Budapest Carnival of Cultures

As the temperatures begin to dip below 40 F at night and the sycamore leaves begin to brown and drop to the ground along Andrassy ut, it was time to celebrate the fall season at the Budapesti light fields festival. An excellent opportunity for me to don my orange ski cap, hangout with some friends (ashlin, margit, (fulbrighters), gabi (med student) and some random israelis) listen to a Hungarian Eminem impersonator and to dance displaying all of my newly Euro-acquired techno dance skills, while sipping a mug of warm mulled wine and eating fatty grilled Szerbian sausage. The festival was designed to recognize and celebrate the minorities present in Hungary. Raypainting by Hungarian artists Dóra Berkes and Péter Kozma (http://www.raypainting.com/fm_en.htm)

Quite similar to many of the cultural festivals I have attended throughout the midwest and North Carolina, stands of food from different countries (my favorite being the naan and tandoori chicken from the Indian stand), bands, djs, kids skateboarding, old ladies in scarves with little dogs chatting. However, the one very unique twist, and centerpiece of the festival, is what they called RayPainting (a takeoff on spraypainting perhaps). Through the use of spotlights, an abstract painting (painted on a glass slide), was projected (via spotlights) unto a block-long set of buildings. The colors were absolutely brilliant and the dimensionality of painting and the buildings were phenomenol. These pictures dont do it justice. The originality of this festival gave me the idea that it would be fascinating to do a round the world tour of all seasonal festivals, conduct a socio-cultural comparison and document them via photographs and a book. Okay, im sure it has been done many times over, but it would be a great way to spend a year, wouldnt it?


The Raypainting weekend and festival were sponsored by the Alliance of Free Democrats in Hungary (Szabad Demokratak Szovetsege, the liberal party in Hungary). Perhaps the leaders of the Democratic Party in the states (whomever they are currently???) should consider hiring Dora and Péter to shine a bit of light and add some creativity to their stagnant political party.