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The Hulda Festival is an innovative platform which aims at contributing to raising public interest for building bridges between sciences, arts and daily life. The project takes its name from M/S Hulda, a two-mast Baltic schooner built in 1905 at the Sjötorp shipyard in Sweden, acquired in 1965 by Turkish-Swedish artist İlhan Koman, who lived there with his family until his death in 1986, later classified as a swedish historical monument, and recently renovated and converted into a sailing cultural centre, starting its journey in Europe and the Mediterranean.
Between March 2009 and December 2010, Hulda sailed to 10 destinations, including Thessaloniki, from Stockholm to Istanbul. In August 2012, Hulda sets sail for its second journey around the Mediterranean, starting from Amfilochia. There, artists Rania Emmanouilidou, Apostolos Rizos and Bilal Yilmaz implement workshops for the public, inviting the participants to create works drawing inspiration and materials from their natural and urban environment. In a rapidly transforming reality, the participants are prompted to renegotiate and redefine the identity of their environment, in order to highlight the unique characteristics of their home town not only as natural and urban landscape, but also as a space of experience, ultimately forging new dynamics. At the same time, a selection of works by İlhan Koman, Rania Emmanouilidou and Apostolos Rizos are exhibited onboard the M/S Hulda. Hulda Festival Hulda Festival's mission is inspired by the work of İlhan Koman and brings together artists from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to create a platform of inspiration, interaction and cooperation with a mission of more democratic access to cultural content and freedom of expression. Exploration and human interaction constitute the core of Hulda’s mission: resident artists from different countries, cultures and disciplines are implementing workshops in their creative domain and as inspired by Hulda’s journey, the region they visit and their experience, and sharing their inspirations with local citizens. The Hulda project is the second of a series of events inspired by İlhan Koman’s quest, and combine the artist’s passion for unrestricted thought, research and The Mediterranean. The theme of the second Hulda Festival builds around “interaction” and “creativity.” In this framework, Hulda travels to 8 destinations around the Mediterranean, mainly France, Greece, Mallorca-Menorca, Malta, Sardinia, Sicily, Spain and Turkey. M/S Hulda M/S Hulda is a 2-mast schooner, a Baltic trader and cargo ship built in the Sjötorp shipyard in Sweden in 1905. The Turkish-Swedish artist İlhan Koman bought Hulda in 1965 and lived on this boat for more than two decades. M/S Hulda was based at the Drottningholm Royal Port in Stockholm until her first long trip in 2008. She was renovated and restored for the purposes of the Hulda Festival, based on her original drawings. Even though the ship is undergoing constant maintenance for the purposes of the project, her original features and properties are preserved. M/S Hulda is classified as a historical monument in Sweden. İlhan Koman (Edirne 1921-Stockholm 1986) “In my view, art is a human quest into the unknown.” These words of İlhan Koman can be considered a summary of his life and work. His vision which expands beyond any frontiers has extended his life and work across many cultures, and a variety of material and methodologies. Having studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in İstanbul (1940-47) with Prof. Rudoph Belling, he received the state scholarship and went to Paris in 1947 after his graduation. He worked in l’Academie Julian and l'Ecole du Louvre. In 1955 he joined Andre Bloc's "Groupe Espace 1951" became one of the three artists declaring the Turkish "Groupe Espace." In 1958 he moved to Stockholm where he took a professorship (1967) at the Swedish School of Arts Crafts and Design, Konstfackskolan. In 1965 he bought M/S Hulda and lived on this ship in Drottningholm from 1965 until his death in 1986. Koman’s work is presently found in the collections of Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Museo J. Battle, Montevideo; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; National Museum for Painting and Sculpture, İstanbul; Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles (BOZAR), Brussels; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; santralistanbul, istanbul. In his late period he worked on large-scale projects to be actualized at monumental scale. Some of these works can be seen in Sweden (Fishing Baskets: Nacka; from Leonardo to…: Stockholm;Whirlpool: Ekerö), Turkey (The Mediterranean: İstanbul; Sakarya Battle relief: Atatürk’s Mausoleum: Ankara; To Infinity: İstanbul). |
Margaris Gallery & Port of Amfilochia
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