Ecology and art conference

In 2024, the yearly conference of Budapest Metropolitan University’s (METU) Faculty of Art and Creative Industries, held onSeptember 12-13 at the French Institute, aims to explore the complex relationship between ecology and the arts. This exploration also seeks to expand the dialogue, as our primary goal is to search for alternatives that can nuance the predominantly apocalyptic tone of contemporary eco-discourses.

The context of our meeting is provided by the multifaceted relationship between nature and culture, and between humans and their environment, as well as the critical examination of new dimensions of coexistence. In the spirit of the interplay between nature and culture, we aim to focus on the constructive approaches offered by art. Art, now functioning as a field of research and experimentation, moves freely in the space of creation, free from ideology, and in doing so, reinterprets and even transforms our relationships with the environment. 

Given the multifaceted nature of the intertwining of ecology and the arts, we intend to highlight and showcase this diversity in various sections of the conference, from its scientific roots to its social, artistic, and creative industry connections. Contemporary design, along with its material, form, and methodological experiments that renew technologies, are just as world-shaping and world-creating as the free associations and social commitments of eco-oriented art. 

Register for the conference

The detailed program and full abstracts are available below 

Visual program booklet

Programs

12 September, Thursday

10:00 – 11:30 Keynote lecture - Prof. Steve Dixon: The radical philosophical and scientific concerns underpinning contemporary art 

Topic

This keynote presentation analyses contemporary arts in a novel way to argue that many of the world’s most important artists are using themes that fuse ideas from both existentialist philosophy and the ‘universal science’ of cybernetics. The analysis reveals surprising insights, uncovering how numerous artists, whether consciously or unconsciously, draw on the key principles of these disciplines. It is argued that where existentialist philosophers including Kierkegaard, Camus, de Beauvoir, and Sartre discussed freedom, being and nothingness, eternal recurrence, self-creation and being-for-others, contemporary artists are now attempting to enact these themes. Simultaneously, their artworks engage in complex explorations of concepts proposed by cyberneticians including Wiener, Shannon, and Bateson on adaptive ecosystems, feedback loops, circularity, autopoiesis, and emergence.  

This multimedia presentation interrogates the work of technologically advanced as well as non-technologically based artists including Damien Hirst, Stelarc, Anne Imhof, Francis Alÿs, Pierre Huyghe, Anish Kapoor, Cornelia Parker, Gilbert and George, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. Drawing on his book Cybernetic-Existentialism, Steve Dixon demonstrates how fusing insights and knowledge from these two fields can throw new light on pressing issues within contemporary culture, including ecology, radical politics, authenticity, angst and alienation, homeostasis, and the ever-evolving relationship between humans and machines.  

About the speaker

Prof. Steve Dixon is a world-renowned academic, researcher and interdisciplinary artist with a distinguished career in both higher education leadership and the professional creative industries.

He joined LASALLE College of the Arts as its sixth President in February 2012. 

Following a successful career as an actor and award-winning director of film and digital media productions, he became an academic in 1991. He quickly established an international reputation for his research in the use of media and computing technologies in the performing arts. His award-winning book, Digital Performance is recognised as the most comprehensive scholarly work on the subject. His latest book, Cybernetic-Existentialism: Freedom, Systems and Being-for-Others in Contemporary Arts and Performance (Routledge, 2020) reformulates philosophical and scientific ideas to propose an original aesthetic theory of contemporary arts and performance.

11:30 – 12:00 Hajnalka Somogyi: Tropical Lab 2024 – Weather (in English)  

Topic  

Tropical Lab is an annual international art camp organised by LASALLE College of the Arts for master’s degree and PhD candidates. Students from art schools and institutions from around the world explore different aspects of international history, geography, culture and aesthetics in workshops and seminars over two weeks in Singapore. The theme of this year's exhibition, Tropical Lab 18, was Weather.  

In a collaboration between METU and LASALLE College of the Art, METU students participated in last year's and this year's programme, and their work was exhibited in an exhibition curated by Hajnalka Somogyi at the Arts Praxis Space at LASALLE College of the Arts.   

  "Weather affects all of our lives, from our personal physical or mental state to international geopolitics. So it's an incredibly rich subject, with many dimensions, and the climate crisis of our time of course makes it particularly topical. This year, some of the works showed an observational, contemplative attitude: they depicted the direct, sensory effects of heat and rain, explored notions of comfort and adaptation, dealt with danger, crisis and illness, but also with the possibility of healing, of living together in harmony with nature and the weather. The other group of works took a speculative stance: they explored the ways of the future, made predictions, predictions, modelled, told stories, used fantasy and play."     

