Critical Utopia - Possible Futures

The graduation project Asphalt Diary explores the relationship between skateboarding and graphic design through the form of a personal visual journey. Told from the perspective of a skateboard, the book takes the reader through key places and periods in skateboarding culture, from 1970s Los Angeles to contemporary Reykjavík. Each chapter explores the musical, visual, and cultural influences associated with these locations through original illustrations, typographic solutions, collages, and other graphic experiments. The project presents skateboarding as an independent visual and cultural phenomenon while highlighting how urban environments, subcultures, and graphic communication shape one another. The book functions simultaneously as documentation, a personal collection of inspiration, and a graphic design experiment, while reinterpreting the visual heritage of skateboarding culture through contemporary graphic approaches. Research plays a central role in the project, alongside the exploration of the visual languages of different periods and their reinterpretation through contemporary graphic tools. The publication also aims to make skateboarding culture more accessible to those who are not part of the scene.

The graduation project Behind the Pixels is an illustrated educational book and accompanying visual system that draws attention to the less visible mechanisms of the digital world. The project focuses on data collection, online presence, personalised content, algorithms, surveillance, and digital influence, with particular attention to younger audiences. Its aim is to make visible what happens on the other side of the screen when we use applications, consume content, or simply exist in the online space, presenting these processes in an accessible, visually engaging, and playfully ironic way. Rather than approaching the subject as a technical textbook, the book takes the form of a visual educational publication. Short, accessible texts, distinctive illustrations, and metaphorical visual situations make abstract concepts such as data profiling, algorithms, the attention economy, and manipulation easier to understand. The visual language draws on digital interfaces, advertising, clickbait logic, and forms of visual humour that are familiar to children. The project deliberately avoids an alarming tone and instead aims to create curiosity, encouraging readers to recognise their own digital habits and to look more critically at their online environment. The graduation project also includes a range of related identity and supporting elements, including documentation, a presentation system, a poster, and an interactive web extension. Together, these elements reinforce the project’s central message through a consistent visual language: the digital space is not simply a tool or interface, but an environment that continuously collects data, influences decisions, and shapes the user experience in largely invisible ways. Behind the Pixels aims to make these hidden processes visible, understandable, and memorable.

The project is an experimental animated short exploring the continuous cycle of life, transformation, and renewal.

The project brings the pages of a sketchbook to life, capturing the atmosphere of a total solar eclipse. Human anticipation, animal confusion, and the strange behaviour of nature converge in a single moment as the world falls silent.

Experimental silent short film (2:17), 1920×1080 (16:9), H.264 .mp4, 25 fps.

The project transforms photographs of the university’s spaces into a metric, three-dimensional point field using a 3D model generated from a single image. The reconstruction is first presented as a technical view with the original camera and an imagined camera path, and is then rendered from viewpoints where the camera never actually stood. The film alternates between the finished “result” and the “how it was made” view, making the model’s confident assumptions visible: a critical image of the spatial “reality” that artificial intelligence infers from a single frame. Technically, each frame is processed using Apple’s SHARP model, which generates a 3D Gaussian splat with metric scale and an estimated focal length from a single image. A z-buffered depth map is extracted from the splat, hole-filled and smoothed with an image-guided filter, and then unprojected into a two-layer point cloud. Novel views, the camera, floor grid, and plan views are rendered in a custom NumPy point-splatting renderer along an imagined 48-pose camera path. The entire process runs offline on a single consumer GPU (RTX 4070 Ti), without cloud services.

