In the lobby, twenty somethings dance to remixed funk in their bikinis. Inside the baths, the belly dancers have taken over the area around the hot pool. And at the usually-quiet swimming pool, hordes of mostly Hungarian youngsters ‘dance’ in the shallow end. Upstairs in the gallery, organizer Laki Lu stands in front of a monitor and a projector, flicking switches to the beat. He’s projecting old seventies film footage of Olympic shotputters onto two huge screens above the swimming pool, while local DJ NanDee stands next to him pumping the techno music. The walls are covered in turquoise and orange projections like fractured stained glass.

The event was the brainchild of two dreadlocked impresarios – 33 year-old artistic director Laki Lu and his 26 year-old partner Eva Galos. Back in 1997, they came up with the idea as an outdoor gathering of friends. But he needed financial support for the idea. So of all the unlikely places to turn, he called the British Council. And he found an ally in then British Council arts manager Andrea Gancs, who has since become Cinetrip’s manager.

Cinetrip has been such a success that it’s taking off elsewhere. Laki has received invitations to hold 40 gigs at contemporary-arts festivals all over France during the summer. And the event will probably tour Australia.

You might wonder though how Cinetrip can take place anywhere other than Budapest. What about thermal waters, that key component? But London’s Royal Festival Hall, the baroque, central square of the Italian city Turin, and the bridges over the River Seine in Paris are among the places where Cinetrips have by now taken place. The concept is simple: to take any venue seemingly hostile to youth culture, and transform it through visual and audio effects. Upcoming venues include a cement submarine-holding tank built by Hitler in Bordeaux in 1942, and the Paris Stock Exchange.

While back in the New East, Hungarian party culture continues to delve into history to teach the panicky present how to relax, and how to really unwind.

Rudas Fürdőben
Address: 9 Döbrentei tér, Budapest 1013
Tel: +36 20 321 4568
https://www.rudasfurdo.hu