We kicked off the new season by reimagining BRFK Gallery. The new place, called Rákócity became an urban lab with exhibitions and project focusing on the neighbourhood. The first event was Rákóczi Rekreáció, a "recreational center". We filled up the place with donated plants, heaters, nice smells and some hot tea.
Final chapter in Shared Cities project 2019-2020
We wanted to bring together people around the neighbourhood for one more time to enjoy a nice breakfast with live music, join our sustainability workshops with Verkstaden and Durca, and come with us for a historic walk around the area. For the breakfast we could take our place again inside the Market Hall. For the children we organized a stamp-workshop and also a drawing contest, where people could bid on the drawings with fruits and sweets. No one left empty-handed. During the two-day event we published the fall edition of our 8oldal zine.
https://www.facebook.com/mindspacebudapest/videos/2869102029796256/
For the Christmas season we joined forces with Eldorádó Restaurant for a two-weekend event. For the two Saturdays preceding Christmas Eve we organized some festive programs in the Market Hall, like our signature community breakfast, Christmas Fair for local artisans, eco-friendly gift wrapping workshops, and we even used light painting to brighten the hall in the darker evening hours. With some warm tea we could reflect on the past year, and also have a joyous time in the market even in the cold weather.
The last three years were a turning point in the life of our NGO, and we would like to think the same goes for some people in the neighbourhood. We were lucky to reach a great number of locals who participated in our neighbourhood-revitalization project and a few even volunteered to help us bring together events. Our community breakfasts, open office days, workshops, historic walks, talks about urbanism and city-games attracted many people, who hopefully got to know more about the market and its surroundings. Working on cultural projects focusing on urbanism and the city we live in was an inspiring experience that still keeps us going.
With changes in the municipality after the elections in October 2019 we are hopeful that our projects will be able to continue and evolve around the Market Hall quarter, that grew close to our hearts during the past years.
from the author
With a little rest after Rákóczi Vacation we continued some of our already existing project and started planning for the new ones for the second half of the year. The fall-winter season was almost as busy and exciting as the summer.