CHANGE OF VENUE!!! | IKEBANA WORKSHOP with Judit Várhelyi

Due to last year's great interest we are organizing an ikebana workshop again this year with ikebana artist Judit Várhelyi.

Judit Várhelyi, a renowned expert on the subject, and award-winning ikebana artist, is inviting everyone interested in Japanese culture to a creative workshop in the garden of the Hopp Museum. This special location provides an inspiring environment for creating individual flower compositions.

Ikebana (the traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement) shares its roots with tea culture, garden design and calligraphy, and is imbued with the principles of Japanese aesthetics. It is linked both to Buddhism, and the closeness to nature characteristic of the ancient Japanese religion Shinto. The first floral compositions were part of Buddhist liturgy; their monumental scale mirrored the proportions of the temples. The strict rules of composition and the interpretation of symbols were handed down from master to disciple as part of a secret teaching. Another name for ikebana refers to this notion — kadō, the 'path of flowers', the path to cosmic unity, to inner harmony. Meditative action helps one see the unity of the world, and experience the unity of nature and man.

Instead of colour and mass, ikebana employs brushstroke-like lines contrasted with empty space; it is characterised by a dynamic balance of asymmetry rather than symmetry. It is minimalistic in its use of colour, arranges plants with great imagination, and generally achieves its effect with little material. The composition forms an organic whole with the vase and the surrounding space. Budding branches and dry twigs are used more often than fully opened flowers at the peak of their beauty — it is a relection on the transience of plants and seasons. Ikebana originates from a direct experience of nature, expressing its vital energy and ephemeral quality. It is not a work of art for eternity, but made for a specific place and moment.

Judit Várhelyi has lived in Tokyo for more than two decades, first as an architect and later as a university lecturer. She became interested in ikebana because as an architect she was attracted by its linear beauty and the space formed by only a handful of materials. Following the Japanese tradition, she studied under a master teacher, while participating in exhibitions and obtaining an ikkyu advanced teacher's diploma. Her master was Suisen Takagi sensei, master teacher at the Sogetsu School. He also gave her the ikebana name, Suisho, meaning 'crystal'.

Maximum number of participants: 10

Participants are required to purchase an online programme ticket (a link to the website will be published soon).

Participation fee:

2500 HUF (museum programme ticket including a daily pass for the exhibition)

+ HUF 5000 (material cost) to be paid in cash on the spot.