“I wanted them to look at what they already knew in a different light,” she said, reflecting on the first course. Working without a camera, she and her students explored the fundamental phenomena of light, surface, and movement. “What becomes visible when we focus only on light? What happens when the surface changes – when it is flat, curved, wavy, or folded?”   What she described as an “almost tool-less condition” sparked creativity in everyone involved. 

The next assignment moved into audiovisual work. “By then the ceremonial hall had been converted into a studio. There was a large open space, a camera, sound recording equipment, and an editing room.” Students planned and carried out their projects in small groups, with part of the filming continuing at the Balázs Béla Studio. “Lots and lots of great work was produced. I archived the entire material.” For Maurer, experimentation was not self-serving; it was a way of making thinking and form more deliberate. 

Her students included Balázs Czeizel, Ágnes Eperjesi, Teodóra Hübner, György Jederán, and Csaba Zsuffa.  As Teodóra Hübner later put it: “What did she teach? Freedom and adventure in making, awareness and structure in thinking – and in the creation of works, including applied ones. 

She was a selfless and profoundly influential teacher. Her knowledge of contemporary art, both in Hungary and internationally, was encyclopaedic. She continued to follow our paths long after we left, and she remained a steady presence in our lives.” 

Her teaching shaped not only professional practice but ways of thinking. Two years ago, and exhibition from the photogrammatics course was displayed at the Vasarely Museum alongside other works by the artist, marking her eighty-seventh birthday. The exhibition, titled Dóra Maurer: Light Workshop, 1987–1988, was curated by museologist Veronika Pócs and her former student Balázs Czeizel. 

Her impact on MOME continued well beyond the classroom and took shape in an approach to art and education that combined experimentation with discipline, freedom with structure, and sensitivity with awareness, and that remains part of the university’s teaching today. Her legacy lives on not only in her own work, but in the practice and outlook of those she taught. 

Click here for the full interview: https://www.digikult.hu/2018/11/29/maurer/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQC_uJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFjSGRXZWN4a1hqSWlUR0V2c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHmb1yW92_Y-zHSP61jxnbD3vE19nBlvH4taJg9XEjPe_LJ_dp1nrNzGHpXEd_aem_FIRUyszQvyqUBEgBqx2DMw