The Media Institute's NUCLEAR ENERGY PROJECT course took place in Paks

Date: 2023.10.25

At the course, which included a week of fieldwork and lectures, students studied the production, use, and perception of nuclear energy, exploring in particular the mediating role of photography in the context of the energy future and climate change.

The increasing demand for various forms of energy is a central feature of contemporary society and has become one of the greatest challenges we face on local and planetary scale. During our daily routines, we often ignore the countless aspects of energy, which is mostly experienced as abundance or scarcity.

The last decades were marked by emerging crises around fossil, nuclear, sustainable resources, fuelled by competing technologies, and we came to realize that we need new goals in economy to replace growth. Young artists are able to link these aspects on a personal or even spiritual level and create a much-needed consensus by extending the privately experienced concept of energy into the realm of societal discourse.

Artists today are increasingly judged on their work processes, the degree to which they supply good or bad collaborative models. Students participating in the course had the opportunity to experience trans-local, decentralized methods for exploring and discussing expectations, fears, and visions around nuclear energy.

The fieldwork enabled students to get in touch with local institutions and people involved in the production of nuclear energy to various degrees and in different ways. Their ideas about energy were shaped by the nuclear energy experience created by the institutions and the opinions of the people of Paks together.

The first half of the Nuclear Energy Project course consisted of an intensive field trip at PAKS and Bátaapáti, visiting facilities and institutions of and related to the Nuclear Power Plant and radioactive waste storage. The lectures of the teachers focused on these and the diverse interpretations of the concept of energy, discussing the issues of collaborative work and social commitment through personal examples, including a lecture by international expert Eszter Mátyás raising a number of questions about our energy future.

The knowledge acquired during the field trip and lectures provided guidance in working with people involved in nuclear energy, interview design, researching archival material, and successful development of student projects.

Teachers of the course: Mathieu Asselin, Krisztina Erdei, Gábor Arion Kudász and Willem Vermoere.

Participating universities: KASK, Gent, MOME, Budapest, and PKE, Nagyvárad

More news

Festive moments at the spring Award Title ceremony

Several students and staff members at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design recently reached important professional milestones and were warmly welcomed – alongside fellow attendees – at the 2025 Spring Title Award Ceremony by Acting Rector Csaba Kovács and Head of the Doctoral School Ábel Szalontai. This past semester, Bence László Dobos, Viola Fátyol, Henrietta Fiáth, Katalin Glaser, Gergely Hartmann, Flóra Kőszeghy, Piroska Novák, Panni Pais, and Valéria Póczos have earned their doctoral degrees, while Erzsébet Nagy, a long-standing and highly respected member of our textile programme, will receive the honorary title of Master Instructor.

Playful and practical all at once – Introducing the 2025 MOME diploma visual identity!

The MOME 2025 graduation visual identity is now complete, offering a visual representation of community-driven future building. At MOME, it’s tradition for the visual identity of the diploma events – from graphic design to the portrait photography of BA and MA graduates – to be designed by students themselves, with the concept chosen through a competition judged by a panel of university staff. The annually revamped visual identity serves as a visual snapshot of its time.

MOME Campus joins Budapest100 programme

For the first time, the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) is taking part in the Budapest100 event series, which in 2025 will raise awareness about the importance of urban green spaces, gardens, and parks. MOME’s 15,000-square-metre, revitalised campus garden not only serves as a venue but also plays an active role in the festival with its eco-conscious developments and community activities. Budapest100 is an architectural and cultural festival that celebrates communities and the city, bringing neighbours closer together. From 22–25 May 2025, we’ll be focusing on urban green spaces, courtyards, gardens, and green corridors, along with the communities who nurture them.

All News