About the speaker  

Hajnalka Somogyi is a contemporary art curator, founder of the OFF Biennale and lecturer at Budapest Metropolitan University (METU). She curated the Tropical Lab program exhibition organized by LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, for the second time in 2024.  

13:00 – 14:00 Circularity Manifesto and the Hungarian pavilion at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale

Topic

According to Carlo Ratti, curator of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale, architects should harness all the intelligence around us in order to face the burning world. Through the curator’s Circularity Manifesto, the project team of the 2025 Biennale, Márton Pintér curator, András Graf architect-researcher and Ingrid Manhertz architect-doctoral student present the role of the Hungarian pavilion and initiate a discourse on whether a world exhibition can be sustainable. 

Participants

• Márton Pintér, curator of the Hungarian pavilion, professor at Budapest Metropolitan University
• András Graf, architect-researcher 
• Ingrid Manhertz, architect-researcher, doctoral candidate at the Marcel Breuer Doctoral School, professor at Budapest Metropolitan University

14:30 – 16:00 Anticapitalism and (de)growth? (in English and Hungarian)

About the section

The "Anticapitalism and (de)growth" section features three presentations that explore the questions of individual authorship, the integration of artificial intelligence into design processes, and the synergy between fashion and fine arts. The common theme across the presentations and discussions is the transformation of creative processes: the role of the author is becoming collectivized, collaboration between artificial intelligence and human creators is generating new design dynamics, while emphasizing sustainability and cultural values leads to the merging of fashion and art into timeless projects. Collective creation, new methods of creation, creating for a purpose, even for the benefit of our community? We’ll examine these questions from the perspective of creation, but also from that of consumption.

Participants

• Fredericke Winkler – Fashion Designer, Fashion Researcher
• Adél Kovács DLA – Trend Researcher, Fashion Designer, Professor at Budapest Metropolitan University
• Hedvig Vranek – Fashion Designer, Graduated at Budapest Metropolitan University

Moderator

Anna Kudron – Founder of Pinkponilo Creative Studio, professor at Budapest Metropolitan University

Programs of the section

• Fredericke Winkler: Collective Authorship (in English)

A central issue of the critical theory of authorship is the questioning of the author as a creative individual. Nevertheless, the functional principle of authorship, especially in its legal form as copyright law, adheres to the assumption that one or more physical persons stand behind the term "author". This assumption is increasingly being called into question as a result of new framework conditions, particularly digitalization and decolonization, and "the author" is being understood as a collective persona. Avant-garde movements, such as the open design movement, are distancing themselves from the traditional values of industrial society and consider authorship to be a system of order that controls creative practice and productive relationships and is therefore a key factor in capitalist power structures. As a result, and not least through the inclusion of indigenous design methods in the design discourse, the author's work is changing. Instead of being codified in the form of an original, an iterative production process is taking place. A new relationship is developing between author and work that is characterized by rights of use instead of property rights. The author becomes a curator in the sense of a caring representative of a collective work.

Fredericke Winkler is a fashion designer and design scientist. After completing her fashion design studies in Paris and Berlin in 2002, she worked for 16 years as an editor for trade media such as Textilwirtschaft. Since 2005, Fredericke Winkler has been focussing on the topic of sustainability in the textile industry and has since worked closely with initiatives in this field, such as the Clean Clothes Campaign and the International Association of the Natural Textile Industry (IVN), and advised fashion companies, such as the Fairtrade-certified brand People Tree from the UK. In her master's thesis, she analyzed the Fair Trade system with reference to aspects of critical design theory. In 2018, she took over the design direction of Hodsoll McKenzie, an interior textiles brand of the Zimmer + Rohde Group, and from then on continuously led it towards sustainability. Since 2022, she has been coordinating the transformation process of the entire group as Head of Sustainability. Fredericke Winkler began teaching in 2005, for example in the areas of design theory and environmental and social management. Since October 2021, she has been Dean of Studies for the international Master's degree program "Sustainability in Fashion and Creative Industries" at the AMD Berlin design faculty for Fresenius University of Applied Sciences. Her research focuses on critical design theory and cultural sustainability. She is currently working on her doctoral thesis titled "Collective authorship - from dispositive to utopia".

• Dr. Adél Kovács: The Art of Selling

In our constantly changing world, the intensifying climate change, the pursuit of sustainability, geopolitical factors, and economic uncertainties necessitate a more conscious approach to our planning methods. The presentation focuses on specific historical and contemporary fashion brand activities where the synergy between fashion and visual arts results in culturally valuable, enduring projects.

