The end of this year is approaching, so we invite you to look with us at everything that has happened in the last twelve months.
This year brought the continuation of popular events, interesting new ones, but also events that we all wish were not a reality.
WE START WITH THE WORDS: WE CONDEMN HATE, VIOLENCE AND WAR
We condemn the war!
We were not indifferent to the situation in Ukraine from the beginning. Therefore, we took advantage of the central location of the market hall and involved the generous community around it, thanks to which we managed to organize several material collections in cooperation with Vagus, Depaul Slovakia, Kto pomôže Ukraine and Slovenská sporiteľňa. Where mats, sleeping bags, blankets, other hygiene items, non-perishable food, school notebooks and children's things were collected. We thank everyone who participated and thus contributed to helping the victims of the war in Ukraine.
We condemn hate!
The Old market hall and the area around it is open for everyone. We operate with the vision of creating a communal, inclusive space that welcomes visitors without distinction and supports their diversity, which is mutually inspiring for us all. We want to walk the path of non-violence, togetherness and tolerance, which is why we joined the Slovakian initiative Slovenská Tepláreň and during the Christmas Salon market we hosted a program with awareness about the LGBTI+ community in cooperation with BRaK - Bratislava Book Festival.
GREEN ROOF
Another step to a greener Old market hall! This year we began to focus intensively on the idea of a green roof. The ecological benefits are indisputable and would support the long-term sustainability of the entire Old Market hall project.
In the first step, we started with a test version in the form of a community garden for people from the Old Town. Different crops are grown here, a passive green roof zone is created here, we test different substrates, adjust water management and the garden is also used for educational purposes. This project will help us design a full-fledged green roof, which is one of our long-term visions.
The season of radishes, peas and salads was followed by the season of tomatoes, peppers and zucchini. At the end of November, the last brigade took place, when we cleaned and prepared the roof for winter. We are looking forward to spring again with a larger area for cultivation and new members who applied via the questionnaire and whom we will contact at the beginning of the new year. For the time being, the garden will rest, but not passively, because different varieties of cabbage and kale have been planted.
Some of you already had the opportunity to visit this project, because we added the roof to the “Neviditeľná tržnica” tour stops, there will be opportunities to visit next year as well, follow our Facebook page where you can always find current events.
We also offer the opportunity to visit the green roof to schools if you are interested in an excursion including a professional lecture (duration approx. 1.5 hours with a maximum capacity of 25 people, the lecture is suitable for the second grade of primary and secondary schools). Contact for more info and reservation: marianmazag@gmail.com.
The community garden project is implemented thanks to the financial support of the Bratislava City Foundation.
Educational activities are implemented thanks to the financial support of the Mením na zelené program from the ZSE Foundation. The partner of the project is Slovenská sporiteľňa.
TRH-PIAC-MARKT
Our Saturday markets again enjoyed great attendance, during the year we had up to 69 market participants, including farmers, family manufactories and specialist importers. Most of them went to the markets regularly throughout the year. But we also had a few exclusively seasonal sellers, such as the geese breeder Peter Farda, who was only on the market from November to December, or the tomato growers Druzstvo, who visit with us from July to September.
In addition to the long-standing classics, new faces also appeared on the market: Mrs. Eva Forgáčová with bouquets of cut flowers, herb farm Herba Danubia from Kravan nad Dunajom or HempBona with hemp products. During the year, the popular Viennese bakery Joseph Brot was also a successful guest at our place.
We also connected the space Oáza with the markets and, together with our partners, we organized interesting events in it, which took place during the markets, such as plants swap, clothes swap with NOSENE, Cyklodoktor, tasting and sale of fermented drinks with Fermentina and, at the end of the year, an exhibition of the works of the ceramic studio, which is located in the Oáza.
The last market of the year ended the long-term cooperation with the coffee roaster Green Plantation, which ended its activity. They have been at our markets since their beginnings and have come a long way with us, for which we thank them and we believe that we will meet them in the future in the framework of other projects, or at least they will visit us as customers!
Since April, we have decided to treat our visitors to lunch in the pop-up kitchen Kantína. It works under the baton of chef Daniel Karas, who is also behind kimchi Rodkva ferments and the street food stand Bechu by Rodkva. Both lunch and tapas, which were served every Saturday from 11:00, were cooked with ingredients from our market vendors.
We invite you to the Saturday markets in 2023! We start on the 7th of January, follow our FB event for more info and the list of market traders, which we publish every Thursday before the market.
GUIDE TO LIVING SQUARES
On the basis of the Living Square project, together with the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava, we published the publication Guide to Living Square. It is devoted to the largest central space in Bratislava: Kamenné námestie, Námestie Nežnej revolúcie and Námestie SNP. They are a daily part of the lives of tens of thousands of people who can look forward to their complete revitalization.
The publication Guide to Live Square presents three timelines of this space: its history, present and future. The authors of the text, Bianka Čajová and Michaela Koklesová, have collected dozens of pages of interesting facts, historical facts and beautiful photographs that tell compelling stories. You could see the most interesting of them at the exhibition from August 9 to October 10 in front of the market, which we prepared in cooperation with OZ Bratislavské rožky.
