The Sziget press conference, held 27th March, has revealed many new information about the concept and programs of this year’s festival. Sziget, the Island of Freedom, was born, emphasizing the concept behind the 21 year old event. As an increasing focus of the organizers, the on-site visuals of the festival will have a greater role, therefore a huge End Show with David Guetta will crown the last evening of the non-stop week of fun.
The Island of Freedom is born!Almost the same day, twenty years ago, an enthusiastic group of youngsters have declared some slogans for an event that was about to happen. The following were born: “We need a non-stop week of fun together”,“ A meeting point for students of the universe-city” and “A place where anything is possible and nothing is compulsory”. They summarized the event with these three sentences, the concepts that everyone of this friend circle was dreaming about. This is how Károly Gerendai, main organizer of SzigetFestival remembers these early days: “Freedom was always a key expression for us, and we might not even had a clue what a ‘real’ festival was all about, but we thought and felt that it could only be a place where people are without constraints and they can leave behind the problems of the weekdays to spend a week in happiness and peace”.
Basically the new concept of Sziget 2013 is a re-definition of the already existing one: this time the ‘Island of Freedom’ is officially born, that is a temporary republic for a week, with own rules, own money, a physically separated location of an island, in the heart of a metropolis, with an own hatchment and flag.
The Island of Freedom is a democratic republic without a leader, where every member of the society, either aboriginal or immigrant, has the same rights and commitments.
History: The first festival-settlers (a.k.a. Szitizens) have arrived in 1993 to the island. The development is constant ever since. Year by year there are more locations and the infrastructure has been developed constantly. Today it is one of the main and most exciting tourist destinations of the youth of the world. It has been chosen the best of its category in Europe in 2011.
Population: According to the latest census: 381.000 Szitizens. With this number it is ranked the 177th in the world.
Ethnic groups and official language: Most of the Szitizens are Hungarians, but the population is very diverse, almost all nations are represented. Spoken languages are: Hungarian, English, French, German, Italian, Dutch and many other languages from all over the world.
Currency: cashless, only cards and some other approved electronic payment devices are accepted.
Transportation: Sziget, the Island of Freedom has a developed transportation. Almost all transportation means – water and land – are available, with which you can reach the island. On the land of the Republic – not only for environmental concerns – only the pedestrian transport is allowed. The Szitizens can use the public transportation of the near metropolis with their Citypass document.
Culture: The Island of Freedom has earned rightly the „most colorful” term, as almost all cultural genres are representing themselves on the 60 different program spots.
Services – a premium festival, supplying the best of everythingComparing the festival services in the international festival scene, Sziget is highly outstanding, according to the feedback of international guests. However there is always room to improve, so the festival organizers constantly focus on strengthening this segment as well. There will be a spectacular development of the hygienic services. Most of the new bio toilets will await the Szitizens. They will be found grouped together, with lighting and constant cleaning services. There will be more and significantly comfortable showering possibilities, together with dressing rooms equipped with lockers, a comfy waiting room and make-up room as well. The catering services will also improve, as the organizers will make sure that the food stalls are the best in quality and looks with the well-known diversity of cuisine.
Next to the playground of Sziget, one will find the “Family Camping”, where the families with children can find services suitable for them, with play place for kids and programs for the smallest Szitizens.
Last but not least: Citypass has been a popular service of the festival for two years now and it’s back. With the pass the guests can use public transportation for free and can use Budapest-related services for discounted prices or free of charge. More information on Citypass coming soon.
Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks as well, as there are more names and productions to come for the 2013 Sziget!
There are already some artist who confirmed their visit to The Island of Freedom, look at the following article to see who is going to play at Sziget Festival.
