Day 37- July 1st :Modern Architecture in Budapest

come see the ugly

I skipped breakfast and had lunch with Balasz and his boyfriend today. We than took the train and went to Alex's apartment to hang out. The apartment is near one of the last stop of the Blue metro and is one of the city's “newer” suburbs. The building gave out clues of the areas age and I think it was mass developed in the 60's and early 70's. Most building are fairy utilitarian and not very attractive. It looks like the projects in the U.S. But the area does feel safe. Upon entering his apartment I notice how many gates he had to pass, exterior security gates, interior gates and finally the apartment door with 4 locks.

I fell in love with his rodent pet! I am not sure what they are but they are utterly adorable. They are so cute but they do bite strangers... I think of them as miniature puppies.

After the visit I met up with Andreas for a “scary adventure” we took the Metro and picked a couple of random stops and see what would be awaiting us at the other side of the exit. First it was ....... stop and we saw a collection of contemporary buildings just on the out- skirt of the city. The style of these building are very geometrical with very little design elements. They are pretty bad in terms of design and offered almost nothing to the architecture community and Hungarian culture. There are also buildings that are 5 blocks long with no signs of design and style and they would have continued the block for miles and no one would noticed or not noticed.

We went back on the train and went to the last stop and it was worse... modern buildings disappeared and ornate Gothic buildings feels like a few light years away... What what there was South Central Los Angeles low rises with fast food joints and unkept sidewalks, overgrown empty lots, and trash littered streets. We walked around briefly and went back to the Metro station.

It's strange how “newness” became the universal language for “better”. The real estate here never shows exterior photos of any beautiful ornate buildings of Budapest. The only time exterior photos are show if the building is new or newer and often times they are just another soul-less “contempoary” building that can be found anywhere in the world; simply just buy the plans in insert it in any empty lots.

Dear Friends: ...

Dear Friends,

Just a little update on my latest: I finished the International Artist-in-Residency program in Budapest, Hungary on June 13th, and saw many wonderful things in this historic old city. I also created 3 really good works of art here. The pieces are staying in Budapest for at least 3 scheduled shows this year and next year. The first group show is coming up on August 2nd, 2008, and I'll send more information about it later. I also decided to stay in Budapest for another month, which will allow me to do a bit more sightseeing and traveling, with the hope of gaining a deeper understanding of many cultures of Eastern Europe.

I have already spent 5 days in Vienna, Austria, and it was a great experience. Since then, I have returned to Budapest and joined the second group of 6 artists from the U.S., Greece, and England. I also plan to make at least one more art piece. This has been an amazing opportunity for me to be here; learning, making and seeing art. I will be doing a bit more traveling in early July. I will visit Bratislava, Slovakia; Prague, Czech Republic; and back to Vienna for a total of 10 days before I return home to Los Angeles in mid-July.

For those of you that have patiently waited for my appearance on HGTV, I am sorry I just did not have a chance to email you the notice, but the show already aired during the late-night hours of June 17th and 18th. They are sending me a copy of the show, and from what I have heard... 'it looked good' but I haven't even seen it personally yet. It is scheduled to be rebroadcast at 7pm Eastern and Pacific time on August 23rd (check your local listings) .If you are interested in watching me on a design television show and can't wait that long, simply respond to this email and I will send you a copy of the DVD once I am back in the states.


Visit my travel Blog (diary) and Flickr (photos) for all of my adventures--and sometimes misadventures!--in Eastern Europe.

The links can be found here: http://benjaminpage.net/



Enjoy!

Day 27- June 21th: Art Night, my poor feet!

There are many moments in life when pain is deeply entangled with pleasure and tonight a rare event will bring both of of them together and make them a enjoyable as a pair.

Every year Budapest throws a party for the Art- lovers. The Museums and Galleries in the city are open all day and night until 4am with a low one time entry fee at 1,200 HUF and it's good for all museum and galleries. A great bargain because that is the price for one Museum entry. The town became more alive than ever, people young and old, lovers and old friends are all around the city for this major event. Big parties, special events, and performances are scheduled at most museums.

I met up with my roommate Andreas at 8pm at the Ludwig Museum- Budapest and we started there and 5 museum and galleries later it was already 2 am and we were exhausted. The city transportation hours was extended but all lines were jammed pack with passengers. It was a wonderful city-wide event but I wish it would have longer hours or the entire week ended like The Pasadena Art weekend.

My highlights are the wonderful interior space at the Applied Arts Museum. The white classic interior and it's large Hungarian antique collection is contrasted with video displays and ultra modern art installations. It worked seamlessly and wonderfully! The electronic music echo through the space where modern and classic blends much like the attendees of the event; punks, metrosexuals and century old people.

The Contemporary museum's Roman exterior is impressive and the interior is massive. I wish LA could have similar places for modern art. MOCA is nice and the shows are good but having 3 different small to mid-size galleries just doesn't work as well as MOMA or the Hungarian Contemporary museum did for me. The art there is mostly good but with some weak pieces but it was a enjoyable experience.

We finally got back to the hotel around 2:30am and tired as hell but we slept happily after seeing so many wonderful work.

Day26- June 20th: They asked why; I said Why not?

I had a few of interesting conversations with several different people today. They didn't know one another and came from different culture and social backgrounds. They all asked why have I decided to extend my stay in Budapest? What are the things I like about the country and the city? What the the things I do not like about the city?

This might seem a simple question but it actually involves a lot of analyzing. I know there is not one thing that would make me want to stay in Budapest longer than what I am supposed to. I like Budapest because it's real, human, and imperfect. It give you a sense of place but yet it is displaced on the crossroads of industrialized and socialist society. It's so unique because it's completely foreign and take me out of my comfort zone. It's lovely, beautiful when you look from afar but rundown, dirty and smelly when you are close.

People here are either super nice and go out of their way to help you or they simply don't care and scream at you. It's the city of two extremes and the city with hope. To me Vienna is perfect and what is there left to do when you live in a utopia?

I believe human being thrive on imperfections and Budapest is the place for thriving.