Picture this, in September pulzArt!

Light painting, video mapping, fire dancing, animations, Polish poster art, calligraphy, adult colouring book illustrations, physical drama game, intense and varied audio-visual journeys, among others – these are the key words of the fourth edition of the pulzArt Contemporary Art Festival. Two thousand and sixteen is the year of the image in Sfântu Gheorghe and, thus, the pulzArt events are naturally associated with visualness and image.

This year, the Contemporary Art Festival shall be held on 15-18 September. On this edition, the events and workshops shall explore the means in which the visual aspect complements music and literature, what it adds to them, how theatre visualness is, how a strong visual aspect influences a work, as well as the effect of overwhelming visual dumping on the recipients.

The fourth and last themed year of the programme series ’Sfântu Gheorghe – The Capital of Culture of the Székely Land’ is dedicated to the Image. The series of themed years launched in 2013 began with the Year of the sound and word, followed in 2014 by the Year of the game, and afterwards in 2015 by the Year of tradition. The pulzArt Contemporary Art Festival is an emblematic year summarising these themed years which offers the possibility to take the pulse of contemporary culture, to present fresh trends, together with the seeking of directions in different arts.

‘The image supposes a framing, a mental framing – we always extract o fraction from reality and then interpret it in writing, through sound, gestures and malleable materials. As an individual frames, so does pulzArt. We wish in the year of the image for pulzArt to grant space to inner images together with visual stimuli.’ – Mónika Barta, the event coordinator, explaining the objectives of this year’s edition of the pulzArt Festival.

The festival will begin on Thursday, 15 September. There will be four days of exhibition openings, meetings between writers and readers, concerts, theatre plays, special workshops, and among the evening programmes we highlight video mapping and parties. The organisers officially conceive the festival programme each year so as to offer participants the opportunity to meet other people and for artists to meet the public but also one another.

Novel audio-visual journeys

Dan Perjovschi, who has been a member of the international elite artistic milieu for years – he participated at the Vienna Biennale, had an individual exhibition in Tate Modern and MoMA in New York – will be present at pulzArt. The audience from Sfântu Gheorghe already had the opportunity to see his work at the ‘Magma’ Contemporary Art Exhibition Space and on this occasion, the festival participants shall be able to watch in real time how he makes graffiti, also having the opportunity to talk to him about his work, worldview and his points of interest at the present moment.

Sorin Trăistaru brings to the centre of attention an almost forgotten art form. On the occasion of the 4 days of intense workshops, the artist shall offer a perspective on two styles of calligraphy.

The sensational phenomenon of the music world is the British band Hidden Orchestra, the solo studio project of multi-instrumentalist composer/producer Joe Acheson. His album features a great number of guest musicians from all kinds of musical backgrounds, but the materials were recorded separately and then combined by Joe to create an imaginary orchestra that does not actually exist. With the energy of the drum solo and the addition of music and dark but at the same time beautiful sounds, he creates an unforgettable and uplifting electronic music. As an interesting fact, Acheson only uses acoustic instruments- drums, field recordings and nature sounds which create classical music textures with a touch of beat, infused with energy, emotion and atmosphere. Their live concerts – where the lead players are the two drummers – have caused surprises and elicited emotions even from the first editions.  The concert of the ‘hidden orchestra’ shall invite the pulzArt audience to an intense sonic and visual journey.

Zsuzsa Rakovszky, a writer, poet and translator from Hungary, awarded with the Kossuth prize and member of the Digital Literary Academy of Hungary shall also attend the festival. Her work shows a rare ability of knowing the human being, tracing existence by simultaneously presenting opposing truths, and all this in an extremely straightforward and personal manner, so that we are under the impression that everything unfolds in front of our windows.

The ‘Dezső Kosztolányi’ theatre from Subotica represents one of the most important experimental theatres in the region, marked by the productions of director András Urbán with a special methodology and aesthetics. At pulzArt, the theatre will bring the play named ’Roses’. ’Roses’ had its premiere in 2010, was based on the free verse with the same name belonging to Ottó Tolnai and is the sequel of the play named ’The Rose from Chișinău’, a lyrical reconstitution of it with non-verbal instruments and physical theatre. It is a theatrical environment weaved from absurd scenes, a succession of actions and the suggestive play of the actors which continuously stimulate the déjà-vu sensation among the audience – it is the book of dreams from the past, present and future.

You can find out more about the Festival at www.pulzart.ro

▶Organisers: The ‘Kónya Ádám’ Cultural Centre, Sfântu Gheorghe Townhall

▶Co-organisers: The ‘Bod Péter’ County Library, The ‘Tone Troopers’ Audio-visual Association

▶Partners: Covasna County Council, The ‘Three Chairs’ Dance Ensemble, The ‘Tamási Áron’ Theatre, The ’M Studio’ Movement Theatre, The ’Cimborák’ Puppet Theatre, The Arcade House, The Fine Artists’ Union of  Sfântu Gheorghe, The ‘Magma’ Contemporary Art Exhibition Space, The ‘MUKK’ Culture and Youth Association, Kónya et Kónya Ponopol, ‘Köntés’ Gallery, Hostel Beer Pub, ‘Tein’ Teahouse

▶Sponsors: The National Cultural Fund of Hungary (Nemzeti Kulturális Alap – NKA), The Hungarian Society of Writers (Szépírók Társasága)