The seminar presents an overview of the major phenomena, trends and issues of contemporary art based on various subjects in each semester in the form of presentations held by invited lecturers and field trips to museums, institutions and artist studios.

While offering an insight into the Hungarian contemporary art scene, one of the course's main objectives is to develop personal contacts and cultural interactions between local and visiting students fostering an emerging intercultural dialogue. During the semester, students work in groups in order to realize a collaborative project followed by an exhibition (contents and forms of the final project to be discussed during the seminar).

The course is primarily directed towards Erasmus students as well as local students of the Intermedia and Fine Art Theory and Curatorial Studies departments, but students from other departments are warmly welcome.

The course was inititated and led by a scholar and an artist, Zoltán Kékesi and Szabolcs KissPál in 2011, since 2014 is being led by the curator Eszter Lázár (Curatorial Studies Dpt.), and the artists Szabolcs KissPál and Allan Siegel (Intermedia Dpt.).

New Educational Program: Mapping the Local and Site Specific Interventions in Public Space - e-artnow.org article:

Invited speakers for the classes include: Andreas Fogarasi - Golden Lion Award 52nd Venice Biennial; solo shows among others at Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; Grazer Kunstverein; Georg Kargl - Fine Arts, Vienna; Lombard Freid Projects, New York; Ludwig Museum, Aachen; Ernst Museum, Budapest. Tamás Kaszás - Recipient of Smohay Prize 2010 and Studio of Young Artists Association; exhibitions at W139, Amsterdam; NBK, Berlin; Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart; Istambul Biennial 2011. Eszter Lázár - art historian and curator of many international group exhibitions with a focus on Contemporary Central and Eastern European Art, lecturer on the Dept. for Art Theory and Curatorial Studies, former curator of kArton Contemporary Art Gallery. Little Warsaw - Collective name for artists András Gálik and Bálint Havas. The duo exhibited at the Venice Biennial; the Berlin Biennial; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; GfZK, Leipzig; ApexArt Gallery, New York; and the 7th Manifesta. Their work is featured in Art After Conceptual Art published by MIT Press. Ilona Németh - Munkácsy-prize beholder, exhibitions at Modern Art Oxford; Kunsthalle Budapest; 49th Venice Biennial; Expo Hannover 2000; Ludwig Museum, Budapest; etc. Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Intermedia Dpt. Bratislava. János Sugár - Exhibitions among others at Annely Juda Fine Arts, London; Kunstverein, Stuttgart; Exit Art, New York; Jeu de Paume, Paris; Anthology Film Archive, New York; Documenta IX, Kassel; etc. professor at the Intermedia Dept. of the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts. János Szoboszlai - art historian and curator, adjunct lecturer and head of the Dept. for Art Theory and Curatorial Studies, chief curator of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Dunaújváros (ICA-D), former director of acb Contemporary Art Gallery. Tibor Szemző - graduate of the Hungarian Music Academy, musician, composer and filmmaker, founder of the acclaimed Hungarian ensemble Group 180 and The Gordian Knot Company.

general bibliography

  • Interrupted Dialogue – Revisions, Contemporary Hungarian Art, Catalogue, C3, 1992.
  • After the Wall: Art and Culture in Post-Communist Europe, ed. by Bojana Pejic, David Elliott, Moderna Museet, 1999.
  • ARTmargins. Contemporary Central & East European Visual Culture (1999-) www.artmargins.com/
  • Blut & Honig / Blood & Honey, Katalog / Catalogue, ed. by Harald Szeemann, Sammlung Essl, 2004.
  • Praesens. Central European Contemporary Art Review (2004-)
  • East Art Map. Contemporary Art and Eastern Europe, ed. By IRWIN, MIT, 2006. www.eastartmap.org
  • What's Up? Contemporary Hungarian Art,ed. by Angel, Judit – Petrányi, Zsolt, Műcsarnok, 2008.
  • Párhuzamos Kronológiák / Parallel Chronologies,Tranzit (2009-), http://exhibition-history.blog.hu/
  • We Are Not Ducks on a Pond But Ships at Sea. Independent Art Initiatives,Budapest, 1989-2009, ed. by Rita Kálmán, Katarina Šević, Impex, 2010.
  • Studio / Archive / Discourses, FKSE Studio of Young Hungarian Artists, Budapest, 2009.