Dr. Adél Kovács is a trend researcher, fashion designer, and the head of the Fashion specialization in the Fashion and Textile Design BA program. She earned her doctoral degree at the Breuer Marcell Doctoral School, and her research area is fashion branding.

• Hedvig Vranek: The Concept of a Fictional Brand with AI Design Assistance

Hedvig Vranek graduated from METU with a bachelor's degree in Craft Object Culture and a master's degree in Fashion Design. In her presentation she will introduce a previous university project in which she used artificial intelligence to build a fictional brand, with AI acting as a design assistant. Throughout the process, she sought a solution that allowed her to feel ownership of the entire design process, rather than having the AI design in her place. The result is a 24-piece ready-to-wear collection, with two of the sets fully realized.

16:30 – 17:30 Sustainability and Commitment. Roundtable Discussion (Hungarian only)

In Hungarian only!

Topic

Environmental issues and the practices of sustainability in daily life have become a regular part of everyday conversation. There’s an abundance of educational films analyzing the ecological crisis, school projects, and even dedicated subjects within the school system. Universities convey these topics through numerous courses and approaches. Yet, one of the greatest challenges remains out of focus: the issue of personal commitment. 

For this roundtable discussion we invited visual artists, writers, fashion experts, and museum educators, experts who use their creative potentials to deepen the awareness of our everyday decisions, asking them to share their experiences.

Participants

• Kitti Gosztola – Visual Artist
• Anna Kudron – Founder of Pinkponilo Creative Studio, Professor at Budapest Metropolitan University
• Zoltán László – Writer
• Rita Süveges – Visual Artist
• Zita Varga – Museum Educator, Art Therapist
• Anna Zilahi – Poet, Visual Artist

Moderator

Szilvia Csanádi-Bognár PhD – Art Historian, Philosopher, Professor at Budapest Metropolitan University 

18:00 – 20:00 Ecocriticism and ecofeminism - interdisciplinary approaches (Hungarian only)

In Hungarian only!

About the section

The presentations in this section focus on the interconnectedness of plant, animal, and human life forms. In our traditionally human-centered worldview, this fundamental and deeply meaningful web of connections is represented by the feminine, which often veers into the mythical and mystical—we need to examine and rethink this relationship from a contemporary perspective. Our connection with nature continues to be made evident through the feminine touch, which is why ecocriticism and ecofeminism go hand in hand, and this close relationship also unites the presentations in this section. We will highlight a few representative works and authors from the literary as well as visual arts, cinematic, and philosophical approaches to the relation between nature and the feminine, works and approaches that are interconnected and whose connections are worthy of further reflection.

Participants

• Dr. Gerda Széplaky PhD – Philosopher, Art Critic, University Professor (Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Institute of Fine Arts and Art Theory), member of the METU research group "Ecology, Art, Visions of the Future."
• Dr. Annamária Hódosy – Literary Scholar, Film Critic, Cultural Researcher, University Assistant Professor (University of Szeged). https://hodosy.eu/
• Anna Zilahi – Poet, Visual Artist. Currently a PhD candidate at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design.

Programs of the section

1. Dr. Széplaky Gerda PhD.: Women Who Save the World: Ecofeminist Visual Arts from a Philosophical Perspective

The term 'ecological feminism' was coined by Françoise d'Eaubonne in a work written in 1974, focusing on the relationship between women and nature, with the intention of drawing attention to the potential of women to bring about an ecological revolution. This new theme first emerged in the field of social sciences, and then, in the early 1990s, also became a philosophical topic. Ecofeminist philosophy, on the one hand, explores the nature of the domination of women and nature and their interrelationships; on the other hand, it criticises the views, hypotheses and concepts of Western, canonical philosophy on women and nature, which are biased against patriarchal values; and thirdly, it offers alternatives to these biased positions. The majority of ecofeminist philosophers distinguish between the oppression of women and the 'unjustified domination' of nature, and aim to offer answers as to how to save nature, our human world and our culture , which are both in crisis. Ecofeminist thinking has appeared not only in philosophy, but also in the arts, including the visual arts. In my presentation, I will introduce, in parallel to theoretical approaches, some representatives of ecofeminist art (from Agnes Denes to Ana Mendieta, Teresa Murak, Heléne Aylon, Betty Beaumint, Patricia Johanson and others) who, through their works of natural art, performances, environmental actions and installations (often based on scientific research), are not only able to address the audience aesthetically, but also have an impact on the life and future of our society.

