participants
2025

Art historian Áron Fenyvesi was born in 1983 in Novi Sad. He started his studies at the Faculty of Humanities of Eötvös Loránd University in 2002, where he studied art history and aesthetics. Between 2008-2009 she was the secretary of the Young Artists Studio Association. Between 2009 and 2010, she was awarded the Ernő Kállai Art Historian and Art Critic Fellowship, which was dedicated to research on the relationship between modernist utopias and young Hungarian contemporary art. In 2009 he was nominated for the Lorenzo Bonaldi Prize. From 2009 to 2017 he served as a jury member of the Esterházy Art Prize. He has published several articles in Hungarian art magazines and ArtReview. He lives and works in Budapest.

She is the concept developer and artistic director of the Visual Arts Centre of the Zsolnay Heritage Management Nonprofit Ltd. She completed her university and doctoral studies at the universities of Pécs, Nanterre, and Szeged. She has curated numerous exhibitions both in Hungary and abroad. In 2021, she became the founding curator of LOKART, which has since been held biennially as an international event.

Art Historian, Chief Museologist of the Contemporary Collection of the Hungarian National Gallery. Member of the International Association of Critics (AICA) since 1999.

József Benes (1930–2017) was a Hungarian visual artist, painter and graphic artist born in Vojvodina. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade, where he studied under Nedeljko Gvozdenovic. His work focused on painting and printmaking, with a unique lyrical and expressive visual language. Benes participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Europe, including shows in London, Ljubljana, Kraków, Budapest, and Szeged. His artistic achievements were recognized with many prestigious awards, such as the Munkácsy Prize and multiple international biennial grand prizes. His oeuvre is marked by poetic abstraction, humanistic depth, and formal experimentation, securing his place in both the Hungarian and regional contemporary art canon.

Marianne Csáky is born in Budapest and lives in Brussels. She holds a DLA degree from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. Her work focuses on personal and community identity, personal experiences of history, and the themes of body and sexuality. She works with a wide range of materials and genres, from sculpture to drawing, photography, embroidery and video. She has lived and worked in many places in Asia, Europe and America, teaching, lecturing and exhibiting. In 2018, she established the independent exhibition space Streetview Anderlecht in her studio in Brussels.

Márta Czene’s artistic practice centers on personal and female identity, as well as the reconstruction and interpretation of the past through visual storytelling. Her narrative paintings evoke personal stories and roles, which she likens to an identity-seeking investigation. She explores the boundaries of interpretability, searching for a fragile balance between what is told and what is felt—between the unspoken and the unspeakable. In recent years, she has expanded beyond traditional panel painting to create layered image installations combining various materials—paintings, drawings, murals, photographs, and printed tarpaulins—where spatial covering evokes the inaccessible layers of memory.

She studied at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts from 1970 to 1977. She belongs to the second generation of the Hungarian neo-avant-garde movement. She was a member of the Rózsa Circle, which played a significant role in the art scene of the 1970s. Her work focuses on the representation of women. Her artistic practice unfolds through drawings, prints, photographs, paintings, sculptures, performances, and installations, which also include her poems, letters, artistic manifestos, theoretical writings on art, and even her studios. She is a recipient of the Mihály Munkácsy Award and a member of SZIMA (Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Arts). Her works can be found in the Ludwig Collections in Vienna and Budapest, the Museum of Fine Arts, and prominent American and European collections.

Born in 1985 in São Paulo, she graduated from Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest (Photography, 2009) and studied in Ljubljana, Glasgow, and at the École Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as the Art Encounters Biennale (Timișoara), Manifesta (Pristina), and galleries in New York, Milan, Berlin, and Bratislava. Combining photography with installation, performance, and narrative elements, her practice explores themes of memory, identity, and the body.

Lili Ermezei is a strategist and organisational psychologist working at the intersection of design, psychology, and business. She is a PhD candidate at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) in collaboration with Aalto University, researching mindset characteristics behind scalable business growth in Nordic startups. She holds an MSc in Organisational and Business Psychology (University of Liverpool), an MA in Visual Communication (MOME), and is a certified brain-based coach (NeuroLeadership Institute). Lili has held senior leadership roles, including Chief Experience Officer at Wunderman Thompson Finland, working with global brands like Finnair, Fiskars, and Nokia. As the founder of Helsinki Mind, she helps leaders and organisations grow by combining strategic thinking with psychological insight. Her focus areas include leadership development, innovation design, organisational change, coaching, and evidence-based transformation processes.

He graduated from the Faculty of Arts of PTE in 2004. In 2024, he received his doctorate from the same School of Arts. From the very beginning, his creative practice has been based on the idea of transience and timelessness in the form of sharply separated series. His paintings are primarily objects that retain personal traces of use, materials that reflect the finitude of physical existence, and, less frequently, empty spaces. In the early 2010s, he constructed and photographed still life paraphrases based on 17th century Dutch models. For two years from 2014, he painted bread studies. With this project, she attempted to rethink the problem of vanitas by drawing on traditional means of observation and representation, but consciously avoiding familiar art historical schemata. During his doctoral training, his choice of subject remained focused on existential dilemmas, while the focus of his images became increasingly smaller objects of smaller size and importance. Their sensual beauty no longer proclaims the finitude of life on earth, but the infinite richness of transformation.

She is a visual artist whose works explore the themes of time, cognition, and human existence. Her pieces form part of an ongoing series, each reflecting a unique interpretative approach, driven by doubt and uncertainty. She studied at the University of Pécs (DLA program) and the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe with Prof. Harald Klingelhöller. Her practice spans video, installation, and photography. She has exhibited in Hungary and abroad, including shows in Munich, Dortmund, and Karlsruhe. She is a member of the National Association of Hungarian Creative Artists and the Approach Art Association. Her work has been featured in notable exhibitions such as “Survey” (m21 Gallery, Pécs), “Spatial Illusions” (Munich), and “Memo-City” (Pécs). Her writing and works have appeared in publications including Echo and Tabula, often examining the relationship between memory, space, and personal narratives.