The diploma project focuses on adaptive reuse and sustainability, rethinking the building’s function in response to changing generational lifestyles. Its primary aim is to create new value while preserving as much of the original architectural fabric as possible. The design reimagines an abandoned modernist resort on the Római-part, originally designed by László Iványi. Making use of the building’s height and flat roof, the project creates a unique retreat and a new perspective for a rooftop artist-in-residence programme. This continuously rotating programme allows urban artists to disconnect from the city without travelling far, while bringing new life to the neglected site. The intervention respects the proportions and structural grid of the original building while introducing a new formal language in the form of a lightweight, spatially articulated mass. Individual cabins provide privacy for residents, while the dynamic interplay of alternating indoor and outdoor spaces actively encourages community life. Ultimately, the project reinterprets the site’s architectural tradition of vertical extension, offering a flexible solution capable of reactivating the area, even on a temporary basis.

CGI music video / experimental audiovisual short film.

Genre: real-time CGI/VFX music video created in Unreal Engine 5, using assets created in Blender, full-body motion capture (Rokoko Smartsuit Pro II + Smartgloves II), and iPhone facial capture. Runtime: approximately 4:45. The work follows a band descending through seven symbolic “loop” spaces, each corresponding to one of the seven deadly sins. The spaces are connected through a single continuous descent narrative. The piece accompanies the theoretical thesis The Architecture of Hell, which connects procedural sorting algorithms with theological and cosmological structures drawn from Dante and Aquinas.

The film uses the concept of liminal space to draw a parallel between the protagonist’s inner dilemmas and the environments they move through. The narrative can be interpreted on two levels: first, as a thriller in which the protagonist is fleeing and eventually becomes trapped; and second, as a struggle with the expectations imposed by society and by the protagonist themselves. Finding a way out symbolises the resolution of these inner conflicts.

The basic aim of the MetUp application is to collect students’ artistic works on a shared platform, provide an opportunity to present and share them, and encourage new collaborations. Under the guidance and mentorship of Dr. Zsolt Koroknai, Zsófi Imre (MA in Graphic Design) and students from different art-related master’s programmes worked together to design a MetUp application that functions not only as a presentation platform, but also as an active community space. One possible direction for further developing the project is to connect digital and physical experiences. An innovative way of doing this would be through augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), allowing digital content to appear within physical space. This could create a hybrid exhibition experience in which users would encounter artworks not only through a screen, but also as spatial experiences. The project also includes a short promotional film that uses visual and narrative elements to present the application and the experience it offers, as well as the connection between digital and physical space. The film was shot at METU’s Rózsa Street campus with students participating in the project, who present the application and the planned 3D courtyard while establishing its atmosphere.

Creative crew: Laura Lilla Filip, Nóra Kovács, Zsófia Kovács, Dániel Péter Kőváry, Bendegúz Péter Mihály, Krisztián Reischl, Szilárd Varga, Gábor Zlinszky

What does our shadow reveal about us, and does it reveal the same thing from every point of view? The video is based on a kinetic light installation in which moving figures and changing light create shifting shadows. Depending on the lighting, the same figure can create different impressions. The work explores the gap between an object and its projection, and how a change in perspective can reveal previously invisible possibilities. Digital post-processing initially reduces the footage to a stark black-and-white image before gradually revealing the original footage.

Luminescence is a 3D animated short film set in a mysterious, desolate world threatened by an intangible force known as the Darkness. At the centre of the story is the Luminescence, a source of light that prevents the Darkness from spreading. When it is corrupted by a sorcerer serving the Darkness, the protagonist sets out to restore the Luminescence and push back the Darkness’s growing influence. Every aspect of the film was created by the artist, from character modelling and environment creation to animation, music, and sound design.

Molten Lights depicts two armoured knights facing each other in a duel against the fading light of sunset. The romantic image of a distant past is disrupted by the presence of conflict, creating a sharp contrast between an idealised world and the violence within it. The film was created using stop-motion animation.

