A part of the city we live in is invisible. By morning, the bins are emptied, public spaces and the benches in them are clean. Those who are vulnerable, in difficult circumstances, or who spend the night in hospitals or homeless shelters receive care. We speak about our worries, troubles, and emotional struggles, and in many cases we find understanding ears. In very many situations our rights are upheld and our needs are taken into account. Invisible work and invisible people keep society moving, so that in the end everything is reliably in its place.

How many things do we walk past every day that function thanks to someone’s work? What shared tasks are solved without us even noticing them? Who are the people we do not see because we have grown used to their presence – or because something blocks them from our field of vision?

What do we take for granted? Do we see that even what we consider “natural” is guided by power and is, in fact, an ideological question? How has it become natural that some people bear responsibility for more than others?

Invisibility is not accidental. Making something invisible is a matter of decision. It is always a political and ideological question. Structures, habits, interests, comforts, and blind spots in our attention keep it in place. What works continuously over time becomes unnoticed. What provides comfort recedes into the background. But what would happen if these systems stopped for a day?

At this year’s Bartók Fest, we aim to reflect on how we can give form to transparency, a role to invisibility, and how together we can make the invisible visible by adding colour to it.

Place: Budapest

Address: Budapest, Szent Gellért tér