Despite the gap-filling initiatives and the increasing number of contemporary artists being put out to a wider audience, the majority of the next generation of creative masterminds are either forced to work beneath the waves of the mainstream or feel obliged to gather into not-so-receptive guilds. This seemingly simple effect has rather complicated causes, which we won’t discuss in details, although the lack of talent nurturing and the deficiency of interartistic cooperations appear to be the most destructive of all causes. For Budapest to be pinned on the map of contemporary arts, changes need to be made, new blood must be injected into the scene, and an open-minded approach has to be adopted – and these are the exact goals and values upon which the concept of Brody House Studios was built.
The Godfather of all Brody-properties, Brody House, is a multifaceted venue operating since 2009 that serves both as a hotel and as a community-forming hub of arts endeared all around the world. But now there seems to be a new Don-prospect in the family, since Brody House Studios, the potential rejuvenator of Budapest’s art life, is about to kick off its success story on Vörösmarty Street, just off of Andrássy Avenue. As the phrase goes, you shouldn’t judge a poet by its clothes, but let’s just neglect that and take a good look at the Studios’ interior.
First and foremost, it perfectly harmonizes with the easily recognizable Brody-style, which upon first hearing might remind you of a terrible pop hit, but it’s actually the contemporary interpretation of century-old premises. Battered window frames transormed into lamp shades and bar counters, wooden cable reels used as tables, a 19th-century, bricked-up doorway demolished into a gateway, with the freed-up bricks being utilized as an installation on the opposite wall, creating the effect that a superpowered rocker had a nervous breakdown due to yet another refused record.
The latter creation and the off-the-wall wall design can be attributed to Tets Ohnari, who’d fallen in love with Brody House during his first stay in Budapest, and came back to leave his mark on the Studios by doing work.
" target="_blank">A lot of work. The ground floor of the two-storied bohemian complex is filled with studios fine-tuned for creating various masterpieces, while the upper story gives home to a workroom, a stage, and a club room spiced up with a bar counter. The furnishings, the paintings, the graffiti, and the photos were all brought to life by artists belonging to the continuosly growing Brody-family.
Now that we’ve put the form under the magnifying glass, let’s move on to the content, which is already Grade-A thanks to an international artist team spearheaded by geniuses such as Zsófi Fenyvesi – a.k.a. MissMargrin -, FukuiYusuke, YanYeresko, AlexanderTinei, and last not least, AubreyRamage-Lay. Besides graphic arts, literature, music, and film will also constitute a significant part of Brody HouseStudios’ repertoire, which will result in a selection of fusion programmes as colorful as a Hundertwasser building.
Regarding the Studios’ structure, it is pillared by a membership system welcoming maecenases, art enthusiasts, and artits alike, thus conjuring a we-belong-together vibe while creating a plethora of opportunities to build fruitful connections. Members come from all age groups and many countries, and, despite the fact that joining the artist crew has its criterions, meeting them is definitely easier than meeting a songwriter whose heart has never been broken. The most important deciding factors include charisma, talent, and the degree of added value.
All in all, we can safely state that Brody House Studios is a melting pot of arts and nations more than capable of giving life both to projects with the potential of generating societal change and to international cooperations, thus guaranteeing that Budapest – hand in hand with Hungarian artists deserving of a wider audience - will be pinned on the map of contemporary arts. The official opening is held sometime in January, we can hardly wait!
