People living in Hungary – in the centre of Europe – apparently face the same joys and sorrows, day after day, just like people anywhere else in the world. We formulate questions, try to systematise our doubts and uncertainties, seek connections and develop opportunities for dialogue. Through a spatial and physical extension of our identity, we attempt to demonstrate our faith and commitment. We like to be put to the test, to discover our own boundaries, our ability to display and perceive, and our openness to cultural differences. Our confidence in the intellectual workshop we represent has prompted us to travel through Europe and present what it is doing. This intellectual workshop is the Moholy­Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest (MOME). It places great importance on the symbiosis of freedom and responsibility, and on modes of working which create value. 

Whether in architectural spaces or the world of pure image, we are seeking connections, in the faith that culture is the unit of measurement of the quality of human life. The spaces and objects of our everyday lives make up the musical score of our cultural identity. When Hungary thinks about itself, it must never forget its obligation to extend the boundaries of that identity. Looked at in this context, we are no longer talking about “anywhere in the world”, but in one country in transformation, seeking to redefine itself, an integral part of European culture. 

Moholy­Nagy University of Art and Design has its own place in this process. Throughout its 128­year history, it has been addressing one simple question – human life. I look on design, in the wider sense, as no less than the physical and spatial environment of our lives, the mirror of human existence. It is important because it serves people, taking account of human weaknesses and the finite capabilities of human perception and anatomy. 

Our aspiration is to launch, and carry to completion, processes that give scope for difference, otherness, openness and crossover. True freedom, as is often said, is the ability to give and to love without selfishness. 

So please accept our invitation to the table we have laid, and have a taste of what MOMEnts has to offer. It is all part of the performance on that symbolic stage where all of us have roles to play and questions to answer.

Gábor Kopek 

Rector 

Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest