From Seed to Fruit – Echoes from the MIKÉFE garden – artistic intervention

events Programme

"From Seed to Fruit: Echoes from the MIKÉFE Garden" was an artistic and educational program prepared by Marom Budapest, an organization dedicated to the contemporary interpretation and creation of Jewish culture and the strengthening of social solidarity. The program focused on the history of MIKÉFE – the Hungarian Israelite Craft and Agricultural Association, one of the most important vocational education institutions operating within the Jewish community in Hungary in the 20th century. Through an exhibition, participatory activities, workshops, a sound walk, and an artistic publication, participants learned about the legacy of the MIKÉFE garden school and garden, which for years served as a space for learning, work, social mobility, and community building. Marom Budapest has been developing projects combining culture, education, and social dialogue for years, bringing lesser-known threads of Jewish history in Hungary back into the public debate.

The program, held just before Shavuot, focused on the relationship between cultivation, knowledge, and the transmission of heritage. Inspiration came from both MIKÉFE's educational work and the work of Rabbi Immanuel Löw, a prominent scholar of botany, language, and Jewish culture. Participants were encouraged to view plants not only as elements of the natural environment but also as vehicles of memory, work, language, and cultural history.

The day began with a family program, "Immanuel Löw's Lost Garden," during which children and adults explored the surrounding parks and green spaces, following a route based on maps, activities, and nature observation. Led by performer Ráhel Papp, the activities drew on the educational methods once used at MIKÉFE, based on direct contact with nature and experiential learning.

The next element of the program was a cyanotype workshop led by artist Bence Illyés. Participants worked with historical photographic techniques, creating botanical prints and exploring ways to document, transmit, and preserve knowledge about the plant world. The workshop became a meeting point for contemporary artistic practice and the horticultural traditions once cultivated in the MIKÉFE Garden.

A key part of the event was the sound walk "Recalling Immanuel Löw," conceived and performed by Zsófi Rebecca Kozma. Combining narrative, history, and ambient sounds, the walk transformed the urban space into a place for reflection on memory and heritage. Participants explored the connections between Löw's botanical knowledge, the history of Jewish education, and the ways in which memory takes root in places and landscapes.

The program culminated in the opening of the exhibition "From Seed to Fruit: Echoes from the MIKÉFE Garden" and the release of the publication Clapping Trees. The exhibition presented works by contemporary artists addressing themes of cultivation, ecological memory, labor, migration, and Jewish cultural history. Through installations, visual art, and research practices, the artists offered new interpretations of the MIKÉFE legacy and its significance for the present.

The exhibition's accompanying publication, Clapping Trees, produced using the risograph technique, served as a mobile archive documenting research, artistic practices, and reflections related to MIKÉFE's history, botanical heritage, and Jewish memory. Curators Andrea Ausztrics and Zsófia Szemző created a program that combined contemporary art, education, social history, and ecological reflection, restoring visibility to an important yet often overlooked chapter in Hungarian Jewish history.

📸 Gabriella Dohi