The life of Ferenc Ficzek (1947-1987) was short but productive. A decade of his work is linked to the activity of the Pécs Workshop, which developed between 1968 and 1980. In his art he emphasised, among other things, the context of light and shadow, often used projection and montage in his photographs, achieved the effect of texture in his enamels and paintings with spray paint, and often applied it to his moulded canvases. In his work, he studied the changing plasticity of geometric and organic forms and the properties of changing light conditions, and experimented with medium-reflexive gestures of image manipulation. In the late 1970s, his use of projection led him towards the moving image, and from the 1980s he turned to animation, summing up all the techniques that have defined his work.

Luca Gőbölyös DLA habil is a visual artist and photographer, Professor and Head of the Photography Programme at the University of Pécs, Faculty of Arts. She lives and works in Budapest. She studied at the Hungarian University of Arts and Design, the University of Brighton, and completed her DLA doctoral studies in Budapest. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Balogh Rudolf Prize and the Pécsi József and Eötvös Grants. Gőbölyös's practice explores socio-critical, feminist, and conceptual themes, using photography, video, and multimedia. She has exhibited widely in solo and group shows across Europe and the US, including venues like Fészek Gallery, FUGA, and Knoll Gallery in Budapest, and cultural institutes in Helsinki, Paris, and Berlin. Her dual focus on academic theory and artistic expression informs her reflective, interdisciplinary approach to image-making and pedagogy.

Ábris Gryllus (b. 1985, Budapest) is a media artist and composer working at the intersection of known and unknown soundscapes. His conceptual electronic compositions, installations and performances explore temporality and perception. He studied at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, where he currently leads the MA Graphic Design programme. His works have been presented at major international venues including Transmediale/CTM Berlin, Venice Biennale, Off-Biennale Budapest and Tanzplatform Munich. Since 2017, he has released albums under his own name (Canon, Nucleus of the Decay, Relent), and regularly composes for theatre, dance (Hodworks, Compagnie Pál Frenák), and film. He received the Lábán Rudolf Award in 2022. His practice centers on the spatial, visual and sensual dimensions of sound.

Nilbar Güreş (b. 1977, Istanbul) holds a B.A. in Painting from Marmara University, Istanbul, and an M.A. in Painting & Graphics from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. She continued her studies in Art and Textile Pedagogy at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Her multidisciplinary work spans photography, video, painting, performance, sculpture, installation, and textile-based collage. Drawing from biography, her practice addresses social injustice, gender roles, and cultural identity through poetic and witty gestures. Her solo exhibitions include venues in Vienna, London, Istanbul, Berlin, and Tel Aviv. She has participated in major group shows, including Palais de Tokyo, Yokohama Triennial, Istanbul Biennial, Sydney Biennale, and the Belvedere Museum.

Hungarian visual artist. He studied at Janus Pannonius University (1988– 1992) and its Master School of Fine Arts (1992–1995), was mentored by István Bencsik and Gyula Konkoly. He led the Studio of Young Photographers (2005–2007) and has been teaching at the University of Kaposvár since 2016. His works include sculptures, photography, and media art, with solo exhibitions in Budapest, Pécs, Paris, and Portland, and he also participated in major group exhibitions across Europe. He received the Mihály Munkácsy Prize (2010), Derkovits and Pécsi scholarships, and the Smohay Award. He is active in residencies (notably Krapanj, 2004–2025) and has works in public collections including the Ludwig Museum, the Hungarian National Gallery, and the Hungarian Museum of Photography.

Performance artist, visual artist, poet. Emerging from the Budapest underground, Hajas was a central figure of Hungary’s unofficial art scene in the 1970s and is of the leading Eastern European representatives of body art and performance. He began his career as a poet, then turned to conceptual art and street actions. By the mid-1970s, his interest shifted to film and video. From 1977 on, his performances became increasingly theatrical and ritualistic, exploring physical and mental limits through pain, sacrifice, and transcendence. Tibetan philosophy influenced works such as Chöd and Tumo. His camera-based performances, often documented by János Vető, featured light bursts, burning, and bodily risk (Picture Whipping, 1978–79).

He began his career in the late 1960s as a member of the Pécs Workshop, formed by a group of Ferenc Lantos’s students, who combined the tra- ditions and contemporary forms of geometric art with the tendencies of land art. Hopp-Halász studied and worked in Pécs, then, in the late 1970s, moved back to his parents’ home in Paks. In 1979, he initiated the Experimental Visual Art Camp of Paks and, in the beginning of the nineties, he founded Art Gallery Paks. The traditions and the methods of constructivism have equally left their mark on a career diverse both in media and subject matter, where, alongside painting, the dominating medium, photography, photo-action and performance, graphic art, object art and installation also feature prominently.

DLA is a sculptor and visual artist. She graduated from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Pécs and earned her DLA there. She also studied sculpting and art therapy at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Her work explores the sensitive interplay of material, light and shadow, and spatial perception. She has exhibited in numerous solo and group shows both in Hungary and abroad. Her publications reflect a strong interest in theoretical aspects of art. She is a member of several professional organizations including MAOE, VUdAK, and the International Kepes Society. In addition to her artistic practice, she has been active as a curator and educator, and participated in artist residencies in Hungary and internationally.

Anna Hulačová (b. 1984, Sušice, Czech Republic) is a prominent Czech sculptor known for merging elements of folklore, mythology, and science fiction with urgent ecological and social concerns. Her practice explores the relationship between nature and civilization through hybridized human and non-human forms—often bees, plants, and other organic motifs—highlighting themes of care, decay, and transformation. Hulačová was a finalist for the Jindřich Chalupecký Award and has exhibited extensively across Europe and beyond, including at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Palais de Tokyo, Kunsthalle Bratislava, and Frieze in London. She lives and works in Klučov, Czech Republic.

