tranzit.hu, a member of the tranzit.org transnational network of art and cultural organisations across Central and Eastern Europe, has been active for 20 years.

Running in Budapest since 2006, tranzit.hu has been a significant actor in the contemporary art scene. It creates platforms for discursive, non-formal educational, research, and publication projects, and initiates collaborations on both international and local levels. Transdisciplinary and critical approaches are key features of the initiative; historical, political, and social topics and urgencies have been addressed in various formats. Hundreds of events and countless collaborators and participants mark the last 20 years, most of the time in a politically repressive atmosphere.

In connection with these 20 years of activity, several programmes will be organised throughout the year, providing platforms for retrospection, reflection on current issues, and the formulation of future visions, concerning both the local and regional activities of tranzit. hu and the tranzit network.

Within the framework of the occasion titled »20 YEARS OF TRANZIT. HU«, an international seminar, a performance, a keynote lecture, and the book launch of tranzit 20+ will be held. The anniversary event brings together internationally active artists, art practitioners, curators, and scholars from Central and Eastern Europe to share their views, projects, and research, and to celebrate independent artistic and institutional practices.

Detailed programme

14.00–17.00
International Seminar: Public Space as a Political Field

As tranzit.hu initiates a public art project this year in the neighbourhood where the art and community space Space of Opportunity operates, the seminar takes this context as an opportunity to reflect on current artistic engagements with public space. The programme examines its uses, conflicts, and ongoing transformations.

Public space today is increasingly contested, shaped by authoritarian politics, privatisation, speculative urban development, and—most dramatically—war. Drawing on experiences from Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine, the discussion explores how artistic and civic initiatives respond to these pressures and how public space can continue to function as a site of solidarity, imagination, and collective agency.

The seminar features contributions and discussion with Dóra Hegyi – curator and head of tranzit.hu; Judit Árva – curator and researcher at tranzit.hu; Judit Angel – curator at tranzit.sk; Eliška Mazalanová – art historian, curator and cultural worker and Peter Szalay – architectural historian, Bratislava; Florin Bobu – curator and editor, together with Livia Pancu – curator and researcher at tranzit.ro Iași; Jelena Vesić – curator and cultural worker based in Belgrade; and Oksana Briukhovetska – curator and researcher from Kyiv.

For further details, please see the full seminar programme here: tranzit.hu / event / 20_years_of_tranzit_hu

17.30–17.45
Participatory performance by artist Dorottya Szonja Koltay

18.00–18.30
Lecture by art historian Tímea Junghaus
Care Under Pressure: Feminist Care Under Pressure: Feminist Strategies Against the Politics of Anxiety in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe

18.30–20.00 — Book launch: tranzit 20+
The book gathers the activities of the tranzit. org network in five countries and seven cities – experiments, alliances, methods, and solidarities – that have sustained independent artistic practice across changing political conditions over the past two decades. The introduction will be given by Katrin Klingan, ERSTE Foundation. Participants include Flóra Gadó and Borbála Soós, editors of the book, as well as Judit Angel, Florin Bobu and Livia Pancu, and Dóra Hegyi, representatives of tranzit.org.

Registration:

The event is free of charge, but registration is required. Please fill out this form by 25 April 2026.

The main partner of tranzit.hu is the ERSTE Foundation. The event is realized in collaboration with Józsefváros Museum.