The future of artistic research in the ‘Zone’

The workshop aimed at elaborating the conditions of sustainability for the MKE LAB.

The MKE LAB between 2022-23 organized three marking events and released a publication in order to create a joint discursive platform for the artistic research of various levels existing in the institution. 


As all the similar initiatives with the closure of project’s duration it arrived at a crossroad and its long-term sustainability became questionable. 
Therefore as a closing act of the project we organized a workshop in two sessions that would establish a self-sustainable future framework sustaining the unique methods, collaborative energies and discursive spaces elaborated during the previous work.

In technical terms our intention was to create a sustainable and playful collaborative and communicational space for the young researchers that allows the exchange of individual research experiences, while it secures the cohesion of the researchers’ collective. 

The idea relies on the concept and metaphor of the board game interpreted both as a theoretical-intellectual, and as a social form, as it offers not only the possibility of a creative knowledge exchange but given its nature it has the potential of establishing a communal space that can support the maintain the cohesion of the researchers’ collective.

The establishment of this discursive space has been established in three phases:

First workshop: 28 November 2023
(location: Ignác the hare – board game café)
Participants: Kinga Enzsöly, Apolka Erős, István Felsmann, Emese Fodor, Eszter Gagyi, Dávid Gutema, Martin Henrik, Boldizsár Hordós, Luca Koródi, Katalin Kortmann, Mózes Murányi, Eszter Szabó, Norbert Szlama, Gáspár Szőke, Melissza Sztójka, Anna Eszter Tóth, Virág Varga

Transformation of board games: In the workshop we introduced the participants in a number board games, splitting them in smaller groups and asking them to develop methods of transformations of the games in a way, in which they become suitable to discuss various research subjects, conceptual references or revelations. In understanding the logic of the games the participants were helped by the game experts of the café.

Photos: Júlia Nyíri