Visual artist based in Istanbul whose practice centers around found domestic textiles—tablecloths, curtains, bedsheets—as mediums of memory and social identity. Through embroidered and painted forms, İlkin explores the body as a site of political, emotional, and ecological transformation. İlkin’s artworks have been exhibited at major international venues, including the 17th Lyon Biennale, Manifesta 15 Barcelona, Istanbul Modern, the Wellcome Collection (London), and MAC VAL (Paris). She has held residencies at institutions such as Pioneer Works (New York), Künstlerhaus Bremen, and IASPIS (Stockholm), and was formerly part of the Atıl Kunst collective. Her multilayered practice invites reflection on shared habitats and transformative ecologies.

Ágnes Kántor (b. 1982, Szeged, Hungary) is a painter whose work explores perception, memory, and identity. She graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2006, where she studied under Dóra Maurer. Between 2015 and 2018, she pursued doctoral studies in contemporary aesthetics at the University of Szeged. From 2007 to 2022, she taught at the Department of Drawing and Art History at the Juhász Gyula Faculty of Education. Her concept-driven painting examines the visual traces of memory and the boundaries of intimacy and visibility. Her solo and group exhibitions span Hungary and abroad, including Barcelona, Maribor, Munich, and Tallinn. In 2009, she received the Barcsay Prize, and in 2012 was a finalist of the Guasch Coranty International Painting Award. Kántor’s art is marked by introspective depth, conceptual clarity, and an interest in the fragmented, subjective experience of the visual world.

Hungarian visual artist, performer, and poet of Russian origin. She moved to Hungary in 1965 and graduated from the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in 1977. She was a key fi gure of the Hungarian avant-garde in the 1980s and 1990s. Her work earned numerous awards, including the Munkácsy Prize (1989) and the prestigious Kossuth Prize (2002). El Kazovszkij remains a vital influence in contemporary Hungarian art.

Károly Kismányoky (1943, Pécs – 2018, Pécs) was a founding member of the Pécs Workshop. His experimenting and questioning nature led him to deny the fixed, finalized form of artwork and to focus on the process rather than the result – on the living activity rather than on the lifeless product. Under the visual directions of Ferenc Lantos, he first realized enamel paintings in the enamel factory of Bonyhád as well as prints and studies for geometric compositions together with the other members of the group. The outdoor, industrial and public character of the enamel paintings enlarging the realm of his atelier, his interest gradually shifted to situation-based practices. He started experimenting outdoor, in the surrounding natural and urban environment keeping process and the unfolding of events as the focal point, instead of sheer creation and execution.

Emerging, self-taught photographer from Hungary, Pécs. The birth of her fourth child in 2014 made her the person she is today. As an artist, a mother and a cancer survivor she works on several long-term projects with subjects closely related to events of her own life and her own experiences. She aspires to articulate women's unheard thoughts, their desire, fears and anxieties. Working within a documentary and conceptual framework by using metaphors and symbols, her artistic practice explores themes centred around womanhood, family bonds and trauma. She was selected as a FUTURES talent in 2025.

Visual artist who earned her MA in Painting from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2024. In 2023, she studied at Aalto University in Finland through an Erasmus scholarship, taking part in the university's Visual Cultures, Curating and Contemporary Art programs. Her work and research have been supported by the New National Excellence Program and the international feminist initiative BRAWE. In 2024, she explored the intersection of ecofeminism, climate change, and women’s societal roles during a curatorial traineeship at the SÍM Residency in Reykjavík.

Dorottya Kanics (b. 1987, Pécs) is a Hungarian painter based in Pécs. She earned her MA in painting and later pursued doctoral studies (DLA) at the University of Pécs, Faculty of Arts. Her work explores themes of the human body, feminine identity, and inner emotional landscapes through intuitive and expressive visual language. She constructs personal mythologies and symbolic spaces on canvas, often blending figuration with abstraction. Since 2008, she has been an active member of the Üres Tér Theatre Collective, contributing to experimental and street theatre as a visual artist and set designer. Kanics has exhibited widely in Hungary and abroad (M21, Nádor Gallery, Republic Gallery, Art and Antique, Budapest Contemporary), and regularly shows her work at Ancora Gallery in Pécs.

1985 és 1992 között a pécsi Dunántúli Napló Fotórovatának, az Uni- versitas diáklapnak és több helyi, valamint országos lapnak voltam fotósa. Tagja lettem a Mecsek Fotóklubnak és a Fiatalok Fotóművészeti Stúdiójának, utóbbinak vezetőségi tagja is voltam. Számos hazai és nemzetközi kiállításon vettem részt (Budapest, Berlin, Prága, Kyoto, stb.). 1988-ban a Fotóművészet tehetségkutatóját nyer- tem meg „Erről a városról” c. sorozatommal. Fényképeztem színházi előadásokat, koncerteket, performanszokat, kiállításokat, műtárgyakat. Első önálló kiállításom 1991-ben volt Pécsett.

Zsófia Keresztes (b. 1985, Budapest) is a visual artist recognized for her mosaic-textured sculptures and hybrid installations that explore the tension between digital identity and physical presence. A major milestone in her career was representing Hungary at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. Keresztes has held solo exhibitions in Berlin, Vienna, New York, and Budapest, and participated in international group shows at institutions like Centre Pompidou-Metz, the 15th Lyon Biennale, and the Baltic Triennial. She received the Esterházy Art Award in 2017. Her emotionally charged sculptural works push the boundaries of contemporary figuration while offering poetic reflections on corporeality and human relationships in the digital age.

Trained as a sculptor, she graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad in 2012. Her multidisciplinary practice includes drawings, objects, site-sensitive installations, and conceptual situations. She investigates the hidden labor embedded in the intersection of socio-political realities and contemporary language—labor that is often intangible, economically unrecognized, and physically or emotionally exhausting. This exhaustion, she argues, imprints itself on the body and is reabsorbed into language, gesture, and expression. Since 2015, she has participated in various collaborative and residency-based projects, such as Art Colony Ravne (2016) and Greenhouse Collective (2018). Since 2022, she has been based in The Hague, Netherlands, where she studies at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK), and continues her artistic and academic work.

