Nap workshop | Daniel Castle | 2015
Curators: Péter Alpár & Mahmoud Maktabi
Artists: Toró Attila, Szabo Reka, Daczo Eniko, Nooshin Naficy, Mojtaba Ramzi, Meszaros Gergely, Atefeh Khas, Karim Alahkhani, Bartha Tunde, Vajna Anna, Reyhane Omidghaemi, Szel Attila, Tomcsik Judit, Damokos Csaba
Historical values are being revived and cultural life feels at home at the Daniel Castle in Tălişoara. Apart of functioning as a castle hotel, and a great accent being put on preserving and presenting its historical values, such as the 17th century wall paintings or carved stone elements, the castle walls are also bursting with a fresh vibe of cultural life and contemporary art projects through the LIVING CASTLE program. The workshop is part of the LIVING CASTLE cultural project of the Daniel Castle Association, financed by a grant offered by Island, Liechtenstein and Norway. Partner: Transylvanian Art and Heritage Association”.
The nap workshop is holding every year with the participation of Hungarian, Romanian and one other countries artists by Alpar Peter. He gave the Iranian artists the opportunity of participating in this workshop in 2015. Iranian and Hungarian contemporary artists met and created in the Daniel-castle entourage filled with natural and historical values. The closing exhibition provides a glimpse into this exciting visual dialogue between artist and artist, culture and culture, nature and contemporary art. Also this workshop was exactly after the Living Space exhibition in Santa George.
Each of the artists chose the appropriate space and started their work. Lila and Attila had very good support for the artist’s work, their material their settlements in LIVING CASTLE program. Daniel hotel is an old castle (347 years old) which have been renovated by this couple and hosting artists every year.
During the workshop every night one the artists were presenting their artworks. Mojtaba Ramzi made two sculpture of a bear and a cheetah which are the symbols of Iran and Romania. Karim did his installation “a cube” and Atefeh Khas did an installation in the barn and Nooshin Nafisi made an installation in the church as well. I made the “gates” installation in the ruined building according to the Transylvanians believes. “I’m not political” and “the earth stars” was my two other performance in this workshop. Daczó Enikő had performance with the subject of Adam and Iva in the church. I collaborate in this performance with her as well. Alpar, Gergely and Judit did some artworks by clay and they made a furnace to put their works in there. Szabó Réka the Romanian artist did an installation based on the old and unrenovated part of the castle. Bartha Tünde and Szél Attila who joined us from the middle of the program did their artworks in the old part of the castle. And Toró Attila had an impressive performance at on night.
Also one of the biggest interest of this workshop was the Hungarian night and Persian night, we made Iranian and Hungarian foods those nights and had music and local dance. Also we visit one of the most beautiful jungle in Transylvania with amazing caves.
The opening of workshops exhibition was on 11 August 2015 and the artist explained about their artworks briefly. The special dinner was prepared by Lila and Attila for the last night and we went to Bucharest the next day. We had a short stop in Brasov and after that reached Bucharest airport.