Dr. Gerda Széplaky PhD - philosopher, aesthete, critic, university professor (Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Institute of Fine Arts and Art Theory), editor of philosophical, aesthetic and art journals, and member of various research groups. She has curated exhibitions in Rome, Venice, Cluj-Napoca and Budapest. Her fields of research are numerous, main areas include: body theory, feminism, philosophy of plants. As an essayist, she writes mainly on contemporary art. Her recent books are: Dark and mute, Philosophical essays - on literature, film and visual arts (L'Harmattan, Bp., 2019); Neither God nor Animal. Chapters from the Deconstruction of the Cult of Sacrifice (Prae, Bp., 2023).

2. Dr. Annamária Hódosy PhD: Ecofeminist Couples Therapy on the Big Screen

The core thesis of ecofeminism is that there is a shared destiny between women and the non-human world, due to the fact that for millennia, culture has considered these two categories to be inherently connected. Since the narratives about nature have significantly contributed to the development of the climate crisis, the resolution of environmental issues cannot be separated from the resolution of women's issues. Narratives can be considered ecofeminist if they characterize the current state of the world and envision a solution that simultaneously addresses the concerns of both women and the non-human world. In this presentation, I will briefly discuss four films that possess such a narrative. Solaris (1972), Safe (1995), Mother! (2017), and White Plastic Sky (2023) are all works in which a central relationship drama both conceals and reveals environmental issues that typically appear only indirectly, while the social situation of the female protagonists parallels the often heavily criticized relationship between power and the non-human world. Consequently, the way women in these films take control of their destinies—whether by exiting toxic relationships or by transforming the dynamics of the relationship—also raises questions regarding a healthy relationship with the environment. Some films explore how a non-polarized, non-hierarchical relationship between humans and the non-human world might be conceived, while others show what happens if this is not realized.

Dr. Annamária Hódosy graduated in literature at the University of Szeged. She was a member of the deKON group, which promoted post-structuralist literary criticism in Hungary (1992-2004). She wrote her PhD thesis on Shakespeare's sonnets in 2001. Her main fields of research are gender roles, nature and rhetoric in literature and popular film. She is currently working on ecocriticism and eco-cinecriticism. Her book, Biocinema. Ecocriticism and Popular Film, was published in 2018, with a sequel entitled: Climate Monsters, published in 2023. Her numerous essays can be found in deKON Books, published by the Ictus/JATE Literary Theory Group, in the journals Literatura and Tiszatáj and in the e-journal Apertura, Film-Visuality-Theory.

3. Anna Zilahi: Nettle as pharmakon: nettle-work as deconstructive strategy

Nettle is a versatile plant, taking its Latin name from the burning pain it causes (urtica), although the list of its beneficial physiological effects is much longer than its sins’. The intrinsically contradictory nature of nettle, i.e. its nature of resisting clear categorisation, can easily be interpreted by relying on the reflections on the concept of pharmakon introduced by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. The Greek term pharmakon means substance, medicine, remedy, charm, poison, and in Derrida's interpretation it describes phenomena that have both beneficial and harmful properties. Accordingly, nettle is an excellent example of this exciting dichotomy. The presentation examines the extent to which nettle can be considered a pharmakon, and scrutinises what interpretations are hidden in the concept of „nettle-work” in the tale Wild Swans by Hans Christian Andersen. In the story there are eleven brothers, who are cursed and transformed into swans. However they are saved by the sacrifice of their sister, who sews them nettle shirts, thus turning them back into humans. The tale also explores the juxtaposition of human and animal existence and brings into play the question of plantal existence. Through the performative video, entitled Urtica - an interpretation of Andersen's tale - it will be demonstrated how nettle-work, embedded in artistic research, can be interpreted as a deconstructive strategy.

Anna Zilahi is a poet, visual artist. Currently a PhD student at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. Her artistic research focuses on ecological and ecofeminist issues through the study of the nettle plant. Her poems, under the title The Whale is not a Motif, were published by Magvető in 2017. Since 2017 she has been a member of the artist group xtro realm, which deals primarily with issues of ecology and climate crisis through art. In 2019, the group edited the encyclopaedia Extrodesia, published by Typotex publishing house. This volume presents the conceptual landscapes of a post-anthropocentric world. In 2020 with artist Rita Süveges she co-edited an article series entitled as Climate Imagination Reader. It was published on tranzitblog.hu. In 2021 she was awarded the Attila Hazai Prize for Literature. She is a member of the Studio of Young Artists Association, the Attila József Circle, the Society and the Association of Young Writers.