Csaba Kis Róka (b. 1981, Székesfehérvár) is a Hungarian visual artist known for his intense, grotesque yet poetic imagery, blending figuration with dark symbolism. He graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2007 and also studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg. His works often explore existential and psychological themes through distorted bodies and surreal narratives. Kis Róka has held numerous solo exhibitions across Europe. His works are represented in several public collections, such as the MACT in Switzerland and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Dunaújváros. His raw, expressive style continues to challenge boundaries between beauty, decay, and the grotesque in contemporary painting.

He's pursuing an MFA in Fine Arts at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, Netherlands, starting in 2023. He previously completed his foundation and bachelor's degrees in Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London from 2009-2012. In his work, he aims to create atmospheres and convey emotions through monumental yet simple constructions. He initially used iron, likening it to a painter's canvas frame. On this, he typically attaches panel-like elements made of textile. His goal is to establish a connection between the human body and its surroundings. He has held solo exhibitions in Budapest, Prague, Ludwigsburg, and Slovakia, and has participated in numerous group shows across Europe and overseas.

She is a visual artist currently based in Siófok, while also teaching art and art history in Székesfehérvár. Her work explores contemporary figurative painting through innovative techniques, often blending tradition with grotesque humor and philosophical depth. Since 2015, she has developed the Soft Images series, focusing on tactile and bodily motifs on soft surfaces. In addition to her studio practice, she organizes art projects and residencies. She is a member of several Hungarian art associations (MAOE, MFT, MMAT) and has received numerous awards, including the MMA scholarship (2023), Unilever Art Prize (2018), and Barcsay Award (2013). Her works are held in both private and public collections in Hungary and abroad.

Katalin Ladik is a radical female performer active in both the Yugoslav and Hungarian neo-avant-garde movements. Her visual and sound poetry, performances, and body art are based on an intermedial reinterpretation of the body and language, sound and visuality. Originally a poet, she became involved with the circle of the Vojvodina-based Új Symposion magazine in the 1960s, leading to her engagement with the Yugoslav experimental art scene. Since the 1970s, her performances have centered on reflecting on female roles. Through her use of the naked body or one concealed in costume and ritualistic acts, her work challenges traditional gender roles constructed by male-dominated society.

Ceramic artist and visual arts teacher. Studied ceramics at the Tömörkény Art Secondary School in Szeged, followed by the Hungarian University of Applied Arts in Budapest (1986–1991), where she majored in ceramics and art education. In 1995, she received her MFA at the Master School of Fine Arts in Pécs (Siklós International Ceramic Art House). Mentors: Imre Schrammel, Ilona Keserü, Imre Bak. Between 1993–1996, she was awarded the prestigious Moholy-Nagy Design Scholarship. Her work has been shown in over 100 solo and group exhibitions across Hungary and abroad. She explores the intersections of text and image in ceramics, installation, and visual poetry. Since 2023, she has been publishing poetry in literary journals and has released multiple collections.

The figures in my paintings reflect the people of our time (as imprints of the present), who have entered my field of vision either through real-life encounters or via the media. At the same time, I strive to placing myself in this world and search for enduring values—anchors worth holding onto and highlighting for future generations. The characters in my work also function as social critiques: Who are we? What does online presence mean for those over forty? — selfies and MASKS, filters, fictional Instagram story-like image sequences, gesture-likes — do I embrace it, desire it, choose it...? Themes such as the experience of female roles and accepting the passage of time are also central to my work.

Mátis Rita (1967, Pécs) is a painter, university lecturer, and DLA graduate. She studied at the Secondary School of Arts in Pécs (1981–1985), then earned her teaching degree at the Janus Pannonius University, studying under Ilona Keserü (1987–1992). Between 1992 and 1995, she completed the Master School of Fine Arts under Gyula Konkoly. She has received scholarships in Paris (1995), Vienna (KulturKontakt, 1996), Sweden (Gröding, 2005), and Rome (2019, Collegium Hungaricum). In 2016, she defended her doctoral thesis (DLA) at the University of Pécs. She currently teaches at the Rippl-Rónai Art Institute of MATE University in Kaposvár. Her works can be found in public collections in Szombathely and Linz. She has participated in over 40 solo and 100+ group exhibitions in Hungary and abroad. Mátis is a member of MAOE and has been recognized with awards including the PAB Prize for Best PhD Dissertation (2017).

She was born in Ankara. Studied Graphic Design at Bilkent University and Jewelry Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. She received her MA in Visual Arts from Sabancı University in 2011 and has been pursuing a PhD at Özyeğin University since 2016. Her photographic work focuses on the dual nature of human body—both observer and observed—exploring perception through multilayered compositions. She has held solo shows including Twice into the stream (2012) and Suspicious affinities (2015) at Galeri Nev Istanbul. Her works have been featured in major group exhibitions such as Photography in Days of Pandemic (Istanbul Modern), A Room of One’s Own (Leica Gallery), and the European Capital of Culture (Wrocław). Since 2015, she has been teaching in the Visual Arts and Visual Commu- nication Design Department at Sabancı University. She lives and works in Istanbul.

Menyhárt Marcell (1999) is a contemporary visual artist living and working in Pécs, Hungary. His practice blends elements of pop culture, digital imagery, and social commentary through a painterly and experimental lens. He studied at the Secondary School of Arts in Pécs and later continued his education at the University of Pécs, Faculty of Arts. His works have been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including at Nádor Gallery, Horizont Gallery, and Art Market Budapest. In 2023, he presented two solo shows: New High Score (House of Arts and Literature, Pécs) and Macro Pop (Nick Gallery, Pécs). In 2024, he co-exhibited Playroom with József Getto at ZsdrálArt Gallery in Balatonfüred. His artistic language reflects a unique hybrid of playful visual storytelling, conceptual layers, and critical engagement with contemporary society.

