Hulda Festival?

THIS BLOG IS TEMPORARY.
IT AIMS AT BRIEFLY INFORMING
THE HULDA FESTIVAL’S FRIENDS
ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF THE HULDA PROJECT

A PROFESIONNAL WEBSITE (www.huldafestival.org)
WILL BE LAUNCHED THE 9TH OF MARCH 2009
FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC

Hulda Festival, a Journey into Art & Science

The Hulda Festival features events celebrating the coalescence of arts and sciences around Hulda, the 100-year old sailing boat of the Turkish-Swedish artist Ilhan Koman (Edirne 1921 – Stockholm 1986).

From March 2009 until November 2010 the Hulda Festival is visiting Stockholm, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Bordeaux, Lisbon, Barcelona, Naples, Malta, Thessalonica and Istanbul. The festival benefits from the active partnership of some of the most prestigious art or science institutions based in these 10 cities.

An exhibition of Ilhan Koman’s scientific sculptures

Ilhan Koman’s creativity has combined arts with sciences, making him a representative of a universal approach that descends from Leonardo da Vinci. For the Hulda Festival, Koman’s artworks embark aboard Hulda, the boat that was his residence and workshop. Visitors are welcome to play with the artists’ most interesting pieces to better apprehend their scientific properties and artistic qualities.

10 different youth workshops

In parallel, the young public is invited to workshops, conceptualised by famous local organisations for the venue of the Hulda Festival in their city. These workshops all bring artistic and scientific disciplines together in order to make them more interesting and playful through topics like ‘Sculpture & Aerodynamics’, ‘Comics-like Nautical Charts of the Middle-Ages’, ‘Art & Alternative Energies’, etc.

An international student competition

The Hulda Festival also includes a competition encouraging students from 10 European countries to present their artworks demonstrating how fruitfully arts and sciences can be bridged in a popularizing manner today. Ten winners will be invited to exhibit their creations in santralistanbul, one of the pioneer cultural centres of Turkey.

Special activities in Istanbul

To celebrate the arrival of Hulda in her final destination during the ‘Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture’ event, the Hulda Festival presents, in addition to the previously described activities, a free concert on the Bosphorus; an exhibition displaying photos and movies about the adventurous journey of Hulda along the coasts of Europe; a conference bringing all the organisers of the Hulda Festival together with the Turkish public, journalists, professionals of the artistic and scientific worlds, to debate on the upshots of the Hulda Festival.

After 2010, Hulda will remain open to new projects as a sailing cultural centre operating from Turkey.

This project has been initiated thanks to a grant allocated by
the European Commission’s 7th Framework Program (FP7)
within its ‘Science In Society’ projects

This project is being produced with the assistance of the European Union.
The contents of this publication is the sole responsibility
of the Ilhan Koman Foundation and can in no way be taken to reflect the views
of the European Union