The Colorful City - aka Színes Város in Hungarian - is the first association, which colours public spaces.The civil based project has formed itself to be a movement from the very beginning, because colouring up public spaces in a legal way was unknown before 2008, the time they launched the initiative of Colorful City Project. The basic idea is built on Victor Vasarely's Colorful City concept, published in 1983, which bottom line is for art to set foot on the streets, public spaces and that people should not only meet with fine art pieces in galleries. So far, they have coloured 15, 000 sqm of wall surface! They started the project with recognising and experiencing, that the urban city we live in has many grey and alienating spots. The public spaces are neglected, making it hard to love and protect them. This leads to degradation and depletion. It is easy to see that this way the space loses its public function. They also feel threatened by the fact that almost exclusively advertisements, commercial mediums are the only to colour up the every day environment. Due to the digital era, we are living in a web of suggestive, consumer stimulating messages. Therefore the founders wished to form a collaboration against these adverts, by which, the interests of the citizens, the city and the private sector could prevail, at least to the extent as it is done now through public space advertising channels. The areas and locations chosen for the project highly represent the unfolded problems. Neglected arteries of the city with large pedestrian traffic are in their main focus, which they would like to colour up with contemporary or/and functional pieces of art, making it kinder and nicer for the local community. Among their guideline is the usage of recycled materials and to follow sustainability, when creating the artifacts. They would also like to change the distorted view on graffiti, by wall paintings with real artistic value, which reflect on everyday issues, technical possibilities and with its colors and meanings, they cheer up the cityscape. One of their programme's and guided walk's main feature is that the final painting contains interactive elements, so the visitors can influence a picture and send message. Artists from all around the world are contributing their amazing talent like Akacorleone, Animalito Land, Sepe, Chazme, Spok, Korse, Adno, Vidam, HRVB, Ruben Sanchez, Dan Ferrer, Cekas, Luke Embden, Obie Platon, Breakone, Fat Heat, mr. Zero, Transone. Ruben Sanchez aka @Zoonchez, the Spanish street artist after colouring New York and Dubai came to Budapest to cheer up this District 1. firewall by painting a still life symbolising the love and enjoyment of life. Colourful City is organising street art tours, you can join their 5th event around VII. district on the 7th of July! This time, the guide will be the curator herself, who is in charge of the project, Noemi Nadudvari. She will show you 18 different murals, 6 of which will be gone by the end of summer. The cost is 4000 HUF for the 2,5 hour tour which includes the history of the murals and at the end a chilling beer at one of the coolest restaurant in Budapest, Dobrumba. The place is inspired by the owners' journeys over the past few years. The cuisine incorporates flavors from the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Caucasus, offering Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Moroccan, Israeli, Lebanese, Georgian, Armenian and Turkish dishes with a curated wine list in a thoughtful, modern space. Don’t miss out this hip programme, especially since some of the featured murals will be gone soon! Please send an email to noemi.nadudvari@gmail.com to confirm your participation. To be an enjoyable event for everyone, the number of people who could join would be ideally around 15. (minimum 5, max 20) Take a peek behind the scenes in our gallery, all photos featured are the courtesy of http://www.szinesvaros.hu Text and cover photo via Színes Város/Colourful City Group, special thanks to Noemi Nadudvari! 1/6 ×