Garden of collective Futures
The Standard- East Village, NYC
Client: European Union National Institute of Culture
Medium: Acrylic and spray paint
Size: 7.5 ft x 100 ft collaborative mural
Completed: 2024
The opportunity
Presented by the Liszt Institute New York and the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), Garden of Collective Futures brought together ten artists representing ten European nations to create a single public mural in Manhattan’s East Village. The project sought to celebrate cultural exchange through a shared creative process, demonstrating how distinct artistic voices could come together to imagine a shared future. Beyond the finished mural, the initiative fostered collaboration between artists, diplomats, and cultural institutions while creating a lasting public artwork for the East Village community.
The Approach
The collaboration began with artists and cultural diplomats gathering at the Austrian Cultural Forum before participating in a series of collaborative workshops that explored the themes of garden, collective, and future. Individual concepts were shared, refined, and woven into a unified composition under the guidance of lead artist Misha Tyutyunik, allowing each participating nation to maintain its own visual identity while contributing to a cohesive mural.
Hungarian Concept
Representing Hungary, I developed Flight of the Earthship, a vision of a spacecraft inspired by the Hungarian Parliament soaring through a landscape of greenery, clouds, and planets. The piece imagines a future where science, art, technology, and architecture move forward together—not as competing disciplines, but as partners in a shared creative journey. Rather than dominating the composition, each nation’s imagery became one chapter within a larger story of cooperation.
Historic Facade
As the design evolved, the team also responded collaboratively to the historic site itself. Rather than covering the entire brick façade with a painted background, we chose to preserve the character of the existing masonry by allowing the brick to remain visible between the painted forms. This approach celebrated the architecture of the East Village while giving the mural the feeling of a series of interconnected artworks living within a shared space.
Over three days, the artists prepared, projected, sketched, and painted side by side, welcoming conversations and occasional brushstrokes from curious passersby who became part of the creative process.
The outcome
Garden of Collective Futures transformed an historic East Village wall into a vibrant symbol of international cooperation, where ten artists and ten nations contributed to a single work of public art without sacrificing their individual voices. The mural stands as a reminder that our greatest achievements are often created together, through dialogue, generosity, and shared imagination.
For me, Flight of the Earthship represents the belief that creativity is humanity’s common language. Whether expressed through art, science, architecture, or technology, our collective future depends not on building alone, but on building together.
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