HaBár? explores how an abandoned boathouse on Budapest’s Római riverbank can be given a new social role while preserving the architectural character of the existing structure. The former boathouse is transformed into a sober bar and community cultural centre, offering a café and mocktail bar, co-working and workshop spaces, exhibitions, talks, and sober cultural events. Developed in collaboration with Lili Keserű’s HaCsak? project, which supports young adults leaving state care, the two projects create complementary social environments. While HaCsak? provides a supportive setting for residents, HaBár? connects them with the wider community through an inclusive space for meeting and shared experiences. Rather than replacing the old with the new, the project reinterprets the existing steel structure, concrete surfaces, channel glass, and characteristic red doors through a flexible new programme. Modular furniture, natural materials, vegetation, water, textures, and adaptable lighting create a slower, creative environment for social interaction. The renewed courtyard further connects the two projects and extends their community into the surrounding landscape.

Second Layer proposes a new use for the former Vasas Trade Union Holiday Resort on Budapest’s Római-part, a modernist building that has lost its original function. The project explores how the building can be given renewed relevance while preserving its existing character and relationship with the Danube. Instead of adding a new building to the site, the project makes use of the currently unused rooftop, transforming it into a shared coworking space that responds to changing and more flexible ways of working. At the same time, the existing building could continue to serve as accommodation in the future, for example as a contemporary hotel or hostel, with the rooftop space offering a natural extension of this new use. The new space is conceived as a light, contemporary layer placed above the existing building, creating a visible dialogue between the original architecture and the new intervention. The existing façade and its character are left intact, while the rooftop introduces a new atmosphere and function without erasing what is already there. Second Layer explores how an existing building can be reactivated through a sensitive contemporary addition, preserving its architectural identity while opening it up to new forms of use and community.

Falcopolis – Flying Circus is an art project and a 360° fulldome short film combining colour, music, and sound, with a runtime of 6 minutes and 12 seconds. The film observes a real natural phenomenon: the gathering of nearly one million red-footed falcons in Angola. Taking the form of a 360° fulldome short film, it combines documentary observation with a speculative perspective on human society and a future shaped by climate change. Through immersive imagery, music, and sound, the work creates a contemplative sensory experience, inviting viewers to pause, marvel at the reality of nature, and reconsider the systems we have built around it. The film presents a unique phenomenon in the animal kingdom.

Concept and design: Szabolcs Pálfi

Images: Szabolcs Pálfi, László Novák, Olivér Lehel

Sound: Balázs Pejkó, Tamás Czirkiáj

Music: Bence Molnár

The project is a speculative design concept built around the idea of the human brain being susceptible to technological influence. It presents a future device capable of monitoring, recording, storing, and replaying neural impulses, making it possible to relive experiences at their original intensity and thereby rethink the concept of memory. According to the concept, the device could contribute to alleviating the symptoms of various neurological and mental conditions, such as dementia, potentially slowing cognitive decline and improving quality of life by supporting the conscious recall of memories. It could also enable people to share experiences with one another, encouraging deeper human connection and empathy. The project’s visual communication explores these ideas while focusing on the relationship between humans and technology. Alongside digital solutions, analogue techniques are used to give the subject a more human-centred and emotionally engaging approach.

ECHORA is an interactive VR installation exploring a speculative post-human future in which nature, technology, and artificial intelligence become deeply interconnected. Visitors are invited to explore an immersive sci-fi environment featuring hybrid flowers that combine mechanical and organic elements and preserve memories, AI-driven systems, and an AI deity. The work explores what Earth might look like after the disappearance of humanity, when organic life and technology gradually merge, giving rise to a new form of hybrid life.

Medium: Interactive VR installation

Platform: Unreal Engine 5 / Meta Quest 3

The graduation project is a poster series that explores how the reality-distorting mechanisms of propaganda can be represented visually. It examines which graphic and visual communication tools can be used to critique the political pseudo-reality constructed by propaganda, and how the experience of “awakening” from such a reality can be conveyed. The project is rooted in the observation that modern authoritarian systems often shape perceptions of reality not through overt violence, but through the selective dissemination, repetition, and distortion of information. As a result, political communication can begin to function as a form of noise that obscures actual social processes. The artist translates this mechanism into a visual language across the posters. Each composition consists of two interwoven layers: the visible surface communicates propaganda slogans and simplified messages, while the hidden content—revealed only through a red filter—points to the underlying political aims of authoritarian regimes. The viewer is therefore given an active role in uncovering the different layers of meaning, and must literally “look at the world through a different lens” in order to see through deceptive narratives. The use of the filter also functions as a metaphor for critical thinking: it represents the process through which individuals question received messages and attempt to uncover the political intentions behind them.