taggle vége

13 September, Friday

10:00 – 12:00 Keynotelecture - Dr. Carolina Martínez-López PhD.: On Degradation. Environment, Bodies and Experimental  

Topic

We live on a degraded planet, our human bodies sick and exhausted and our values deteriorated, all on the verge of a collapse that seems imminent.  We live shaken by a kind of capitalist Hydra, as the Belgian philosopher Raoul Vaneigem (2022) points out, and constant victims of various physical and emotional epidemics. Victims of ourselves, of our “ideal” of progress; prisoners of the apparently unstoppable wheel of Capitalism. Besides, this current context is getting more complex by the increasingly hyper-present Artificial Intelligence, which leads us to question even more strongly about our human identity and the relationship with our environment, and with the animate and the inanimate beings surrounding us.

Throughout this intervention –which will be composed of different conceptual and aesthetic layers or levels– I will analyze different manifestations of experimental cinema from the very origins of the medium to the latest audiovisual products made with generative AI. 

In the first layer, we will see how the degenerative process –inherent to Nature and accentuated by the action of human being– has been (intentionally or unintentionally) reflected in selected film works, but also in the film process itself. The second layer will approach the connection of the degradation of some filmmaker's own sick body with the cinematographic support. And the third one will explore how the relationship with our environment has manifested itself in the dynamics of the cinematographic device –understood as a whole and as a complex of interrelations (Albera and Tortajada, 2015) among the filmmaker, the camera and the context. 

I will thus follow some cases in which experimentation in the texture and materiality of film support takes precedence, and others in which the gaze turns to the entire process itself, with a gestaltic and phenomenological conception. The aim of this will be, on the one hand, to trace the marks of the Anthropocene from a materialist point of view and, on the other, to seek visual and discursive possible alternatives to the effects of “collapsology” (Servigne and Stevens, 2015) related to the idea of human decentralization, more in the line here with expanded and gestural cinema and choreocinema.

Ultimately, at a wider level, I will try to glimpse the vision offered by the philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead (2021) presenting the world as a network of interrelated processes in constant dialogue, and as a perpetual magma or metabolism of ideas, images, and living and non-living beings. A more profound layer in our reflection which may be illustrated by a visual parallelism between certain sequences of early experimental cinema –seeking to reflect the landscapes of the cosmos (the macrocosm)– and certain early films showing the landscapes of the interior of the human body and its cells (a microcosm), both mediated by the own landscapes of Nature. These connections may lead us to rescue the idea of a whole connection among all the beings and their constant and related metamorphosis, proposed among others by Coccia (2021), and help us look for new ways of relating to each other and to the environment in tune with Guattari's “ecosophy” (1989).

About the speaker

Carolina Martínez-López PhD is an Associate Professor in the Performing Arts and Audiovisual and Multimedia Communication degree programs at the Arts University School (ERAM) attached to Universitat de Girona (UdG). 

She is a member of UdG’s Contemporary Art Theories research group and the Research Group on the Origins of Cinema (GROC), a programmer of Valladolid International Film Festival and a member of the selection committee of +RAIN Film Fest (the first European festival for films made with Artificial Intelligence). Her lines of research focus on an expanded vision of cinema, choreography and theater, and the uses of the body from an experimental and a documentary perspective. She is also the editor of the book El Universo dereniano. Textos fundamentales de la cineasta Maya Deren  (2015/2020), and the author of the experimental poetry books escribir y respirar (2020) and el punto ciego del paisaje (2021).

13:00 – 14:30 Technology and Posthumanism (Hungarian only)

In Hungarian only!

About the section

This session examines the connections between technology and human culture within our everyday material and intellectual environment, where technology has arguably become our "natural" milieu. Moving beyond the dichotomy of modernist utopia and non-modern technocriticism, the post-anthropocentric perspective sheds new light on the network of nature, technology, and culture, revealing the multi-layered, complex relationship between humans and their environment, which is merging into a post-human life form.

Márk Horváth and Ádám Lovász aim to provide a more balanced view, approaching the transformation of human nature and society by technology as a new mode of existence from the perspective of the diversity of contemporary forms of life, rather than through a one-sidedly optimistic or pessimistic lens. Márió Z. Nemes’ presentation examines the multiple meanings of the metaphors of "natural" and "artificial," while Ákos Schneider’s talk explores the connections between the optimization processes of algorithmic culture and changes in human imagination.

