This year’s symposium is centred around the theme MENEDÉK / SHELTER, exploring the physical, emotional and social dimensions of shelter as a universal human experience. Shelter may mean a home or a place that provides safety, but it can also refer to an inner, personal space to which one can retreat. At the same time, the theme is connected to pressing contemporary issues such as migration, displacement, cultural identity, the ecological crisis and the vulnerability of our planet.

The Kecskemét Contemporary Art Workshops – International Ceramics Studio and the Foundation for Contemporary Ceramics Art warmly invite you to the Open Day of the 2026 International Ceramics Symposium and the opening of the accompanying exhibition.

As part of the 2026 International Ceramics Symposium, held from 3 to 28 August and jointly organised by the International Ceramics Studio and the Foundation for Contemporary Ceramics Art, we are once again hosting an Open Day, offering visitors the opportunity to meet the artists participating in the programme. During the event, the invited artists will present their work, artistic approaches and techniques through lectures and technical demonstrations. The Open Day offers an insight into the intensive four-week creative process in which artists from different countries and generations worked together in the workshops of the International Ceramics Studio.

The Open Day and the exhibition offer visitors an opportunity not only to encounter the works created during the symposium, but also to gain direct insight into the artists’ ideas, working methods and the technical processes through which clay is transformed into works of art. The Open Day programme will culminate at 5:00 pm at Kápolna Gallery with the opening of the exhibition featuring works created during the symposium.

During the four-week symposium, four Hungarian and four international artists worked together: Bence Boleman (HUN), Jovana Čavorović (SRB), Zsófia Karsai (HUN), Mariya Alipieva (ESP), Yuriy Musatov (UKR), Erika Rejka (HUN), SaeRi Seo (KOR) and Katalin Szávoszt (HUN).

OPEN DAY PROGRAMME
Lectures
10:00–10:30 – Zsófia Karsai (HUN)
10:30–11:00 – Jovana Čavorović (SRB)
11:00–11:30 – Katalin Szávoszt (HUN)
11:30–12:00 – SaeRi Seo (KOR)

12:00–13:00 – Lunch break

13:00–13:30 – Erika Rejka (HUN)
13:30–14:00 – Mariya Alipieva (ESP)

Technical Demonstrations
14:00–14:30 – Bence Boleman (HUN)
14:30–14:45 – Jovana Čavorović (SRB)
14:45–15:00 – Mariya Alipieva (ESP)
15:00–15:30 – SaeRi Seo (KOR)
15:30–16:00 – Erika Rejka (HUN)
16:00–16:30 – Yuriy Musatov (UKR)

MENEDÉK / SHELTER
Exhibition opening: Thursday, 27 August 2026, 5:00 pm
Welcome speech by: PATTY WOUTERS, ceramic artist
and UNESCO Representative of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC), and
Prof. GYÖRGY FUSZ, ceramic artist
and President of the Foundation for Contemporary Ceramics Art
Opening by: RÓBERT ALFÖLDI, Jászai Mari award-winning actor and director
Exhibition opening times: until 19 September 2026, Tuesday to Saturday, 2:00–6:00 pm.