Guided Tour: Essentia Artis

Rather than adhering to a single style or discipline, the exhibition - open between 1 September and 16 October and curated by Tibor Iski Kocsis - functions as an energetic meeting point between diverse artistic languages. Geometric, lyrical, and abstract compositions exist alongside figurative and surrealist expressions. Subjective documentary photography shaped by immediate human experience interacts with design and architectural projects anchored in function and sustainability. Meanwhile, contemporary folk art practices engage with heritage not through passive preservation, but through an active, forward-looking dialogue. Discover a vibrant range of contemporary Hungarian practices across design, architecture, photography, painting and folk arts. The tour will explore how the exhibiting artists connect cultural heritage with innovation, sustainability, material experimentation and new visual languages. The guided tour is led by product designer and artist Bálint Szalai. His studies and professional work took him to London, Amsterdam and Kyoto, providing extensive international experience. Since 2020, he and Adrienn Király have jointly run studio kész. and the itthon. brand. Since 2023 he has taught on MOME’s English-language Design MA programme. Bálint Szalai’s design practice reconsiders the relationship between traditional material culture, local craft knowledge and contemporary design. His time in Kyoto proved formative: in Japanese material culture, he encountered tradition not as a closed inheritance but as knowledge that remains alive in the present and open to continual renewal. This experience redirected his attention towards the surviving craft and small-scale manufacturing culture of his native Vojvodina. Created with Adrienn Király in 2020, their itthon. project is a socially responsible design programme that works with local makers to produce small-series objects for everyday use. Rather than formally reproducing traditional objects, they place the underlying knowledge of materials, techniques and making within a contemporary context. The relationship between designer and craftsperson is therefore more than a conventional commission: each object emerges through shared enquiry and reciprocal exchange of knowledge.