Anna Nemes (1989, Budapest) graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2014, majoring in painting. Her works have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Hungary and abroad. In 2023, she received the ACAX | Agency for Contemporary Art Exchange grant, allowing her to spend two months at Residency Unlimited in New York in 2024. Her recent paintings are marked by the dominant use of black, combining abstract paint flows with meticulously rendered, sensitive details in oil. The resulting compositions offer a unique interplay between organic abstraction and figurative representation. Beyond her visual art practice, Nemes is also active in film. Her feature film Gentle (Szelíd), co-directed with László Csuja, was the first Hungarian film to be selected for the competition program of the Sundance Film Festival.

Sculptor, he graduated in 1991 from Janus Pannonius University in Pécs and continued his studies at the Master School of Fine Arts until 1994. Between 2002 and 2005 he was a DLA student at the University of Pécs, where he obtained his doctoral degree in 2013. His mentor was István Bencsik. Since 1998, he has taught sculpting at the Secondary School of Arts in Pécs. He is a member of the Bázis Sculpture Association. His work is rooted in classical sculpture, yet shaped by a contemporary mindset. He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Hungary and abroad, including shows in Pécs, Budapest, Vienna, and Ess- lingen. Several of his works are also featured in public spaces, particularly in the Pécs region.

Márta Nyilas (b. 1967, Cluj-Napoca) is a visual artist and painter. She studied at the “Ioan Andreescu” Academy of Visual Arts in Cluj, and later earned her DLA degree (2005) and habilitation (2009) at the University of Pécs, Hungary. Her master was Ilona Keserü. Her work blends painting, textile, and intermedia forms. She has exhibited widely in solo and group shows in Hungary and abroad (Budapest, Rome, Cluj, Szentendre). She has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the Derkovits Scholarship, National Cultural Fund grants, and artist residencies in Rome. Alongside her artistic career, she has been engaged in teaching and curatorial work, and regularly participates in art-related publications and events.

Orsolya Nyíri (born 1995, Kaposvár) is a visual artist based in Budapest, and a member of the art quarter budapest artist community since 2023. She studied at Zichy Mihály Secondary School of Arts and earned her MA in Painting at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2023. Her work reflects on popular culture, visual clichés, and the representation of femininity. She has participated in several solo and group exhibitions, including at Molnár Ani Gallery, Q Contemporary, and Aurora Project Space. Her latest solo show, The Spirit Is Willing, But the Flesh Is Weak, was presented at Horizont Gallery in 2024. Her work has been featured in various publications such as Artportal, Magyar Narancs, and Artkartell. She is a member of the Studio of Young Artists’ Association (FKSE) and Odd Spot, a tattoo and art collective.

İz Öztat's collective and individual artistic practice, spanning diverse media defined by research, explores the persistence of violent histories through forms, materials, space and language. Öztat is a fellow of the Berlin Artistic Research Programme (2024-25). Her academic articles, essays and fictional texts have been published in various media. She has worked at the intersection of art and education in self-organized, institutional, and academic settings. Selected exhibitions include Self-determination: A Global Perspective, IMMA, Dublin (2023); The Colony, Schwules Museum, Berlin (2018); Tamawuj, Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017); Land without Land, Heidelberger Kunstverein, (2016); and Salt Water: A Theory on Thought Forms, 14th Istanbul Biennial (2015).

Luca Petrányi is an architect, visual artist, and curator working across the intersections of architecture, contemporary art, performance, and community-based practices. A graduate and current doctoral candidate at MOME (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design), her award-winning diploma project, inspired by field research at Mount Merapi, was a finalist for the international YTAA Award. She also studied in Indonesia, focusing on traditional dance, batik, and printmaking. Her artistic and curatorial work has been showcased in both Hungarian and international exhibitions. Petrányi is co-founder of the curatorial duo Useless Galeri, a board member of FKSE, and founder of Bábel, a community arts initiative. Her projects engage with themes of identity, collectivity, and the fluid boundaries of cultural experience.

He lives and works in Budapest. He studied sculpture at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts between 1994 and 2000. His solo exhibitions have been held at key venues such as Trafó Gallery, Horizont Gallery, Art9 Gallery, and Dovin Gallery. He has frequently collaborated with Attila Galbovy and Gergő Kovách. His work has been featured in numerous national and international group exhibitions, including shows at Kunsthalle Budapest (Műcsarnok), MODEM Debrecen, Art Market Budapest, Art Paris, and Art Cologne. His pieces are held in both public and private collections, including the Paks Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Art in Dunaújváros, and the MEO Contemporary Art Collection. He has received several awards, including the Derkovits Art Scholarship (2004–2006), the Klára Herczeg Prize (2004, shared with Attila Galbovy), and the Lipót Herman Prize (2000).

András Pinczehelyi (b. 1982, Pécs) is a Hungarian painter whose work often explores contemporary figurative expression with a conceptual sensitivity. He graduated from the University of Pécs Faculty of Arts in 2008 and has been a member of the National Association of Hungarian Artists since the same year. Pinczehelyi has exhibited widely in solo and group shows both in Hungary and internationally, with regular exhibitions at Dengler und Dengler Galerie in Stuttgart. He was awarded a scholarship by the Hungarian Academy in Rome in 2011 and has participated in major contemporary art events including Art Karlsruhe, Art Cologne, and the Esterházy Art Award. His works often reflect on identity, symbolism, and the aesthetics of everyday objects with subtle irony and psychological insight.

Sándor Pinczehelyi (b. 1946, Szigetvár) is a painter and graphic artist, a seminal figure in Hungarian avant-garde and post-avant-garde art. He was a founding member of the Pécs Workshop, and served as director of the Pécs Gallery (1977–1999), curating major national and international exhibitions. He also led the Institute of Visual Arts at the University of Pécs (2001–2005). His works have been exhibited internationally, including at the 1988 Venice Biennale, and are held in numerous public and private collections worldwide. He is a founding member of the DOPP poster design group and the Hungarian Poster Association. His achievements earned him the Munkácsy Prize, the titles of Merited and Outstanding Artist, and the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary. Since 2013, he has been a full member of the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Arts.

