Art Connections

Art Connections promises to be a vibrant representation of creativity and collaboration, highlighting the interconnectedness of art and the pressing issues of our time.

Tragkraft —the weight that can be borne without harm—reflecting on both human resilience and the capacity of nature to withstand pressure before reaching a breaking point. We can also observe the Tragkraft of the Art(ists), where creative expression is tested at the threshold between endurance and transformation, revealing how much can be carried before the form—or the artist—must change.

Overview:  

"Art Connections" is a collaborative exhibition between Budapest Metropolitan University (Metu) and the Collegium Hungaricum Vienna (CHW) at the Vienna Design Week 2025. This exhibition marks a significant milestone, celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries at Metu.

Exhibition Highlights:  

The exhibition will showcase the diverse institutes within the Faculty of Arts, featuring works created through a unique collaboration between professors and students. Each pairing will present reflective pieces that explore various themes. Universities today often function as educational factories, while there is an increasing need for them to become extraordinary fields of connection. With our exhibition, we would like to draw attention to the relationships that develop between teachers and students, with the local community, and among students themselves. What kind of world will today's students be working in as artists? What are we preparing them for? What is our role in the world? What can we learn from each other? What can we learn from working together? Why is the practice of co-creativity particularly important today? We should be able to reflect upon these and similar questions together.

The exhibition presents the works of master-student pairs from the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries at Budapest Metropolitan University.

Themes:  

While not limited to, the artworks will delve into relevant topics such as ecological concerns, sustainability, innovative techniques, human relationships, and well-being. Central to the exhibition is the notion of Tragkraft—the weight that can be borne without harm—reflecting on both human resilience and the capacity of nature to withstand pressure before reaching a breaking point. These intertwined themes will serve as guiding concepts around which the exhibition is organized, aiming to provoke thought and encourage discussions among attendees. At the venue, the presence of Tragkraft will reveal itself in ways both subtle and self-evident, inviting visitors to sense its limits with their perceptions.

Peter Appelshoffer – Fanni Herold

Drawing Studies: Student’s and Teacher’s Perspectives, 2020 -2023

László Csáki – Máté Horesnyi

Pelikan Blue, 2023

Director // Character designer

Pelikan Blue – The first Hungarian feature-length animated documentary about forging international train tickets in Hungary in the 1990s.

 Melinda Kiss – Tekla Beáta Tóth

Inverse, 2025 – animated short

The grotesque in animation blends humor, playfulness, and the bizarre in a unique way, amusing and disorienting the viewer at the same time.

Keep Your Head Up While You Can, 2025 – animated short

In a fictional world where people's heads function like balloons, the fundamental guiding principle is revealed because of two children's curiosity.  

 Éva Mayer – Zoltán Magas

TERRA INCOGNITA, 2021 - 2022 / graphic-installation, unique mixed media, wood, giclée prints

Four Seasons - 3D diorama, 2018 / shader based real-time seasonal changes in Unity game engine

 Mark Seljan – Boglárka Zsoldos

Axiom X – Slingshot, 2022 / industrial design, CAD, CNC, 3D scan and digital sculpting, virtual prototyping

Travel Bag, 2025 / 3D still life, computer graphics

 Szacsva y Pál - Zsombor Czeglédi

Reprojection series, 2000s / projection mapping, photo

Long exposure digital photo series, 2018-2019

 Andrea Brittnek DLA - Kata Lagzi

An Edible Mission. Fusion of Materials_

Edible. Nutritious. Circular. – Designed by nature, eaten by humans, returned to Earth. In this development, Andrea Brittnek DLA and Kata Lagzi combine Algae foil with Mycelium surfaces to create aesthetic objects, reliefs.

Andrej Tóth - Tatar Fanny-Francesca

Rebranding animation for Budavár, 2025

Short animated video showcasing the new visual identity of Budavár through dynamic motion graphics.

 Július Gyula – Gabriella Városi

Dasein und Design, 2025, interactive installation

The joint work is based on elements of Gyula Július’s previous Light Frottage series presented at the Capa Center and Gabriella Városi’s more recent installations. The assemblages built on 3D hologram displays from transparent plastic packaging and supports created during 3D printing process come to life with the involvement of AI, becoming moving animated 3D design objects that document the transformation of the starting materials.  

The work explores the possibilities of design in the age of AI, examining the relationship between subject and object at a time when the dualism of spirit and matter is dissolving, and human and artificial intelligence together create personal hybrids in the field of design.