The work is part of a sixteen-part series, all of which belong to the still video genre. The elements displayed within the frame do not move or change their position. Instead, the animation is created solely by altering the image’s visibility, transparency, opacity, and sharpness. Each animated work is essentially based on one or more still images found on the World Wide Web.

The project is a speculative publication imagining a future “contemporary” magazine that reflects on current and emerging social issues through speculation and visual experimentation. Combining typography with technology-inspired visual elements, it resembles a news platform or an endless scrolling interface. Short texts, fragments, headlines, posts, and other snippets come together to create a fragmented portrait of a possible future..

The diploma project explores porcelain as a source of inspiration in fashion design, with particular attention to the forms and aesthetic characteristics of the Zsolnay Porcelain Manufactory. The research focuses on the delicacy, fragility, organic forms, and decorative details of porcelain and ceramics, which the designer reinterprets through the tools of contemporary fashion design. The diploma project is based on the design of a collection of occasion wear in which the flower-like motifs, soft lines, and richly detailed surfaces of porcelain objects are translated into textile and structural solutions. Throughout the design process, various material experiments and alternative applications of baleen were used to explore how the airy yet structured character of porcelain could be expressed in fashion.

The costumes of It Contains Hard Parts translate the central themes of the performance into wearable forms. Through construction, materiality, and surface, they explore the tension between individuality and collectivity. Inspired by the flags of the world, the garments reference symbols of national identity while dissolving their fixed meanings into abstract compositions. Familiar colour palettes and graphic geometries are fragmented and reassembled, suggesting that identity is not static but constantly negotiated and transformed. The collection adopts the construction logic of technical sportswear—including ergonomic cuts, modular layering, and functional detailing—while deliberately deconstructing these conventions. Quilted jackets appear incomplete, with structural sections removed, turning absence into an integral design element. Laser-cut perforations at different scales disrupt the silhouettes, transforming the garments into porous surfaces that move between protection and exposure. Rather than functioning as costumes alone, the pieces become physical expressions of bodies in relation to one another. They visualise the invisible forces that shape communities: connection and separation, conformity and difference, stability and transformation. Created for the choreography of Beatrix Trisha Simkó, the costumes extend the visual language of the performance beyond movement, presenting clothing as a medium through which social dynamics can be experienced and interpreted.

HACSAK… explores a new social role for an existing, underused building while preserving its original character and architectural values. Located near the Római riverbank, the former educational and accommodation building is transformed into an aftercare and community centre supporting the independence and social reintegration of young adults leaving state care. The project approaches independent life as more than a housing issue: it is also a relational, emotional, educational and labour-market challenge. Alongside housing, the building provides spaces for mentoring, learning, communal life and developmental programmes, creating a safe environment for its residents. Its spatial organisation follows a principle of gradual openness. Public functions on the ground floor—such as a café-bakery, exhibition space, workshops and sales point—create opportunities for controlled interaction with the wider community, complemented by the neighbouring HaBár? community and cultural space. The upper floors become increasingly private, accommodating learning, mentoring, communal life and housing.The internal garden and transitional spaces connect the different functions, while vegetation, natural light, visual links and flexible communal areas soften the building’s institutional character. Sustainability is primarily addressed through the reuse of the existing building and structure, combined with targeted and sensitive interventions. The title HACSAK…, meaning “UNLESS…” in English, refers to an open-ended condition: unless a supportive environment, a safe point or a new opportunity for connection emerges, change may never begin.