The pavement, the city’s surface, forms a canvas: you can write, draw, and build on it, yet it also conceals, covers, smooths out, and renders things invisible. Sometimes it’s good to wear it down, sometimes to scratch it, sometimes to break it open. We walk on it day after day, yet we have no idea what it hides. It is like the city: we think we know it, but we only know its parts and moments; the picture always comes together differently.

The aim of this series of public events is to use contemporary art productions to draw attention to Budapest’s forgotten histories, to offer new opportunities for remembrance, to experience the city from different perspectives, to showcase invisible communities, and to forge new connections. The communal nature of public space today is a battleground of desires and expectations: we often feel that it is precisely the “public” that is being pushed out of public space. To prevent this from happening, we must engage with the city in many different ways, connect with its past, and shape its present. Contemporary art offers suggestions for doing just that.

This month-long series of events features public artworks, performances, events, and gatherings of varying durations at various locations throughout the capital, coordinated by the BTM Budapest Gallery.