 Dr. Zsolt Koroknai, Habil - Dóra Palotai

Tapped Landscape, 2024

Tapped Landscape is a so-called ‘foxhole radio’ (World War II detector radio), where I solved the diode with the balance of a blade and a graphite pencil. The transformation of waves flowing from the ‘ether’ into sound is ensured by the direct connection between the antenna, taking the form of the landscape, and the Earth, in which our body ‘plays a leading role’.

 Cymatic, 2024

A research and visualization method that deals with making sound waves visible. The word comes from the Greek word “kyma” (wave), where I investigated the relationship between sound and form, from an artistic and therapeutic approach.

Sándor Rácmolnár - Szabolcs Ölveti

The Unbearable Lightness of Enigmas I. 

The Unbearable Lightness of Enigmas II.

The worlds depicted in these images and their visual content do not follow a logical chain of thought or an associative network. The mystery and inscrutability of the enigmas themselves become interwoven with the interpretation of the works. Created in 100×70 format, they emerge from a fusion of digital and manual techniques.

Norbert Szlama - Nóra Boronyák

Five Years, 2025 

Human, patient, and lay perspectives on incurable diseases.

BON APPÉTIT , 2023 – Packaging Design Concept

The „BON APPÉTIT” project is an eye-opening, thought-provoking, empathy-boosting tin can packaging that contains a can opener instead of food, reflecting on the vicious circle of war and famine amidst today’s crisis-ridden circumstances. The graphic foundation of the packaging design is based on custom-designed experimental typography, a fusion of the Latin alphabet and the geometric shapes of the Napoleon cipher.

 András D Hajdú - Panna Loós

Cataracta - documentary photography series

Urban Islander - documentary photography series

Bettina Szabadi-Bognár

Providence, Strong and Eternal

As part of the Providence series, in the work titled "Prayer of Gratitude", I expressed a prayer shared with my grandparents through my own coded writing system. Our fingerprints had been identified with the letters of the Hungarian alphabet, and the prayer was transferred onto the textile while preserving the line structure and segmentation of traditional writing. The soft, translucent white fabric conveys the freedom within the prayer, while the seemingly heavy fingerprints express the weight of the prayer.

The work titled "Strong and Eternal" presents an excerpt from our shared prayer.

Emese Benczur

Let It Shine II. 2016, plywood, earrings, glitter

Megyeri Gábor PhD - Kincses Domonkos

REST YOUR MIND

Nóra Demeter – Nikolett Huszti

OLD/NEW

There are several levels to "cooperation": both theoretical and practical. It can take the form of dialogue in an intellectual context or during the course of practical implementation. This installation is the result of various discourses, born from dialogue between teacher and student, old and new, historical and contemporary.

The dialogue between these layers is demonstrated in four cultural projects:

Müpa Budapest: A 20-year-old building where new interventions are introduced into existing spaces, making use of the structure’s noble materials. Sophisticated new functions are created in the spirit of the original concept.

State Opera House: Renovation of the historic Opera House using contemporary methods. How can the spirit of a Ybl building be preserved while also meeting today’s functions and requirements?

Palazzo Falconieri, Rome: A Borromini palace in the historic heart of Rome. What architectural and design approaches can reinterpret traditional (historic) architecture using contemporary elements?

Kálvária Cultural Center: The rebirth of a sacred building, incorporating both contemporary elements and functions.

These four projects examine the layers of design. The dialogue between the two creators is also embedded in the plans—most clearly as a teacher-student dialogue (in the Kálvária Cultural Center project), and in the other three projects, where the young creator (Nikolett Huszti) collaborates with members of Demeter Design Studio. The layers of dialogue are expressed on multiple levels.

Ágnes Deli - Lili Kósa 

Deli Ágnes: TABLE, DEGA Design., Board: Lili Kósa

The table was made from recycled materials in 2025. For the work, my husband and I used a complete two-door cabinet.

Krisztina Burger, Violetta Szatmári, Nikoletta Szigeti – Spine

György Rózner - Erzsébet Bachmann Drawing: Connections (Unique oak frame: György Rózner, drawing: watercolor pencil, canvas 80x80 cm: Erzsébet Bachmann

Description: The value of the works emerged through synergy, shared thinking, collective experiences, and jointly developed solutions. The importance of workshops in the creative process should be emphasized. The workshop provided an inspiring environment where students could openly exchange ideas, give and receive feedback, and put their concepts into practice. These direct interactions often led to rapid development, fresh perspectives, and the creation of lasting value built on shared knowledge and experience.