Holy Hydra

Interdisciplinary event in a sacral space where religion, arts, club culture and society meet.
Oradea, 2023

The role of the sacred in the present times is investigated.
This project illustrates the factual social importance of religious buildings and highlights new opportunities for intercultural exchange.
Content-wise, the event focuses on an expanded use, a possible redefinition of sacred spaces, with the aim to bring the discourse between religion, society and art to a broader and new level.

At the heart of our endeavor lies our intention to open these architecturally unique and valuable cultural and historical spaces so that they can be experienced as a place of encounter in addition to their religious significance for people, regardless of their beliefs.

In an interaction between theory and practice, a sacred space is going to be redefined and contrasted by on-topic presentations amongst other outstanding activities like contemporary dance performances, electronic sound art, interactive light installations and live-video projections during a two-day program.

www.holyhydra.at

"It is our strong belief and hope that the post-pandemic era will be one of tolerance and sharing. Regardless how our lives will be shaped in 2023 it is our mission to develop creative strategies to make art and culture happen."

Hydra is a collective and culture club from Linz, developing space-specific strategies for cultural events since 2016.
The collective consists of six creative heads (Amanda Augustin, Lorena Höllrigl, Anna Friedinger, Björn Büchner, Klaus Reznicek & Bernd Himsl) and is known for their site-specificity and space-related works at new or unused locations.

Trailer Documentation Holy Hydra 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrq9ddWJT4Q


Thomas Kloiber Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum Bucharest Jury member

"Holy Hydra can be considered as a pilot project for the discourse between religion, society and art, since the artist collective chose an interdisciplinary approach, which allows different refections on the importance of religious buildings nowadays. In this sense the project bears the potential to trigger an intercultural and interreligious dialogue on a very specific local level. I am convinced that “Holy Hydra” reflects as well the main intention of #newTogether: to develop new visions for an integrative society."

English