ORSOLYA
Layers of Memory is a cartographic collage that weaves Debrecen’s past—from the late 19th-century expansion when peripheral gardens were rezoned into new urban districts—with its current ambitions and future trajectories. Driven by a desire to understand the city's urban morphology, this project explores the forces that shaped its physical form. It examines how Debrecen's distinctive spatial structure emerged, how its wide streets developed into their contemporary configuration, and how its historical gardens and the Hortobágy continue to define its identity and evolution.
The artwork can be understood as a patchwork of layers of varying quality: a composition of layers with different levels of permeability. At one end of this spectrum lies the “exposed earth” or “bare ground,” which possesses the highest degree of permeability and bears the traces of human, animal, and vegetal lives—the marks of births and deaths embedded within the landscape. At the opposite end are the newly constructed structures on the city's periphery: buildings whose sealed forms reveal nothing of their interiors and thus embody a state of extreme impermeability.
Elements with a high degree of permeability are more closely aligned with what may be understood as a "living entity." Areas characterized by greater permeability tend to be more vulnerable within the urban environment. At the same time, however, they offer increased flexibility and adaptability for the city's inhabitants. The map is presented as a collage that reflects the varying levels of interconnectivity and interdependency among these layers, each possessing a different degree of permeability and quality.
The work was part of the project called Cultivators of Life, initiated by tranzit.ro/Bucharest Association in partnership with MODEM – Center for Modern Contemporary Art in Debrecen
The artwork can be understood as a patchwork of layers of varying quality: a composition of layers with different levels of permeability. At one end of this spectrum lies the “exposed earth” or “bare ground,” which possesses the highest degree of permeability and bears the traces of human, animal, and vegetal lives—the marks of births and deaths embedded within the landscape. At the opposite end are the newly constructed structures on the city's periphery: buildings whose sealed forms reveal nothing of their interiors and thus embody a state of extreme impermeability.
Elements with a high degree of permeability are more closely aligned with what may be understood as a "living entity." Areas characterized by greater permeability tend to be more vulnerable within the urban environment. At the same time, however, they offer increased flexibility and adaptability for the city's inhabitants. The map is presented as a collage that reflects the varying levels of interconnectivity and interdependency among these layers, each possessing a different degree of permeability and quality.
The work was part of the project called Cultivators of Life, initiated by tranzit.ro/Bucharest Association in partnership with MODEM – Center for Modern Contemporary Art in Debrecen