The Mária Valéria Bridge Guard Log, a new blog.

Video still: the bridge at dusk.

The Mária Valéria Bridge between Stúrovo, Slovakia, and Esztergom, Hungary, was first built in 1895. People destroyed the bridge in 1919 (for 7 years) and in 1944 (for 57 years). It was longer unusable than usable until it was rebuilt in 2001. I am the 7th Bridge Guard at the Residential Art/Science Centre in Stúrovo, Slovakia. The Bridge Guard Residency was established with the aim to mentally protect the bridge. It is my duty as the Bridge Guard to ‘protect’ the Mária Valéria Bridge, by building virtual bridges, cross and move boundaries, in or through my work. The idea being that as long as new connections are created, boundaries are (re-) moved and destruction of the actual bridge by people is less likely. In addition I am expected to record my daily observations of the bridge, which you will find on The Mária Valéria Bridge Guard Log blog. I choose to blog the Log for it’s potential to mentally connect as many people as possible from all over the world to this relatively unknown bridge thus building virtual bridges. Observations of the bridge, its environment, the two sides it connects, and my connections with the site will be documented in text and photography (digital, and video stills).