will also be exhibited.
The opening ceremony is open for evereyone.
It will be followed by a round table discussion about the present state and future potentials of barn conversions in Europe.
Venue: Halász Gedeon Event Center, Kápolnásnyék, Hungary
Date: 17h on the 8th of April 2024.
Attendance is free of charge, no registration is reqired.
International meeting
The project teams from Hungary, Germany and Romania will meet in Kápolnásnyék, Hungary between 7-10 April 2024.
Day 1
In the morning team architects will present the actual state of their barn designs. In the afternoon there will be an exhibition about the artworks createad by the artists of the project teams followed by a round table discussion.
Day 2
On a day-excursion participants will visit traditional barns on the upper Balaton area and there will be a meeting with the Working Group on Vernacular Architecture at the Veszprém Commitee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Art camp in Hungary
(2023. AUGUST 7-11.)
The Kárpát-medencei Művészeti Népfőiskola – Carpathian Basin Folk College of Arts organized its creative camp between August 7th and 11th, 2023 with the Liszt Art Center in Kápolnásnyék as part of the Creative Europe project.
During the creative camp, we spent the first day with a special training, where the two architects Gergely Radev and Dániel Magyar, who have a major role in our project, gave lectures on traditional architectural solutions and the use of materials. Adobe and loam received the greatest emphasis, both as an architectural solution and as a material. The speakers also gave a historical overview of traditional construction and the role of barns and sheds, also emphasizing the importance of natural solutions covering every detail. There were also intensive discussions about which functions could be applied to the barn conversions planned. After the presentations the participants – architects, artists and organizers of the project – started to get to know with loam and adobe in reality by making it themselves. It gave a very interesting and useful insight to all of us as to how this material is made, how it can be a form of construction or even art. It was a very interesting end enjoyable part of the art camp although the weather was very cold and windy.
The second day was a study tour day to get to know and see as many barns as possible and gain inspiration for the second half of the art camp, which lead us to a beautiful little village in Baranya county called Feked. The name of the Feked settlement is mentioned in the form Feketh in a document as early as 1100. Unfortunately, however, the settlement was completely destroyed during the Turkish era. People were killed, houses were set on fire. After that, only in the 1700s, Ferenc Jany tried to repopulate the village. At first he experimented with Slavic settlers, but due to its failure, he finally decided on German settlers. The new residents of the village preserved their traditions and customs for a long time. The houses of the settlement reflect the heritage of German architecture, which is unique in Hungary in such a large number and in one place. A typical Feked architectural solution on the street front of the buildings is the high, narrow street entrance door "sized for giants" and decorated with carvings, through which you enter the building's porch. You can't go in or out through this door. In the old days, there was no funeral home in the village, and the dead were held in their own houses. On the day of the funeral, when the hearse arrived, the coffin was released through this door. This is why it is called “spirit gate”.
Almost the entire village is a tourist attraction. Arriving on the public road to the village, visitors still encounter a traditional village street scene, but as they approach the center, the view expands more and more. The other side of the street also appears in its original beauty. More than forty monuments built in Feked - residential buildings, wrought iron fences and gates, cellars, farm buildings, barns and a stone cross - have been placed under heritage protection. The image of the village is determined by the XX. row of farmhouses built in the first third of the century. The facades with their special designs, the gables with their painted and plastered decorations are like a fairy-tale scenery. Visiting and recording parts of these building with the technique of shading over a paper gave our artist and architects plenty of ideas an inspiration for the creative part of the art camp.
The remaining three days of the week were used for artists and architects to further elaborate their ideas about the possible barn conversions and the ways traditional building techniques and modern art could be harmonized and used for the purposes of the project. During this time the artist – with the inspiration gained during the workshops and study tours - started the creation process. The Art Camp brought great result both in the quality of artwork created and the bonding of A&As bringing to life a new and fruitful kind of cooperation among architects and artists. The name of the artists are: Balázs Pintér, Edit Nagy, Czétány Krisztina and Zoltán Berei.
Art camp in Germany
(2023. AUGUST 5-11.)