Participants

• Márk Horváth - Philosopher, co-founder of Absentology and Poli-P
• Ádám Lovász - Philosopher
• Ákos Schneider PhD. - Design researcher, assistant professor at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design 
• Márió Z. Nemes - Poet, critic, philosopher, assistant professor at the Department of Aesthetics at ELTE MMI

Moderator

Eszter Horváth PhD. – Philosopher, aesthete, professor at Budapest Metropolitan University

Programs of the section

1. Márk Horváth and Ádám Lovász: AI-Based Art and the Neo-Baroque Abundance of Forms

We live in an era of polycrises. Whether it’s the climate crisis, increased geopolitical uncertainty, the erosion of faith in science, moral relativism, the unsustainability of the welfare state, the deterioration of human relationships, or demographic crises, nearly every aspect of modern society can be described in the language of crisis and scarcity. A shift in perspective is needed. We can easily fall into a narrow, unimaginative scarcity-based mindset that focuses on the limitation of resources. The subject of our presentation is overcoming the negative outlook on technology. We focus on the pessimistic discourses surrounding the perceived harmful impact of artificial intelligence on art and the cultural sector. Our presentation will outline a technophilosophical model that emphasizes abundance rather than risks and shortages. The era of ecological crisis demands new forms. Neo-baroque paths, which traverse spheres, networks, and bubbles, lead us to understand, inhabit, and experience our altered nature-culture relationships, our artificially natural ecospheres, and mechanospheres. Technology not only generates shortages but can also manifest as overproduction. A nonmodern shift in perspective would focus on this latter aspect. Instead of one-sided optimism or pessimism, we believe the overproduction of forms should be thematized, offering a more balanced view of how technology, as a new mode of existence, is transforming human nature and society. Starting from the abundance of forms, we can arrive at results that are far stranger, more creative, and more diverse than the pessimistic scenarios that dominate the current zeitgeist, better aligning with the hybridity of our altered nature-culture relationships.

Márk Horváth is a philosopher, co-founder of Absentology and Poli-P, a lecturer at EKKE, and a doctoral candidate at the ELTE School of Philosophy. He is the author and co-author of several books and studies. His research areas include posthumanism, speculative realism, and the Anthropocene, co-founder of Absentology and Poli-P, a lecturer at EKKE, and a doctoral candidate at the ELTE School of Philosophy. He is the author and co-author of several books and studies. His research areas include posthumanism, speculative realism, and the Anthropocene.

Ádám Lovász is a philosopher whose research areas include posthumanism, process philosophy, systems theory, and the problem of nihilism. His most significant works include the following volumes: Nonmodern: The Spherical Theory of Exteriority (2024, co-authored with Márk Horváth, Batthyány Lajos Foundation); H. P. Lovecraft: Posthumanist Readings (co-authored with Márk Horváth and Márió Z. Nemes, 2022, Kijárat); Updating Bergson. A Philosophy of the Enduring Present (2021, Lexington Books); The Return of Reality:Speculative Realisms and New Realisms in Contemporary Philosophy (co-authored with Márk Horváth and Márk Losoncz, 2019, Forum); Varieties of Posthumanism: Human, Inhuman, and Posthuman (co-authored with Márk Horváth and Márió Z. Nemes, 2019, Prae); and The Deterritorialization of Sensation: The Philosophy of Extended Perception (2018, Gondolat). He has published in numerous Hungarian and international journals, including American, British and Canadian Studies (ABC), Chiasma, Cosmos & History, Cosmos + Taxis, Erdélyi Múzeum, Helikon, Horizon: Studies in Phenomenology, Horror Studies, Identities, Információs Társadalom, Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Kultúra és Közösség, Kommentár, Kybernetes, Literature, Matter: Journal of New Materialist Research, Open Philosophy, Postmodernism Problems, Replika, Rhizomes, and Szellem és Tudomány, Textual Practice. Member of the research group "Ecology, Art, Visions" at Budapest Metropolitan University.

2. Dr. Márió Nemes Z. PhD.: Technology as the Third Nature 

In my presentation, I will attempt to analyze the concept of the "third nature" (McKenzie Wark) using technometaphorological tools. Wark develops his concept in the context of the transformative effects of technological advancement—particularly the digital-informational revolution—on our daily lives. He argues that if the "second nature" is a constructed, cultural-civilizational environment that offers partial freedom against natural necessities, then the "third nature" is a collectively produced communicative environment that seeks to counterbalance the socio-economic determinations created by the second nature. I will examine Wark's theory through the lens of Hans Blumenberg's metaphorology and philosophy of technology. My aim is to reconstruct the semantic path of metaphorical layering between the different "natures," which may bring us closer to understanding the perception of technology in our posthuman daily lives and provide a critical interpretation of the perplexing phenomenon of how and why the technological environment appears in social experience as a new form of "nature."

