Recap: Student participants design playful “Carnival” installations in 2019 Hello Wood Summer School and Festival

Taking place in the Hungarian countryside for the last 10 years, the Hello Wood Summer School and Festival invites students from around the globe to participate in a weeklong workshop exploring architecture-related themes, and to learn through the hands-on process of designing and building architectural installations. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the festival's 2019 “Carnival” theme broke away from the “stereotypical role of the architect — one that is constrained by expectations and deadlines” while searching for and reconnecting with one's creative freedom.

“When we choose to become an architect, we choose creativity, dreams of making a change, colors, humor and a little bit of craziness. In spite of these desires, we end up in an uncomfortable black turtleneck, desperately trying to meet deadlines and expectations, full of self-doubt about our talent and abilities,” said Hello Wood co-founder Peter Pozsar, who leads the organization with András Huszar, David Raday, and Krisztian Toth. “This year, we decided to reverse this and liberate the participants through the framing of a carnival for architects to find their way back to their [creative] superpower.” 

Read on for Hello Wood's recap of this year's workshop and festival, including photos of some of the installations.

“This year’s Summer School and Festival started with an initiation ceremony so participants could free themselves from the stereotypes and some of the dated concepts of an architect and architecture. To symbolize getting rid of these shackles, attendees were asked to bring a black turtleneck, a metaphor of the tight constraints and styles that are so commonplace among architects. Each attendee was asked to remove their turtleneck and attach it to a large wooden frame — located symbolically far from the main action of the week — where they were all displayed for the whole week as a deterrent of the typical attitudes and frustrations that architects must endure daily. This act was symbolic of the creation of a new ‘tribe’ of architects withdrawn from their misplaced and disguised identities, resisting anxiety and embracing the present wholeheartedly, creating an open state of mind where participants could freely create architectural structures.”

“After the initiation rite, students and architects worked over the course of a week on their installations. The construction process was the means for everyone to find their way out of their masked personality as a professional. While searching for the essence of their profession, their approach was twofold: some adopted the strategy of rephrasing a sort of architectural manifesto, others decided to approach the task spiritually and turned towards the world of our ancestors. The latter typically created tribal projects, for instance building a tower of witchcraft using rituals of nature, a portable and communal thatched roof, or a plastered furnace. Others turned towards sacrality, such as a temple devoted to partying or a portable confessional booth built like a sedan chair and a neo-postmodern pantheon where anyone can be the object of worship.

Many of the installations are portable, allowing them to be used as part of a Carnival that took place on the final day. This performative aspect played a large part in the design of the installations, which were often transformative in their nature and in some cases doubled as costumes for the parade.”

“The festival ended with a communal performance using Hello Wood’s own installation, which had over 100 individual wooden, arched beams held upright by the whole camp. The resulting structure resembled a temple, but one that symbolizes what the festival is about.

‘We meant to create the gift of an experience, inviting everyone from the past ten years. It’s a direct symbol of how we could build something together, how important all the people that are participating are,’ say the Hello Wood leaders.”

CREDITS

HELLO WOOD CO-OWNERS: ANDRÁS HUSZÁR, PÉTER POZSÁR, DÁVID RÁDAY, KRISZTIÁN TÓTH

CURATOR: PÉTER POZSÁR

PROJECT LEADERS: RITA SZERENCSÉS, ORSI JANOTA

PROJECT COORDINATOR: LILI ALMÁSSY

PROJECT ARCHITECT: NÓRA FEKETE

CO–CURATOR: MÁRTON PINTÉR

GRAPHIC DESIGN: MARKO MRKOBRAD, GERGELY SZŐKE

GENERAL COORDINATORS: ANITA FARKAS, ANDREA CSELOVSZKI, LILI ROZEK, 

CARNIVAL CREW:

ÁDÁM BAJTAI, THÉO COMBE, ÁRON FEKETE, REBEKA HORVÁTH, ATTILA JUNG, FRUZSINA KARIG, GERGELY KRUPPA, LEVI KRUPPA, BALÁZS LAKATOS, DOMINIQUE LANGER, MARIA LATORRE, ANDRÁS MARTON, MÁTÉ NAGY, ATTILA ORT, NIKOLETT PAPP, CHRISTINA SÁNDOR, ÁRON SÜTHEŐ, DÁSA SZÁNTÓ, ÁDÁM TÓTH, KRISTÓF TÓTH

PHOTO / VIDEO CREW:

TAMÁS BUJNOVSZKY (PHOTO), CIARAN JACKSON (VIDEO),

BALÁZS GLÓDI (PHOTO), ZSUZSA DARAB (PHOTO)

Find more photos in the gallery below.