The art camp organised by the Landcare Association Neumarkt took place from Saturday, 5th August to Friday, 11th August 2023. In the first two days the focus was primarily on the architects and artists (A&As) getting to know each other, exchange about their skills and work experiences and also start working on the artworks. After visiting the barns which are part of the project and brainstorming possible ideas for the artworks, the group decided that the artists and architects would work together as a team to create the four artworks. The initial ideas were deepened in small groups and checked for their artistic feasibility during further site visit. Afterwards the work was divided among the group members.
There were three major program points to train the participants about the matter of architectural conversion of old barns. Therefore the A&As visited the construction site of a current barn conversion in the village Rödelberg. The heritage-protected complex built in 1829 once served as a station to unhitch the horses, tavern and farm. The complex is being renovated in a careful and modern way by the owner family together with the monument protection agency, architects and craftsmen. Thereby the owners attach great importance to sustainability using traditional materials and craft techniques. After the successful renovation of the byre-dwelling house, the old barn is currently being converted into a multi-generational living with two separate apartments. Together with the architect from the architectural firm commissioned the A&As visited the construction site. The uniqueness of the project is that the collaboration with the architectural office does not take place in the “classic” sense. The office is mainly conceptually working, which means less investment costs. As building contractor the owner is responsible for construction management and carries out many work steps on his own. In case of any difficulties, the architectural office is available to provide support. The invoicing is per hour, which saves costs in addition. Another special feature of the project is that it is planned in time steps. The ground floor of the barn is currently being converted into living space. In the upper level only basic expansion was carried out. The roof framework was made weatherproof, but there was no insulation yet. Further expansion will only take place if necessary.
The group also visited a local metal construction company. During a factory tour by the manager, the A&As were able to get to know the company's machines and production techniques. Another topic of the training was a visit of a local country inn. During a tour by the owner, the A&As were informed about the history of the business and the architectural conversion and expansion works, that had been carried out. The property was originally a farm with its own small slaughterhouse and a small inn. After giving up farming, the owner family gradually converted the agricultural buildings into a high-class inn, restaurant and event location
In the first half of the art camp, all the artworks were completed by the A&As. In the second part, the participants were informed about the further execution and deadlines of the project during a project meeting. In addition, the A&A teams were divided to develop the conversion plans for the two project barns. The underlying existing as-built plans, floor plans and site measuring plans were worked through by the A&As. After that the first architectural design ideas were discussed in the group. The teams then worked on the designs in more detail and took further site measurings of the two project barns. In the last two days of the art camp, brainstorming and work on the model project began. The art camp ended with a final meeting at which the further proceeding and the independent work of the A&A-teams were planned and coordinated.
Art camp in Transylvania
(2023. JUNE 26. - JULY 11.)
The art camp in Transylvania, Romania took place between the 26th of June and the 2nd of July 2023. Participants were the two architects and the four artists participating in the project. The participants stayed in the Culture-barn of Csíkdelne which was also the venue for the meetings and the one-day conference.
We organized a conference on barn conversions for the A&A members as well as for the general public in the Cultural Barn in Csíkdelne. At the event, the participants could hear 12 presentations related to the topic. This was a great opportunity for the artists to get familiar with the topic from many different aspects. Our event was advertised to barn conversion specialists (i.e. architects, builders) and barn owners too, altogether 99 people participated. An exhibition made up of artworks planned for the space of the Culture-barn in Delne, which opened on June 10, could be viewed on site. These artworks were made by the first-year visual artist students of the Sepsiszentgyörgy Department of Fine Arts of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Pécs. Teachers of this faculty are members of our A&A team thus we managed – as a bonus to this project – to involve the students into the mission of our project.
The Transylvanian team decided to start working on the artworks already before the art camp. The artists had to apply to become members of A&A and in their application, they already had to present a concept for their artwork to be produced in a barn space. This allowed the artists to be ready with their artworks already before the art camp and thus we managed to open their one-work exhibitions during the days of the camp. These events provided the opportunity to discuss in deep details not only the message of the artworks but also their relationship to the barn space which was a great foundation for the later co-operation between the artists and the architects when working on the barn conversion designs. Below we show the barn-artwork pairs. The four artworks were created in those four barns which will be redesigned during this project. These four barns are standing in four different villages within an about 100 km circle in Eastern Transylvania. Three of them are owned by the local municipality, one barn is private ownership.
