A meeting of a yeast factory and fine art: let’s go to Torula!

The independently operated Torula, located in Győr, was created as a kind of brownfield cultural investment. The institution, which includes eight studios and an impressive exhibition space, was established by the GyőriSzeszgyárésFinomítóZrt.It might seem strange at first, but the 136-year-old distillery's relationship with fine art goes back a long way: the former owner of the factory, the Austrian tycoon August Lederer, was a real patron of the arts, who maintained close relations with the artists of the Viennese secession, including Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Lederer also made one of the halls of the distillery available to Schiele. Although the studio used by Schiele was destroyed during the Second World War, one of the halls of the factory, not used for industrial production, is still home to works of art. From the middle of the sixties to the beginning of the nineties, this hall housed the country's first industrial-scale torula factory.

Torula is actually a type of yeast, hence the name of the art space. However, the name can also be interpreted as a kind of metaphor: the "yeast", i.e., Torula, aims to revitalize the cultural life of Győr. In addition, the institution's unconcealed mission is to become a kind of compass and a defining contemporary art exhibition space of the Vienna-Bratislava-Budapest cultural triangle. That is why exhibitions and art projects that are sufficiently progressive and value-creating are given space here.This was evidenced by the group exhibition titled Are you sure you want to reset? representing Torula's larger concept in a picturesque way that visitors could perambulate on sand-covered ground, as well as the installation of Maurer,Dóra titled Space Painting, which presented the best-known works drawn from the artist's four decades of work.

In the summer-fall season of 2023, the duo exhibitions will play the leading role in the Torula square, meaning that fans of contemporary art can see the works of two artists at the same time. Next time, for example, we can see the following temporary exhibition:

One exhibition of the summer season will resonate with Torula's historical and urbanistic as well as physical parameters. The latest works of Andreas Fogarasi and Kiss,AdriennMária scrutinize two defining keywords of the 20thand 21stcentury work concepts, production and outsourcing.As a special element of the exhibition, we can also see an animation work generated by artificial intelligence.

In the autumn period, Torula continues its program offering with group art exhibitions. Current topics will be discussed, such as the relationship between man and machine, the relationship between professions and technology, especially the Internet, or the issue of artificial intelligence's ability to be creative. In the second half of autumn, objects created at the intersection of folk culture and fictitious myths will play a leading role. The planned collaborating artists include the first graduates of the Moholy-Nagy University of Arts and Design Campus in Győr.

You can find out more details and possible programme changes by clicking on the institution's Facebook page.