Tímea Piróth (1991) is a visual artist living and working in Budapest.She graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2015. Her work is based on the visual analysis of the abject. Abject in critical theory refers to a rejection of and detachment from norms and rules, especially at the level of society and morality. The presentation of the doubt and visceral feeling caused by the encounter with disgust or abnormality is the main inspiration of his work.

REINING Vivien was born in 1999 in Mohács, Hungary. She graduated in 2019 from the Pécs Art High School, majoring in ceramics, and received her BA in printmaking from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2024. She is currently completing her studies in art education at the same university, graduating in the summer of 2025. Her artistic approach is grounded in the inseparable unity of material, technique, and theme. Her work explores family memory and the personal reinterpretation of remembrance. She often addresses themes such as transience, forgetting, and the act of remembering, while also reflecting on the complex mechanisms behind these processes. She frequently uses ephemeral materials that change over time, allowing them to influence and shape the artwork through their own intrinsic properties.

Katalin Rezsonya is a sculptor and Doctor of Liberal Arts (DLA, 2001). She began her artistic studies at the Teacher Training Faculty in Pécs under Sándor Rétfalvi, continued at the Master School of Fine Arts in Pécs, and later attended a master course at Wimbledon School of Art in London. From 2008 to 2022, she taught at the University of Pécs, Faculty of Arts. Her work has been supported by several prestigious international grants in Geneva, Norway, London, and the U.S. Through her solo exhibitions and large-scale public sculptures, she explores the intersections between human presence, space, and nature. Her public works can be found in Croatia, Lithuania, Germany, and Japan. Rezsonya's sculptural language is characterized by material sensitivity, geometric clarity, and the poetic use of light—engaging viewers in a dialogue between silence, form, and meaning.

Hungarian painter living and working in Budapest. She earned her MFA at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts under the mentorship of József Gaál, following her BA at Eszterházy Károly College. As part of her studies, she spent semesters in Kraków and Cluj-Napoca on Erasmus scholarships. Her work explores the dynamics of power and its interplay with the human condition, as well as the existential struggle of the self. Rózsa’s work has been shown internationally at venues such as Steve Turner (Los Angeles), Double Q Gallery (Hong Kong), VILTIN Gallery (Budapest), and ABC-ARTE (Milan). She has received numerous accolades, including the Esterházy Art Award and the Derkovits Art Scholarship.

Réka Schell was born in 2000 in Budapest, Hungary. She graduated in 2024 with an MA degree in graphic art from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and a BA degree in Italian studies from Pázmány Péter Catholic University. Her work brings to life layers of personal, family and collective memory, transparently suggesting the individual or communal experiences behind each layer. The different spatial and temporal dimensions of these memories are mostly expressed through the techniques of photography, plexiglas, textile print and black acrylic, often with a touch of Christian iconography, but without rejecting the profane symbolic system, and even combining the two. Both imagery and text are important in Schell's work, with text becoming the medium for the most complete iconic abstraction.

Zsuzsanna Simon is a multimedia artist whose work explores feminist and social issues through the use of her own body and personal narratives. She graduated in 2015 from the Intermedia Department of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and also studied at the Jan Matejko Academy in Kraków through Erasmus. Her practice spans photography, video, performance, and installation. She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Hungary and abroad, including shows at the Ludwig Museum, Budapest Gallery, ICA-D, and in Berlin. Simon is a member of the Studio of Young Artists’ Association (FKSE), the Futures photography talent platform, and the Secondary Archive initiative. Her work focuses on body politics, female representation, and community engagement.

Visual artist currently pursuing her doctoral studies at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest. She earned her degree from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2019 and studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma and Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha through inter national scholarships. Sipos is a three-time recipient of the prestigious Derkovits Art Scholarship (2020, 2021, 2024) and was awarded the Csaba Rékassy Prize in 2020. Her recent exhibitions include UNUS MUNDUS (Rome, 2024), BARDO (Budapest, 2025), and the Miskolc Graphic Triennial (2023). Her practice combines traditional techniques with experimental approaches, reflecting a deep interest in transformation, memory, and the metaphysical aspects of image-making.

Rita Süveges (b. 1986, Szolnok) is a visual artist based in Budapest, Hungary. Her practice explores climate imaginaries, ecological sensitivity, and speculative art through painting, installations, and collaborative projects. She earned her DLA from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and is a member of the artist collective xtro realm. She has participated in numerous international residencies and grants, including the Hungarian Academy in Rome, ISCP New York, MQ AIR Vienna, and Künstlerdorf Schöppingen. Her solo exhibitions have been presented at venues such as the Hungarian National Gallery, INDA Gallery, and the Smohay Award exhibition. Her works are held in public collections including the Hungarian National Gallery, Kiscelli Museum, and King Saint Stephen Museum. Süveges’s current interests focus on climate aesthetics, geoengineering imaginaries, and ecological storytelling.

Kálmán Szijártó (1946, Szigetvár) was a founding member of the Pécs Workshop. After a short geometric period at the very end of the 1960s when he studied interference both as an idea and a retinal experience, he turned to new media as early as 1970, performing outdoor interventions together with Károly Kismányoky and documenting their results. In his photo series entitled Art Gestures (1971-1974), he interconnected the inscription ART with opening and closing movements of the palm, giving both a poetic tone and political connotations to the piece. One of his most emblematic works remains nevertheless Transformations, a piece composed of a photo series (1977-1978) and a performance (1979-1980).

Szondi Petra Virág (1998, Pécs) is a ceramic designer who completed her MA in Ceramic Design at the University of Pécs in 2024. She holds a BA in Object Design from the same institution and studied ceramics at the Pécs Art High School. Her professional experience includes internships at Zsolnay Porcelain Manufactory and participation in numerous art residencies and workshops across Hungary and abroad (Tokaj, Croatia, Kecskemét). Her work has been featured in major design exhibitions such as ALCOVA – Milan Design Week, Designblock Prague, 360 Design Budapest, and the National Ceramics Triennial at M21 Gallery in Pécs. Her practice explores the dialogue between material tradition and contemporary design, creating tactile, narrative-driven works rooted in craftsmanship yet forward-looking in form and concept.

