ARTEC is a project initiated by the Transylvania Trust of Romania and its partners – the Câmpulung Museum (Romania), ACCR (France), the Art Union of Engravers and Lithographers (Hungary) and the Diputación Provincial de Teruel (Spain). The project ran from 1st November 2015 to 30th October 2017, with the support of the EU programme Creative Europe.
The project was primarily focused on the creation of a new Arts and Crafts Centre at the heart of Banffy Castle in Bonţida (Romania), the location for a series of events combining arts and crafts.
The primary objective of the project was to link traditional craft methodology with the decorative arts, and to revitalise a historic monument through interdisciplinary learning which brings together traditional and contemporary techniques in arts and crafts.
Objectives:
- to use creativity and art as a tool in the preservation and strengthening of European identity and heritage;
- to use art and crafts techniques as an inspiration for young artists and creators in a multicultural context;
- to use new technologies in the field of heritage, and to integrate traditional techniques within a modern cultural context.
Audiences targeted by the project: Artists, students, the general public, underprivileged groups, schoolchildren, and professionals working in arts, crafts and heritage conservation.
The first year of the project:
- Creation of the Arts and Crafts Centre: an international competition
This competition selected young artists, architects, designers and craftspeople to work alongside professionals on the redesign of spaces within the Centre. Contestants received a 3D model of the spaces to be reinterpreted.
The winners of the contest “Waiting for Revival”, which ran to 30th April 2016, were:
- Blajin Group for the exterior redesign
- NORMA for the interior redesign
- Installation of the Arts and Crafts Centre: implementation
Following the European competition, the 25 selected contestants and 15 professionals redesigned the spaces, sharing their knowledge and experience of traditional crafts. The re-use of the space also included restoration work and the implementation of the selected project, incorporating a multifunctional space and three workshops.
- Touring exhibition
This exhibition consisted of a documentary on the ways in which artists and craftspeople from different cultural backgrounds come together to create within a non-conventional space, with the aim of sharing and enriching their artistic and professional experience. Having toured Europe, the exhibition was shown at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Paris from 15th February 2017.
- Opening of the Arts and Crafts Centre
The Centre was opened in September 2016. To mark the occasion, a modern theatrical re-interpretation of the Metamorphoses of Ovid took place at Banffy Castle, a venue renown for its baroque architecture and its gallery of statues depicting the work of Ovid. The performance was filmed so that it could be shown in all the partner countries.
- Events
- Workshops for schoolchildren in Spain and Romania (Bonțida and Câmpulung). These were aimed at children from different cultures, to raise their awareness of local heritage through interactive activities.
- European Heritage Days in September in Spain, Hungary and Romania (Bonțida and Câmpulung). Sites managed by the co-organisers are open to the public for events promoting the re-use of heritage assets (debates, guided visits, concerts).
- Celebrating heritage – Arts and Crafts Centre.
- Professional workshop at ACCR Paris (24-25 April 2017). A workshop to raise visibility of the artists and craftspeople and their work, and to increase understanding of the synergy between arts and heritage among disadvantaged groups at a regional level.
- Dissemination of the results.
- Creation of a project blog and publication of a database.