Dr. Márió Nemes Z. PhD is an assistant professor at the Department of Aesthetics, ELTE MMI. He is a poet, critic, and aesthete. He is also a member of the creative collective Technologie und das Unheimliche (http://www.technologieunddasunheimliche.com/). His most recent book is: Ectoplasm (art essays, Symposion 2020).

3. Dr. Schneider Ákos PhD.: Algorithmic Culture and Designed Environment

Today, the production and consumption of culture are increasingly formed on a statistical basis. From personalized music recommendations to home assistants, social media profiles, and software-tuned wheel rims, many aspects fall within what can be termed "algorithmic culture," characterized primarily by pattern recognition performed on databases. This is a user-centered culture in the sense that the shaping of the environment and the potential dimensions of product development are largely determined by user behaviours and preferences. From these, the optimal future can be calculated. However, it is questionable what possibilities remain open for us when the imagination is thinned down by optimization in an era of systemic crises. 

The presentation examines the algorithmic aspects of the design world through concepts such as synthetic media and predictive design, shared agency, active environment, and narrative value creation.

Dr. Ákos Schneider PhD is an Assistant Professor at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) and the head of the General Theoretical Studies module. He earned his PhD from the MOME Doctoral School in 2022. His first book, "The Limits of Human-Centered Design: Speculative Design and the Posthuman Condition," was published in the same year by Typotex. Since 2023, he has been a researcher at the Future Potentials Observatory, where he explores the intersections of digital culture and contemporary design. He has published numerous scholarly articles and interviews in the field of contemporary art and design, and between 2015 and 2023, he was the co-editor-in-chief of Designisso magazine.

15:00 – 16:30 Environment and Culture (Hungarian only)

In Hungarian only!

About the section

The presentations in the section provide examples of the intertwining of our material and intellectual environment, drawn from distinct but interconnected fields such as architecture, arts and visual culture, and cultural studies.

Speakers

• Zsóka Jámbor, photographer, Lecturer at Budapest Metropolitan University
• Dr. Melinda Kiss DLA, animation designer, Lecturer at Budapest Metropolitan University
• Dr. Anna Varga PhD, film theorist, Lecturer at Budapest Metropolitan University
• Dr. Dániel Laczó PhD, chartered architect, Lecturer at Budapest Metropolitan University

Programs of the section

1. Dr. Melinda Kiss DLA: The Green Message of Animation: Environmental Awareness as a Theme in Animated Films

Thanks to animation's powerful ability to stylize and abstract, it is an excellent medium for conveying complex messages. As a genre, animation can reach a wide audience, and creators quickly recognized the potential it holds beyond mere entertainment. The symbols and metaphors used in animation, like any tool, can serve both positive and less constructive purposes. Fortunately, in animated films, we mostly encounter constructive messages, with environmental awareness holding a prominent place. This theme appears in various genres, from auteur films to feature-length family or sci-fi movies. Beyond presenting mere facts, by weaving in emotional approaches, highly impactful works have been created and continue to be made on this topic, aiming to raise audience awareness of the issues involved.

Dr. Melinda Kiss DLA, is an animation designer and university associate professor. As a team member of animation productions, she undertakes directing, visual and motion design, and animation tasks in both autonomous and applied animation fields. Her creative activities also extend to other visual disciplines, as well as the theoretical and historical aspects of the animation genre. Another significant segment of her professional activity is in higher art education, where her primary goals include nurturing talent and broadening the understanding of visual culture in motion pictures. She is the head of the Animation and Media Design Department at METU, responsible for the Animation bachelor's and master's programs, and in this capacity, she also serves as a producer of student animated films.

2. Dr. Anna Varga PhD.: Ecology in Cinema

The concept of ecology was coined in 1866 by the German Darwinist biologist, anatomist, zoologist, and philosopher Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel. The term is derived from the Ancient Greek words "oikos" meaning "home, dwelling, household, family" and "logos" meaning "reason, word, speech, language, thought, reasoning, logic, universal law, principle of nature, justification, opinion." Ecology refers to the study of environments, the science of the relationships between living organisms and their surroundings. However, the term only became widely known by the late 20th century as environmental issues, nature destruction, overpopulation, environmental protection, and sustainable development came to the forefront. My presentation explores how film, as an art form, can engage with and contribute to this complex issue and dialogue.