You can get the publication from us on the behind-the-scenes tours of the Old Market hall “Neviditeľná tržnica” or contact the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava.
SUMMER ART INSTALLATION
Our long-term goal is to find a way to revive the market even more and make it accessible to visitors during the week as well, not only during Saturday food markets or external events. With the INNER LIFE by MAOTIK installation, we managed to bring art for everyone to the market building and its surroundings for the second summer in a row - artists and laypeople, locals and foreigners, families with children, working people and retirees. During the summer, the art installation was visited by more than 45,000 visitors of all ages.
This year, the installation once again gave visitors the opportunity to become part of the art. They had the opportunity to create a digital micro-world of living images and sounds that respond to movement.
INNER LIFE installation by prestigious French digital artist Mathieu Le Sourd – MAOTIK was created for this occasion and architecture. She combined the natural microworld and vivid digital watercolor paintings in a unique form that responds to movement. The movement of the visitors was captured by lasers, which subsequently generated live abstract visual compositions and sounds. More info about the artist: www.maotik.com.
To celebrate the hypnotic combination of the movement of the human body and digital images and sounds, four dance performances were part of the installation. Tomas Danielis from the Radical Empathy studio, accompanied by dancers Soňa Kúdelová and Matúš Szega, staged a 15-minute performance that was repeated four times with elements of improvisation. Visitors could thus experience an extraordinary artistic moment for the price of the usual entrance fee.
However, we would certainly not be able to implement such a project without partners. Many thanks to Slovenská sporiteľna, the White Night festival, curator Zuzana Pacáková. The city of Bratislava, BSK and BKIS were also partners of the exhibition.
SEARCHING FOR INSPIRATION
When building the projects of the Old Market hall, we are always looking for inspiration for improvement.
That's why we set up a "residency" where we invite interesting guests from different corners of the world to look at the happenings around the market hall and give us feedback and their ideas for improvement. This year we hosted the illustrator Judit Zengővári, who created cheerful graphics of our Saturday markets. Lera Nepeina, an activist from Kyiv, whom we helped, also came to us and she in turn helped us with the green roof project. We were also visited by Vera Vida, an organizer from Budapest, with whom we created a document on the use of unused buildings.
In September, the entire team of the Old Market Alliance went on an inspirational visit to the Prague Market in Holešovice. KOKOZA o.p.s., who help people from the city to compost and grow, is also located on its premises. They educate about the collection of compostable waste, its processing and reuse. They showed us their sophisticated Rocket A900 composter, which can hold up to 300 liters of bio-waste per day, making it a great solution for areas with various gastro operations where a large amount of organic waste is generated. Their processing produces high-quality compost to enrich the soil. After a short expert lecture and a Q&A, we moved to their model city composter, dozens of which they managed to place in Prague housing estates. In order to motivate residents of apartment buildings in Prague to sort organic waste and compost locally in the inner blocks of their apartment buildings.
Finally, the program director of the Prague Market, Michal Tošovský, gave us a tour of the entire market. He told us about the plans for their huge area, its reconstruction, the use of individual halls, and we also visited their seven-day market.
CHRISTMAS SALON WITH SLOVENSKÁ SPORITEĽŇA
Instead of traditional Christmas markets, we supported local art, design, books and goodies at SALÓNKA during December. Under one roof, on selected days, from December 7 to December 21, visitors had the opportunity to buy original gifts for their loved ones and at the same time support local brands, small and large publishing houses, artisanal food producers and artists. Over 300 sellers from Trh-Piac-Markt, Urban Market and Brak - the book festival took turns in the space during the duration of the markets.
A sales exhibition of illustrations by Slovak illustrators, which is sponsored by ASIL - Association of Illustrators, was also included. In addition to Slovak creations, the creative scene of countries from the Vyšehrad Four region was also presented during the Salon at the showrooms of the brands and authors of our closest neighbors - the Wamp Festival (HU), the Łodz Design Festival (PL) and the Zlín Design Week (CZ), who brought the best of the current creation in their region.
In addition to interesting stands, visitors had the opportunity to experience a program for children and adults:
- book readers not only for children with actors and famous personalities
- music program, mini and midi concerts
- discussions on social topics
- live performances of projects such as Podgast with Čoje or Ajlavmjuzik
The main partner of the Old Market and the Salónka 2022 project is Slovenská sporiteľňa.
Salónka 2022 is created in cooperation with Čerstvé ovocie, BRaK - Bratislava Book Festival, ASIL - Association of Illustrators, Wamp, Łodz Design Festival and Zlín Design Week. The project was also supported by the International Visegrad Fund. The partners of Old market hall are BKIS and the capital of Bratislava.
We have big plans again for the new year. We are constantly working on improving and expanding the Saturday markets, at the same time we are devising ways to open the gates of the market for you during the week as well. In the summer, together with the Slovak Savings Bank, we would like to make another interactive installation available to you. And a lot of other interesting activities, he won't reveal in advance!
Thank you for staying with us this year and we look forward to new experiences with you!
