Thomas Lamers and Rene van Bakel, of Collectief Walden visited Hungary during 2019 to explore bringing ‘Wildstilleven’ to Hungary for the PLACCC festival, through site visits and meetings. They were hosted by Fanni Nanay from Artopolis together with Ambrus Ivanyos, a local artist and collaborator.

‘The site visits in Hungary did make us very curious about working in the very different kind of landscapes to what The Netherlands have to offer. For instance, the concept of duration and time will have a very different ring and context in the much older geological landscapes. The artistic, thematic and practical implications this has, will have an effect on the dramaturgy of our pieces and the approach or attitude we as humans have towards these sites.’

‘we're looking to include local performers from Hungary in our shows there, have local co-producers and in the case of Hungary work with local designers and builders to re-create a set. This is all very exciting and opens up worlds of possibilities.’  Thomas Lamers, Collectief Walden

Preparations were included for future collaborations with Hungarian students from the University of Architecture were initiated, promoting cross-border exchange and support.

In addition, work was started with local secondary schools to plan art education and environmental sustainability workshops, as an associated outreach programme to encourage engagement with young people.

PLACCC is an annual festival in Budapest (Hungary)  presenting an international and local selection of art forms at unusual places and in public space.  The festival is organised by Artpolis, who support and promote site-specific artistic productions together with extensive collaboratinos with Budapest-based univerisites.