Festivalgoers attend the INOTA music and visual arts festival at an abandoned thermal power plant in Varpalota, Hungary, on Aug 31. Photo: Reuters
A derelict power plant in Hungary came back to life last week, powered by music and light shows as thousands of festival-goers marvelled at its three huge cooling towers dominating the starry late summer sky.
The INOTA coal-fired thermal plant, built in the 1950s during the Communist era and once one of the country's largest industrial sites, was shut down in 2001.
The four-day INOTA festival gathered dozens of artists, including Berlin-based pianist, composer and producer Nils Frahm, whose sonic alchemy of experimental textures and atmospheric electronica capture the site's ambiance.
The festival site was lit up by mappings and light installations over four days. Photo: Reuters
Hilda Carlsson, 33, said she and her friends travelled from Sweden largely to see Frahm at the INOTA festival. They also took a guided tour of the vast 225,000sq m (56-acre) site lit up by mappings and light installations over four days.
"It is so fascinating with these kind of structures, and I think even more in a way (for) our generation, which isn't like the industrial workers (used to be as) now there are robots for everything," said Carlsson.
"It is also a sense of history that you can touch on."
A general view of the INOTA music and visual arts festival at an abandoned thermal power plant in Varpalota, Hungary. Photo: Reuters
The turbine hall, cooling towers and enormous heating room with its winding stairs and pipes have inspired visual artists from Hungary and abroad.
Among the leading musical acts are British electronic music producer Daniel Avery, the electronic duo Overmono also from Britain and the British-German post-punk band Lebanon Hanover.
The INOTA plant featured in the epic 2017 American dystopian movie Blade Runner 2049, starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, which was partly filmed in Hungary.
A festivalgoer takes a photo of smoke rings at the INOTA music and visual arts festival. Photo: Reuters
But the plant has stood idle since 2001. Hungarian visual artist Daniel Besnyo, who conceptualised the festival, hopes that will change now, with the musical and visual acts bringing new life to the place.
"In the long term, a very important aim of the festival is that this power plant ... could be re-used culturally, reinterpreted, and even host some kind of continuous cultural presence," Besnyo told Reuters.
Hungarian student Akos Marencsak, 21, said using the site as a powerhouse of music and arts was a great idea.
"The ambience, the feeling, what's inside these walls," he said, when asked what made the place special for him. - Reuters