Géza Szöllősi (1977) is a provocative figure in contemporary Hungarian art, whose work explores themes of the body, identity, and posthuman transformation. He studied at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, the University for the Creative Arts in Maidstone, and earned his doctoral degree from the University of Pécs. His art blends pop culture, horror aesthetics, and critical body politics, resulting in visually dense, grotesque yet sensitive works. Szöllősi has exhibited widely, including at the Ludwig Museum, Prague's Rudolfinum, the Saatchi Gallery in London, as well as in New York and Miami. His pieces are held in both national and international collections, and he has received multiple awards for his contributions to contemporary art. Using the body as both medium and metaphor, Szöllősi crafts a compelling critique of reality—one that confronts the viewer with visceral, layered imagery and philosophical depth.

Kata Tranker (1989, Székesfehérvár) is a contemporary visual artist based in Budapest. She graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts as a painter and studied media design at HAW Hamburg. Her work spans painting, installation, and mixed media, often exploring issues of collective and personal memory, social structures, and psychological landscapes. Tranker’s practice balances abstraction with narrative tendencies, frequently drawing on fictional or intimate motifs. Her work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Hungary and abroad, including Ludwig Museum, Hungarian National Gallery, VILTIN Gallery, Kunstverein Eisenstadt (Austria), and studio das weisse haus (Vienna). She is the recipient of multiple awards and grants, including the Esterházy Art Award, the Derkovits Scholarship, and the Herczeg Klára Prize. Her artistic language is marked by a sensitivity to materiality and a nuanced, often subtly feminist perspective.

Merve Tuna (b. 1984, Eskişehir, Turkey,) completed her BSc at Istanbul Technical University Product Design Department in 2006, and her MA in Womenswear Fashion Design and Technology Department at London College of Fashion in 2010. Tuna’s work is object-oriented and narrative-based centering around the concepts that relate to the body. Situated at the confluence of psychoanalysis, mathematics, and film, her artistic process oscillates between rigorous formulation and material-based instinctive making. She explores how the concepts of trauma, pain, shame and power relations are embodied and manifested in objects, the tactile parallels between craft processes and psychosexuality, and the insights subject-object relations can provide into the human psyche. She was an artist-in-residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris (2024) and is currently a resident at SAHA Studio in Istanbul (2025).

Udvari Boglárka Éva (1998, Budapest) is a sculptor based in Hungary. She graduated from the University of Pécs, Faculty of Arts in 2023. Her artistic focus lies in exploring the relationship between body, material, and form through both traditional sculptural practices and contemporary conceptual approaches. Her works have been exhibited in major group shows across Hungary, including venues such as Nádor Gallery, m21 Gallery, FISE Gallery, and Zsdral Art Gallery. She regularly participates in artist residencies and workshops, including Artistaille in Tállya, and has worked internationally, including a stone carving residency in Spain. In 2021, she received the prestigious Fundamenta–Amadeus Award. She is a member of the EMEZEK artists’ group (since 2022) and joined the Bázis Sculpture Association in 2024. Her practice is defined by a sensitive engagement with material language, bodily presence, and the boundaries of contemporary sculpture.

Zsuzsi Ujj is a visual artist, performer and musician who in the 1980s reinterpreted the expressive possibilities of photography to create a unique series of photographic performances based on gender identity, self-identity and personal experience. Working outside institutional art structures, her black and white, staged works using her own body as a medium combined visuality with poetry, music and cinematic thinking - all in the interdisciplinary spirit of the new wave era.

Sándor Vály (born 1968, Budapest) is a Hungarian visual artist currently residing in Finland. He completed his art studies in Hungary and has been a member of the Finnish Artists' Association since 1995. His work is characterized by a conceptual and philosophical approach, extending beyond painting to include sculpture, music, film, performance, and literature. Notable solo exhibitions include "Selected Life" (Pori Art Museum, 2012) and "Young Dionysos" (Palazzo Lucarini, Italy, 2021). His works are part of collections such as the Pori Art Museum and the Lönnström Art Museum. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions across Europe, including in Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. Vály's art often explores themes of creation, identity, and human existence, frequently integrating various art forms.

Rita Varga (b. 1973, Szolnok) is a Hungarian painter, curator, and art educator based in Pécs since 1993. She graduated in Painting from the University of Pécs Faculty of Arts and completed doctoral studies there. She was awarded the Derkovits Scholarship (2006–2009), the Hungarian Academy of Arts Scholarship (2020–2023), and was a resident artist at the Hungarian Academy in Rome (2018). Her work ranges from painting to installations and media-based experiments. Varga has exhibited widely in Hungary and internationally (New York, Berlin, Rome, Krakow, Budapest, Pécs), and curated several EU-funded contemporary art projects and festivals. Since 2020, she has been the director of Universitas Gallery in Szekszárd and teaches at university level. She is a founding member of the Dargay Lajos Art Research Group, and a member of the MAOE, FKSE, and the European Cultural Parliament.

In recent years, she has been researching how the boundaries of the social body and biological body within biopolitical discourse have changed over the course of the 20th century and what meaning they have today. She has been dealing with fertility and reproductive rights for several years. Her attention is directed toward situations where there is some kind of hindrance in this regard, where fertility turns into ‘barrenness,’ where the event of birthing and birth cannot take place. The focus of her interest is on how the women she meets deal with these (crisis) situations and create new, supportive communities determined by empathy and acceptance.

Képzőművész, munkáiban a test, az identitás és a természetes–mesterséges határainak kérdéseit vizsgálja. A Magyar Képzőművészeti Egyetemen végzett 2006-ban, 2004-ben az Erasmus program keretében a marseille-i École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts hallgatója volt. Számos egyéni kiállítása volt Magyarországon, emellett szerepelt több jelentős nemzetközi csoportos tárlaton is, többek között a Ludwig Múzeumban (Budapest), a Frissiras Múzeumban (Athén), a MODEM-ben és a Bridge Art Fair-en (Miami). Művei köz- és magángyűjteményekben is megtalálhatók. Díjai közé tartozik a STRABAG Festészeti Díj (2007), az Essl Award (2005) és a Római Magyar Akadémia ösztöndíja (2009). Tagja a Fiatal Képzőművészek Stúdiója Egyesületének (FKSE).

