Hosted by the nonprofit organization Színes Város (Hungarian for “Colorful City”) and sponsored by Strongbow, the festival aims to beautify Budapest by unveiling ten new murals over the next few weeks in various locations, while also presenting cool concerts and electronica parties at numerous nightclubs. Under the patronage of Budapest mayor István Tarlós, these events are a celebration of the flourishing movement to enhance the city center’s many ramshackle firewalls on old buildings, bringing vibrant images of urban creativity to humongous spaces that were formerly eyesores.
In conjunction with the festival, Színes Város is now offering English-language Street Art Tours that take visitors directly to some of downtown Pest’s most intriguing murals, along with some sites that are presently being painted. Along the way, guides offer insight to the history of Budapest’s Jewish Quarter and its transformation from a neglected ghetto to one of Europe’s most vivacious neighborhoods for artistry and nightlife.
The walking tour begins at Deák Square in front of the yellow Lutheran church at 4:30pm every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday through the end of the festival (and possibly beyond), and soon progresses to the nearby location of one of the first murals organized by Színes Város, seen by thousands of people every day – a 230-square-meter op-art piece portraying colorful cubes that coalesce to form a circle on the side of a classic firehouse by City Hall. Created in 2010 as a joint collaboration of esteemed Magyar street artists Rapa and Vegaz, the prominent painting is a tribute to the world-renowned Hungarian-born op-art pioneer Victor Vasarely, whose 1983 book “Colorful Cities” provided the name adopted by the Színes Város founders.
From here the tour travels down a side street of District VII – traditionally the base of Budapest’s Jewish community, devastated during World War II and only revived in recent years – to stop in front of Mika Kert, a summertime party hotspot of Kazinczy Street, to highlight a pair of walls flanking the open-air club. On one side we see the freshly completed “Budapest Ain’t So Small” mural portraying a map of Hungary’s capital surrounded by the many interesting destinations that await visitors just a short journey away from the city center, a hint to tourists to check out some of the lesser-known locales in addition to their wild nights out downtown. Meanwhile, a new mural called “Buda or Pest?” is now being created by four distinguished local painters (Petyka, GG, Fork, and TransOne) on the opposite wall, currently shrouded in scaffolding; during every Street Art Tour held for the festival, there is a very good chance that participants will see these artists and several others working on their visions in progress.
A little further along, another adjacent pair of murals presents the opportunity to see one finished piece beside another under construction. Above a tree-shaded parking lot on Dob Street, “Does Everyone Have a City?” is the just-dried work of tattoo artist Dorkja Jakócs along with Trp01, portraying two living embodiments of cities in the form of a golden woman and a gray man, all with countless tiny details to continually tease the eye. Next door, Hungarian graphic artist Márton Hegedűs is now making an eye-level mosaic (“Gallery or Street Art?”) in front of the Rácskert ruin pub.
After another short stroll, the group arrives at a massive zone filled with the rubble of razed buildings alongside Kertész Street – this vacant lot would look rather grim if not for the cartoonish-yet-captivating mural by Ricsi Orosz showing a four-room home containing iconic Hungarian “characters” (like a Rubik’s cube, a paprika, and a sausage) engaging in thought-provoking interactions. The aesthetic excursion concludes as participants admire another wall beside the same empty parcel that is currently being painted by Maygar artists Fat Heat, Mr. Zero, and Tomi Egry, collaborating to design a fantastical scene of nature overwhelming humanity.
While all of the tour’s highlighted murals are absolutely legal (the guide’s tales about how Színes Város receives permission from building owners to paint these giant artworks are fascinating), insight is also offered about notable underground street art that can be spotted along the way, making this tour a comprehensive overview of Budapest’s contemporary urban creativity. The tour costs 4,900 forints to participate, and lasts for approximately 2.5 hours – check out www.szinesvaros.hu for more information.
