Hiya everyone and welcome to another Magnificent Monday to kick this week along. I'm late; been tiling our new sun room, and laying those tiles then spreading and cleaning all the grouting has really locked up my joints, but a brisk walk with the dog and I've loosened up enough to get this article moving!
This week - "Look through any window, door, or archway."
What do you see?
Sometimes the most unexpected sight can be found beyond a new door or archway, as was the case for us when we visited Szentendre Village, 30 minutes by train North of Budapest, Hungary. We knew of its reputation as an artist's village, and were not disappointed. We enjoyed the high quality and range of style of pottery, painting, sculpture and other arts and crafts displayed on the sidewalks and in the wee shops, or little markets, but when we set off to explore more of the village, we truly didn't expect the sight that awaited us. Wandering down a small road, we peeked through an arched gateway to see what we thought was just an old building.
An abandoned building?
Old commercial buildings fascinate me; I have a love for them. Not those cold, old concrete shells, or the stark steel and shattered glass buildings, but warm, colourful, cake-crumbly buildings like this, where each brick laid by hand bears the fingerprints of old time experienced craft tradesmen. Derelict brick factories resonate with my need to know more about their history; why they were built, what industry or trade was carried out within them, how the workers and staff lived, worked, ate and breathed in them? To me they are not empty; they are still alive and lightly breathing, just resting but awaiting a new phase in their cycle of existence; perhaps a renovation, or a conversion?
Demolition doesn't mean the end of that building; each re-claimed brick has a new life in some other building or new home, fence, shed, or decorative paving; the "soul" of that building lives on, albeit in another form. A metaphor for life perhaps?
I was enthralled with how this village's innovative authorities have commissioned an artist to turn this scungy, derelict factory into a living art work. Instead of a run down eyesore, this old brick building, well past its ''use-by'' date, was now transformed into the most eye pleasing modern art.
What did I say about an old building still living on?
Tradesmen continue working in the building that breathes again.
And if they don't like living there, they can jump out and take off!
I wonder if the artist has created this artwork to portray the same concept of a building's "life force" that I appreciate when I see old brick factories like this?
Has the artist sculptured to merely record the past history of the building, or is he trying to show how the "Life" of the building continues?
If only they could talk, what stories they could tell?
Has the artist sculptured to merely record the past history of the building, or is he trying to show how the "Life" of the building continues?
If only they could talk, what stories they could tell?
More about - Szentendre Village
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