Pure Balaton, Pure Art

Our partner in the programme is the HybridCycle team, whose main aim, in addition to creating artistic value and quality, is to raise awareness of the importance of sustainability, environmental protection and recycling, local and global issues. Also, to address a wide range of societal issues through the works they produce.

In 2023, as part of the Pure Balaton, Pure Art project, there will be, among others, "upcycling" sessions, introducing children to waste as a raw material through playfully demonstrated and creative recycling methods. Free workshops will be accessible at popular regional festivals, institutions of culturally more isolated municipalities, elementary schools and Pajta (Barn) Programme sites.

The project will also provide an opportunity for more experienced artists to get to know the region and present it through sustainable art, mirroring local values, issues and artistic reflections. The artists will work together for ten days in a creative camp, using waste materials donated by companies or collected at the most popular festivals and event venues around Lake Balaton. It will add a new colour to the palette of trash art, a trend still little known in Hungary. Individual creation will be the focus of an artist-in-residence programme, where, under professional mentoring, selected artists will be able to gather inspiration for a thematic work of art at an artists’ retreat in the Balaton region in the course of a three-week programme.

In past years, the artworks created during the Pure Balaton, Pure Art project's programmes had all been presented in galleries and pop-up exhibitions.

For 2023, HybridCycle is preparing a special travelling show, a worthy summation of the works of past years and 2023. The exhibition in 2021 was shown at the Balaton Plaza in Veszprém. This year, the team will visit five shopping centres, where they will again "re-purpose" vacant retail spaces. The idea behind moving the works away from traditional art galleries that attract a more restricted audience is to get the exhibition’s message across to a far more people.

The team is confident that their programmes, organised in the spirit of sustainable design and artistic approach, can show the way forward. They hope to bring about lasting change over time. Also, that "Pure Balaton, Pure Art" becomes a trademark for quality, regional, sustainable, artistic and attitude-shaping programmes and initiatives, combining them and supporting connectivity.

HybridCycle is a Hungarian partner of TerraCycle, a US-based waste reduction, recycling and awareness-raising organisation. It aims to eliminate the concept of waste by giving a new quality to discarded assets through national and international collaborations, art programmes and creative workshops. They emphasise the concepts of reuse, conscious consumption and sustainable, thoughtful development. The reuse of discarded objects in the form of art installations will also raise awareness about conscious consumption, shopping and a greater appreciation of our used things.