Peace in F-minor

Benedictines’ refined taste in contemporary art could gain an impressive effect not just on the edge-cutting, up-to-date new interior of Pannonhalma Archabbey – an historical monument formed in 996 –, but even on the Arcus Temporum contemporary art festival which is hosted by the Archabbey.

The festival delivers the latest pieces of music, dance, theater, fine-art and film, wrapped in the dress of iconic installations. Arcus Temporum is organized for the 10th time in Hungary with the aim of giving a sophisticated selection of the hottest art pieces for the widest public.

In 2012 international architecture medias recognized the ethereal fabric installation by Dániel Baló, Dániel Eke and Zoltán Kalászi for the festival’s temporary concert hall, made of geotextile. This year the same Hungarian creators composed an imaginary forest atmosphere out of the Benedictine High School’s average gym, creating the third dimension of the graphics exhibited by the graphic designer Nikolett Pálinkás.

The exhibition space located in the basement consists of a foreground as a “tune-up” room and the gym hall which present the graphically manipulated photos of a forest, printed on 2 m x 2,5 m transparent plastic boards.  

“Though these two rooms opening into each other clearly has a visual connection, the concept enables an inverse structure: the foreground serves as a filter, presenting a high-density of wild grown, illuminated, vertical bodies through which the visitor need to find her/his way and the exhibition hall where this “noise” of nature become silent and the installation serves as a curtain around the hanged graphics. This means that at the point of the arrival you walk – or climb – into the topic which is presented later at the exhibition hall. The choice of the material was crucial during the design. We knew Raschel mesh from construction sites and experienced its behavior as an interesting textile, a material which contributes to an interference of light and shadow effects, mainly when the mesh is moved by wind. Therefore we were engaged not just by the unique texture of the material (and the challenging idea to transform it into a forest) but also imagined the volume having a continuously moving, natural effect. Besides being “budget-wise” the project enjoyed the benefit of recycling: the organizers could re-use the 4.500 m2 material at the local garden” – said the architects of the installation.

Archabbey of Pannonhalma, Hungary
Architects: Dániel Baló, Dániel Eke, Zoltán Kalászi
Graphic design: Nikolett Pálinkás
Area: 300 sqm