Between August 8-15, 2018 DANUrB was part of the Sziget festival in Budapest, one of the biggest events of its kind in Europe. The project participated in the program of the Civil Sziget, a thematic site of the festival presenting the work of NGOs and various civil society initiatives. DANUrB was selected through an application process, and the organisers pointed out that the goals of the project, such as intercultural dialogue and environmental and social sustainability, strongly resonate with the values of the festival.

Within the Civil Sziget each organisation was given a separate tent which provided space for small-scale exhibitions, installations and creative activities.On day zero of the festival, members of the DANUrB team jointly with architecture students of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) installed an exhibition of student works on the cities of Komárom and Komárno created during the planning courses at the BME and the Slovak University of Technology. The lawn in front of the DANUrB tent featured a blue rope laid out to mimic the fluvial architecture of the Danube River, with little flags indicating the larger towns and cities on the water. In the tent visitors were invited tobuild paper boats and peg them down next to a flag of a riverfront settlement they would like to visit. By the end of the festival a huge number of paper boats covered the Danube-rope.

In order for visitors to learn more about the project and its outcomes, display panels showcasing relevant information were placed in front of the tent.

Visitors had the opportunity to express their preferences regarding social issues pertaining to the life on the river: three display panels, each signifying a specific priority, contained net bags into which little coloured balls representing different types of local agents (government, civil society organisation, and enterprises) could be deposited. At the end of each day, the number of balls in the bags were tallied up and the result gave us an indication of how the individual agents are perceived regarding their role in achieving the project’s three priorities.

We hope that the project’s presence at the Sziget festival helped to highlight the importance of the Danube for Europe and the possibilities offered by the river for cultural exchange and regional cohesion. Our participation provided a good opportunity to present the project to a wider international public, who could enjoy the closeness of the Danube on the spot. 

For more information about the DANUrB project, please visit dtp.interreg-danube.eu/danurb
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This project is co-funded by the European Union funds (ERDF and IPA)