Arts Lab 6.0: Luca Horváth - Month 7

Big Bună Ziua everyone! As the 7th month is coming to an end, it’s time to summarize everything – this may be harder than I expected. As of now, I feel very overwhelmed by this experience and I struggle to find the exact words and sentences to describe what’s happening in me. The fact that in a few days I will have to start packing up my stuff and move on still feels surreal.

Being in Arts Lab 6.0 has been a huge step out of my comfort zone. Barely graduating from high school, I suddenly started living kind of independently and together with 14 amazing people. It was a chaotic, emotional and challenging 7 months, but in the best way possible. The project felt like I was dropped into a completely new world and my objective was to discover the unknown, such as working with kids, facilitating workshops, working as an artist, taking care of myself.

In these months, I felt like I learnt more than through my entire life. 7 months packed with so many events, artistic tasks, personal challenges – lot of valuable lessons for all aspects of life. The most important thing I’ve had the chance to learn is probably how it is to live together with so many people. Finding a routine, creating my own space, balancing personal time and social time has been challenging in this environment. Sometimes it felt like the house never sleeps, there was always someone moving around, cooking in the kitchen, working in the living room. I had to adjust my sleeping schedule and working hours to better fit my housemates, which was difficult for me at first. My routine for the past 5 years has been roughly the same and this sudden change threw everything off balance for a few months, but I learnt how to adapt.

As many amazing moments as we had - such as exhibitions in fancy places, cultural nights, museum visits - for my favorite moment, I will have to choose the night in Bucharest where we all went for a walk and played together in a playground. Yes, the swings and slides may have been a bit too small for us, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying our time together, climbing on things that were climbable, and going down the slides as if it was our first time on a slide. Just having fun together, it’s my favorite memory.

Looking back on these months, it feels like a fever dream I don’t want to wake up from just yet. I’m extremely thankful to have been here, had the chance to try out so many new things in a safe environment, met all these amazing friends who I wouldn’t have met otherwise. The most prominent emotion that comes up when I think about my experience is love – for the people, the place, the project, everything. I know that even in my most challenging days, I never stopped loving being here.

As weird as it may sound, I don’t think there is anything I wish I knew at the beginning of the project. Sure, I wish I knew how to facilitate workshops better, how to be more time-efficient, what groceries to buy, etc. But if I had known these things at the very beginning, then there wouldn’t have been anything to learn. There are a lot of things I didn’t know and there are a lot of things I still don’t know, but they are all part of my learning process and I wouldn’t give them up for anything. One thing though: I wish I knew sooner that I don’t have to be scared of not doing something perfectly and that I shouldn’t be scared to ask for advice.

To anyone looking to break their routine, get back to art or develop their skills or learn a new skill in a safe space, this project is perfect. But the art aspect is not the only reason I would recommend it. During these months, I learnt about the world and developed my worldview in ways that wouldn’t have been possible if I just stayed home. Talking with people is always better than just reading an article on the internet. My personality developed a lot as well, this project helped me realize a lot about myself and what motivates me. I definitely recommend Arts Lab to those especially who are trying to find themselves.

In the last few months of the project, I came up with a new dream. So far, my dreams have been very individualist – running away from the world to live in a van – because I believed that’s the only way one can be truly happy. But now, after working with the community here, seeing how it is possible to have an impact, it inspired me to try to give something to the people who need it. This project inspired me to not be “running away” my first choice. The world of NGOs, entrepreneurship, management and projects are still very scary and unknown to me, but I feel like sooner or later I will be part of this world. Maybe I will be part of an organization, or maybe I will be the coordinator of my own project, who knows?

One thing I’m especially thankful for is how the project – activities, artist friends, exhibitions – helped me start to develop my artistic purpose. For me, art has always meant comfort, but it only comforted me. Moreover, I was scared to create something that might be controversial, out of the norm. I realized that my fear of making something that truly expresses how I feel is part of a problem – both internal and external problem. I believe art to be the purest form of freedom of expression, I shouldn’t be afraid to practice it. Now, I hope that this realization will result in me being braver and create art that truly has a message, not just to me, but to anyone who sees it.

And of course, my really really awesome friends here. All of them gave me something important that I will not forget, I truly enjoyed my time with them. From the kitchen conversations that turned into “historical arguments” to the night we went to play billiard, I felt comfort and belonging. Looking forward to 2028.

Report written by Luca Horváth, she's from Hungary and she's one of the 14 volunteers participating in Arts Lab 6.0, a project co-funded by the European Union through the European Solidarity Corps program.