The presence of several international guest lecturers from the visual arts scene gave this year’s programme its distinctive character, offering perspectives on the critical and exploratory roles of artistic practice and design. 

A major voice in contemporary photography, photographer Martin Kollar, led an intensive workshop hosted by the Photography MA. The sessions explored how chance, uncertainty, and observation shape photographic meaning. Students worked at the intersection of documentary thinking, visual storytelling, and memory, developing new series, sharpening their observational skills, and learning how spontaneity and uncertainty can fuel creativity. 

The Graphic Design programme welcomed Serbian researcher, founder of SHARE Lab, artist and professor Vladan Joler from the University of Novi Sad. He introduced his lecture “Cartography and Genealogy of Technology and Power”, which explored ways of mapping algorithmic power structures. His workshop shifted the focus to the relationship between technology’s built-in obscurities and the ambitions of critical design. 

In Animation, the course “Me and My Character” used drawn figures as a way of unpacking inner drives, tensions and archetypes.  Students moved through sketches, situational exercises and film case studies to build their concepts. As the week unfolded, they produced a large number of new works that already stand complete yet still carry the potential to grow into further projects in the future. 

Professors Hidemitsu Furukawa, Usui Shoko and Naoyuki Ito from Yamagata University led the Object Design programme’s workshop, joined by lecturers Dóra Rea Kövér, Lecturer Ákos Lipóczki and Lecturer Ákos Schneider. The course focused on 3D food printing and encouraged students to think about the spatial and sociocultural context of future dining cultures. 

On the Fashion and Textile Design MA, Lecturer Mihály Domokos ran a spectacular workshop involving students painting large stretched textiles before turning them into concepts informed by environmental and social perspectives. 

The Art and Design Management MA programme’s workshop culminated in an exhibition titled Belonging(s), curated by the members of the MAIII Collective – Eszter Hankó and Flóra Lukovics. The course centred on storytelling, inviting students to explore how objects can hold memories and shape identity – whether it’s a Christmas napkin, a homemade egg holder or a family recipe. The exhibition brought together pieces ranging from Turkish–Hungarian food dialogues to memories bathed in sunlight and intimate micro-stories. 

As always, the Course Week gave the different programmes a chance to connect, not just through their craft but through the ways they approach ideas. The workshops resulted in projects that used the language of design to reflect on the social, cultural, and technological dimensions of everyday life.