Tamás Don is a curator whose academic and research focus has been the integration opportunities for young, emerging visual artists within Hungary’s contemporary art institutional system. His professional interests include projects reflecting on social and political issues, the history of post-transition contemporary art institutions, and art education. Since February 2018, he has been a curator at MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Art in Debrecen, and since 2021, he has held the position of chief curator. In addition to his institutional work, he has been involved in several independent curatorial projects, including the Bánkitó Visual Arts Festival and the Küszöb Festival. He is also a lecturer in the MA programme in Design and Art Management at Budapest Metropolitan University (METU).

Júlia Fabényi is an art historian and curator, currently serving as Director of the Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art in Budapest since 2013. She previously led the Janus Pannonius Museum in Pécs and the Vasarely Museum. Her curatorial work focuses on integrating contemporary art into international discourse and promoting the visibility of Central European artists. In 2015, she served as the national commissioner of the Hungarian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Her contributions to the field have earned her both national and international recognition.

Kevser Güler is a curator and researcher currently serving as the Director of the Istanbul Biennial since 2024. Between 2015 and 2017, she was a founding team member and Associate Curator of the Cappadox Festival’s Contemporary Art Programme. Her curatorial work is based on a critical exploration of the current conditions, potentials, and constraints of contemporary culture and artistic production. Güler’s projects span a diverse range of contexts and formats, including museums, art centres, galleries, urban and rural public spaces, as well as non-art venues. Her practice also extends to the development of publications.

Hans Knoll (b. 1956, Alkoven, Upper Austria) is a gallerist and cultural producer based in Vienna. After commercial training and early professional experience in Linz, he opened his first gallery in Vienna in the mid-1980s, followed by a second space in Budapest in 1989—established just prior to the fall of the Iron Curtain. Knoll has since played a pivotal role in fostering artistic exchange across Central and Eastern Europe, curating and producing influential exhibitions in cities including Budapest, Bratislava, Warsaw, Moscow, and Tallinn. From 2016 to 2020, he served as chairman of the Association of Austrian Modern Art Galleries.

Canadian-born Marilou Laneuville has been working at the Museum of Contemporary Art Lyon (macLYON) since 2008, where she is Head of Exhibitions and Publications and Curator. She has organized several exhibitions, including Echoes of the Past, Promises of the Future (2025), which explores new technologies; AYA TAKANO - New Myth (2023); Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg - The Skin Is a Thin Container (2023); and Christine Rebet - Escapology (2021). She is also actively involved in the development of macLYON's artist and curatorial residency programmes and has published several essays in exhibition catalogues. Since 2019, she has been co-artistic director of Jeune création internationale, an exhibition of emerging artists at the Lyon Biennale. Photo by Yanis Ourabah

Dr. Andrea Bordács, aesthete, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Visual Arts, ELTE BDPK Graduated in Hungarian - History - Aesthetics - Cultural Management. The main focus of her research is partly on the border between art and art theory. Besides teaching, he writes and edits art criticism, studies, books and has worked as an independent curator. In contemporary art, she is most interested in body image, feminist perspectives, women's roles, reflection on tradition, i.e. rewriting and reinterpreting it, the digital world, and art education and art education. Another important research focus is the question of centre-periphery and Central European art.

Katica Kocsis, aesthete, is an active participant in the contemporary art scene in Hungary. Working as a journalist and curator, her previous projects have typically focused on women's issues, but she has also organised exhibitions on vulnerability and wandering in search of a home. In a series of video interviews on Instagram, she interviews artists in their studios, which simultaneously give insight into these spaces that are not always visible, while their direct tone aims to connect with contemporary artists. Her first book on Peter Weiler was published in April and she is currently working on a volume on the Duck Collection. He is the founder of the online magazine Focus On Black Art, a platform for interviews with black artists that provide a deeper understanding of black art.

Gergely Nagy (1969), journalist, editor, writer. Lives and works in Budapest. Currently he works for Qubit.hu. He holds a doctoral scholarship from the ELTE BTK. His main fields of interest are contemporary art, cultural politics and cultural resistance. After many years of journalistic work, she has been editor-in-chief of Artportal and then of the online art magazine A mű since 2013. He is one of the initiators of East Art Mags, a collaborative project bringing together five art magazines from the Central and Eastern European region. He is one of the founders of OFF-Biennale Budapest, the largest NGO for civil contemporary art initiatives in the region. He is a member of the Critical Culture Group, which organises events and conferences on the state of progressive culture in Hungary. Author of four books.

Attila Sirbik is a journalist, writer, cultural organiser, entrepreneur, born in Yugoslavia, former soldier in Požarevac. He currently lives and works in Budapest. He has published his art articles in Serbian and Hungarian newspapers. From 2000 to 2024 he was editor-in-chief of Új Művészet Online. He also works in web and brand building. He is the director of Symposion Publishing House. Author and co-author of several books. His first novel, St. Euphemia, was published jointly by Magvető and Forum.

In 1989 he graduated from the ELTE in History of Art in Hungary. He worked at the Qualitas Gallery and organized an exhibition of the painters of the Roman School. Between 1991-93 he participated in the production of art TV programmes and made a short film about János Vaszary. In 1995 he founded the art consultancy Vendemiaire. His writings have appeared in several art magazines and in 2003 he founded Artmagazine, of which he has been editor-in-chief since 2005. Éva Rónai has written a book about textile artist Éva Rónai. Since 2007, she has been an art advisor at Müpa Budapest, conducting exhibitions and promoting contemporary art in radio programmes and podcasts. In the Life in Pictures podcast series, she discusses exhibitions with Nóra Winkler. She was awarded the Pro Cultura Urbis Prize in 2024.