Dr. Anna Varga PhD graduated from ELTE BTK (Faculty of Humanities at Eötvös Loránd University) and then pursued postgraduate studies at the Moscow Film School (VGIK), also studying at Lomonosov University (MGU, Moscow) during her academic career. Until 2007, she worked for Hungarian Radio—Kossuth Radio’s Science and Educational Programs Department. She earned her PhD in Philosophy (with a specialization in Aesthetics) from the Doctoral Program in Aesthetics at the Institute of Art Theory and Media Studies, ELTE BTK. Following this, she served as an associate professor and head of the Department of Moving Image Culture, which she founded at the University of Kaposvár's Faculty of Arts. In 2015, she moved to BKF (now known as METU-ART Moving Image Department), where she teaches subjects related to Hungarian and universal film history, moving image history, and film theory.

3. Dr. Dániel Laczó PhD: Examples of Sensitivity to the Landscape in Domestic Socialist Architecture. The Influence of Scandinavian Romantic Modernism on Five Hungarian Buildings

For architecture, environmental awareness can mean thick insulation for energy savings as well as innovative technical solutions for energy efficiency. From an energy perspective, these tools enable the construction of good, eco-friendly houses with a small ecological footprint. However, from an architectural standpoint, the spatial harmony with the landscape and its architectural content can extend beyond the technical conditions of energy supply. In recent architectural history, there is a movement known for its sensitivity to the surrounding landscape: in the 20th century, both Western and Hungarian theorists highlighted the unique relationship with the landscape in the architecture of Northern countries, particularly Scandinavian Romantic Modernism. This idea frequently appears in architectural writings, yet its analysis and the exploration of the tools used to achieve this connection have so far been lacking. The concepts of landscape sensitivity inherent in Scandinavian Romantic Modernism are also reflected in Hungarian architectural works. I analyze the buildings of five architects who were well-acquainted with Northern architecture. György Jánossy's University Water Tower in Gödöllő, Zoltán Gulyás's Rózsakert Espresso in Hévíz, Zoltán Farkasdy's Olympic Hotel in Budapest, Károly Kaszás's mortuary in Tihany, and Elemér Nagy's holiday home in Gyenesdiás all serve as examples of landscape-sensitive architecture.

Dr. Dániel Laczó PhD graduated as a certified architect from the Faculty of Architecture at Budapest University of Technology and Economics. He earned his doctoral degree at the Doctoral School of Landscape Architecture and Landscape Ecology. His work includes independent design, teaching, and research activities at Budapest Metropolitan University and the Rome Studio.

4. Zsóka Jámbor: The project is on display at the Infopark campus of the Budapest Metropolitan University, as part of the SUB SOLE exhibition.

QUILTIC is an art research project in technical and cultural history, the results of which I am presenting using the organic alternative photographic process ofchlorophyll printing, In the case of chlorophyll printing, the photosensitive surface is the living leaf itself, specifically the leaves of chili plants. The title was inspired by the color of chlorophyll, as the word quiltic means "green" in the Nahuatl language, and the word chili is also a Nahuatl term. The technical research focuses on the light sensitivity of plant pigments, with a particular emphasis on chlorophyll. My extensive research into all aspects of chili plants has revealed their significance and the unfathomable span of time they have been present on Earth. The images depict the visual representations of chili peppers on Mesoamerican and South American archaeological finds, buildings, and codices. The goal of the cultural history research is to discover traces of the role this important plant species played in indigenous societies, and to gain a deeper understanding of the subject through investigation and the image-making process. During exposure, the leaves are fresh yet ancient, becoming the raw material for images that depict themes from centuries ago. To produce these images, it is necessary to understand the process of photosynthesis and to adapt to the current weather conditions.

Zsóka Jámbor earned both her BA and MA degrees in Photography at the Budapest Metropolitan University. She has been working in the department since 2017 as a Studio Manager and has also been teaching in the Graphic Design program since 2021. Her areas of expertise include photography and studio techniques, professional photo retouching, as well as portrait and beauty photography. Her projects encompass a wide range of interests, including natural sciences, cultural history, family archives, genealogical research, environmental awareness, and the application of artificial intelligence. Over the past decade, her research has increasingly focused on chili peppers, which frequently appear in her photography projects, including her 2024 QUILTIC project.

17:00 – 18:00 MIXTAPE. Literature night (Hungarian only)

In Hungarian only!

Guests of Dr. Nemes Z. Márió: Máté Bordás, Dorka Csoboth and Holt Lenszkij

taggle vége

Abstracts

The full program abstract is available via the link below: