InterUrban Brings the Whole World to Veszprém, not just Europe

In 2023, Veszprém-Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture is bringing the amazing melodies, flavours and creative talents from 25 cities from 25 countries to Veszprém and the Bakony-Balaton region. The featured InterUrban city will change every two weeks (see calendar below). The first city in the programme will be 2022 European Capital of Culture Kaunas, Lithuania. Kaunas’ tenure will last 16-29 January 2023 and overlap with the Grand Opening of the cultural year on 21-22 January. Among others, Kaunas is bringing a Lithuanian loop artist and the one-person band Daumantas Lukošiūnas, who is sure to steal the audience’s heart as he involves them in his performance.  Kaunas, the second city of Lithuania has been a trade centre since the Middle Ages due to its strategic location at the confluence of the Neumas and Neris Rivers. Its past was shaped by often oppressive forces from Teutonic Knights to Soviet Russia. The city belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Hanseatic League, but it always retained its character and affability. The city celebrated 2022 with international artists, community projects and a surge of creative energies - of which they are happy to deliver an eccelctic offering to Veszprém during the handover of the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) title.

Daumantas Lukošiūnas | One Man Band

The majority of the multi-instrumentalist's performance consists of improvisation, which allows him to adapt to the audience, moment and surroundings. Daumantas has mastered instruments from different periods of time and cultures: modern drum kit, voice, didgeridoo, guitar, bass, djembe, shamanic drum, gong and many others. The variety of sounds are combined using modern loop station technique which turns the artist into a One-Man Band. In 2015, he won the Mama Award at the Tamsta Drum Day drummer competition. In 2021, he released his live EP album Planting the Seed.

FOLDS: Enchanted by Architecture.

Where does the history of a city reside? In personal memories, in the nooks  and crannies of buildings, in the folds of collective consciousness? Aiden Barry inspires these dormant layers in a unique animation piece from and about Kaunas. The city’s landmark modernist architecture comes to life, telling a story without words, manifesting the spirit of the place. A communal effort from the start, filming involved over 60 professional and amateur actors, 17 locations and 70 animators. The film was completed just in time for Kaunas’s 2022 European Capital of Culture year. After the screenings, Aideen Barry will take questions in person regarding the film.

CinAmono is a band which projects a theatrical, ceremonial, and even slightly magical atmosphere. Good poetry combined with a sonic approach often becomes the pivot of their creative work featuring vibrant forms, special melodies and broad, easily expanding spaces for improvisation. Since this is a real ensemble of soloists, themes develop into lush, rich monologues and series of conversations. The band released its debut album CinAmono in 2018. The second CinAmono album Music is the Ocean has followed in 2021.

Remis Scerbauskas is a photographer specialising in street scenes, portraiture and motion blur. The photographer’s eye constantly seeks a unique approach to capture life. His artistic style has developed with a strong focus on creating black and white studio portraits. After engaging in studio photography for six years, he made a creative shift to street photography in search of a unique view of the current urban environment. His work has been awarded in several international street photography competitions. R. Scerbauskas has over a hundred published photographs in online galleries and street photography books such as World Street Photography from Around the Globe, and World Street Photography.

Sandra Bernotaitė is a Lithuanian writer and mentor. During the workshop ’The Magic of Place’, the group will use creative writing to explore a special place with a particular history and aura. The lecturer will use her own method, combining theatre and writing practices to open up the participants' imagination. Sensory writing exercises will be carried out, during which the group will create a series of texts that can be used as inspiration for further creative projects. She is the author of four books of prose, most recently the acclaimed novel "Eyes of the Chimera" (“Akys chimeros”), published in 2021. She is currently studying for a PhD in Literature, working on a new novel, collaborating in various theatre productions and offering mentoring to writers. After spending ten years in Australia, she returned to Lithuania and currently lives in Kaunas. 

Background

We’ll take a real trip around the world without leaving Veszprém and the region.  A photographer from Katowice, a singer from Trenčín, or even a Finnish mumin from Tampere may move into our neighbourhood; or maybe appear at the nearest railway station. You might unexpectedly run into a flamenco guitarist from Seville, an Ibagué fiesta or traditional Colombian folk music and dance in Veszprém, on the shores of Lake Balaton or in a shady Bakony village store. Music is the main focus, but each city will bring something it is particularly proud of. Almost everything is showcased during the year-long programme, from fine arts to sports to gastronomy.

What links Veszprém to Seville, Ghent, or Kingston, Jamaica? Music plays a prominent role in everyday life in cities. Not a week goes by without a musical programme for young and old, amateurs and professionals. Around the world, nearly 60 cities proudly bear the UNESCO City of Music label –they are the main protagonists who make up the InterUrban cultural mosaic. Veszprém earned its UNESCO City of Music title in 2019. Sister cities with whom we have a decades-long friendship, and former and future European Capitals of Culture will also arrive to Veszprém to participate.

·         Kaunas, Lithuania  - 16-29 January 2023

·         Ghent, Belgium - 30 January - 12 February 2023.

·         London, Canada - 13-26 February 2023.

·         Timisoara (Sepsiszentgyörgy), Romania - 27 February-12 March 2023.

·         Katowice, Poland - 13-26 March 2023

·         Liverpool, UK - 27 March - 9 April 2023

·         Bologna, Italy - 10-23 April 2023.

·         Chemnitz, Bottrop, Germany - 24 April - 7 May 2023

·         Novi Sad, Serbia - 8-21 May 2023

·         Sevilla, Spanyolország - 22 May - 4 June 2023

·         Nova Gorica, Slovenia - 5-18 June 2023.

·         Tampere, Rovaniemi, Finland - 19 June - 2 July 2023.

·         Elefsina, Greece - 3-16 July 2023

·         Kingston, Jamaica - 17-30 July 2023

·         Bodø, Norvégia -  31 July-13 August 2023

·         Praiai, Cape Verde Islands - 14-27 August 2023.

·         Skopje, Macedonia - 28 August-10 September 2023

·         Brno, Czech Republic - 11-24 September 2023

·         Hamamatsu, Japán - 25 September - 8 October 2023

·         Gyumri, Armenia - 9-22 October 2023.

·         Tartu, Estonia - 23 October - 5 November.

·         Ibagué, Columbia - 6-19 November 2023

·         Trencsén, Nyitra, Slovakia - 20 November - 3 December 2023

·         Tel-Aviv, Tirat Carmel, Israel  - 4-17 December 2023.

·         Bad Ischl, Austria - 18-31 December 2023. We say goodbye and end the InterUrban shows wishing good luck to Bad Ischl in Austria, the host of the 2024 ECoC season.