Mindspace x Rákóczi Square / Spring-Summer Recap 2019

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. The participants could reserve an hour to relax on our website. After the success of the recreation, Somló Dávid and Makkai Dániel took the stage and those interested and introduced new ways and exercises to experience the space and place we are currently in.

The next events focused on cases and people around Csarnoknegyed. The Two Ferenc Detective Bureau collected and documented cases around the neighbourhood, like accidents, or mysteries from the past and tried to solve them in an artistic way through photography. Rákócity’s next exhibition, Minden péntek eltemet egy csütörtököt (Every Friday buries a Thursday) was an installation of photographs of the elderly from the retired club next door, alongside with photographs found in a suitcase in Istanbul. During the exhibition the artists organized a film screening, presentations around photography and even a small concert.

After the exhibition, artists collected portraits and stories of people living near the market hall. First, a group of young painters made oil portraits of people we can see every day, who live or work around the market. They transformed the space into a painters’ studio, and ended the week with an exhibition of the portraits.

Our latest event was Rákóczi Legendárium, were Holy Olga, a mixed-media artist collected the stories of people around the neighbourhood. She invited them in for a massage in a massage chair, a glass of lemonade or some pancakes recorded some of their conversations.

Our weekly events started in March, we had several community breakfasts and offices in Rákóczi Market Hall. We organized a DIY night, where we made reusable grocery bags with RePityke and Stitch Budapest. At the beginning of springtime we invited kids to repot the plants from our recreation event, and for them to find a new home in the Market Hall or with the children participating.

At the end of April we received an e-mail, telling us that all events have to be cancelled until the end of the election season inside the market hall, so we had to find new ways to be close to the community. We stayed close due to our events in Rákócity. We also organized the IVth Rákóczisquaring around the market hall with a detective game and a catch the flag game, followed by a pub night, where we had concerts and events in the cafés and pubs nearby.

We could no longer have our community breakfasts inside the market hall, but Valyo reached out regarding their Szabihíd project. They shut down the car and tramway traffic on one of the main bridges of Budapest and give it to passerby. We had a fun but a little rainy community breakfast on the Bridge.

We celebrated the end of the summer with a child camp. Rákóczi Vakáczió invited kids from around the neghibourhood, and the childrens' temporary home in Alföldi street for a short week, to have some fun on the streets of the VIIIth district. We graffitied some signs, learnt how to skateboard, breakdance, make kites, and had a good time on almost every playground in the area.

Now we are looking forward to Rákóczisquaring V., an event that will mark the end of an era. But fear not, we will be back in some shape or form!