A selection of conferences, guest lectures, invited talks, exhibition openings and further professional activity
“Artwalking Through the Desert. Triggering Reflections on Temporality in Visual Arts” – Paper presentation in the international workshop: “Abyss of Time: Temporality and Existence in Environmental Aesthetic Experience”, Budapest, Hungary, 2025
“Mario Perniola e l’estetica dell’eccitazione. Dall’osservare l’arte, all’osservare l’osservazione dell’arte” (Mario Perniola and the aesthetics of excitement. From observing art to observing the observation of art) – Paper presentation in the conference: “Mario Perniola. Arte, linguaggio, società”, Rome, Italy, 2025
“Landscape knowledge. Classical environmental aesthetics and current challenges in an intercultural perspective” – Paper presentation in the 5th CIPSH International Academy on Chinese Cultures and Global Humanities: “Education as a global strategy. The dialogue between tradition and new goals in the educational systems in the Chinese World and in Europe”, Madrid, Spain, 2024
“Creativity Around Creative Conservation. Converting the “catastrophe of decay” into bold heritage management and aesthetic practices” – Keynote speech in the 1st International Conference on Heritage, Conservation and Creativity, Tomar, Portugal, 2024
“Natural Catastrophes and Fine Arts. Surveying the changing role of art in the rendering of environmental disasters” – Guest lecture within the series: Current Trends of World Humanities at the University of Inner Mongolia, Hohhot, China, 2024
“Science, Technology and the Arts – Possibilities of Fruitful Collaboration” Presentation in the Special Editorial Forum: Humanities in the Digital Age, organised by the journal Social Sciences International, during the International Conference Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of CIPSH (International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences) in Beijing, China, 2024
“Sitedness as Aesthetic Challenge and Power. Considerations in the Site-Specificity of Monuments and Memorials” – Paper presentation in the International Conference Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of CIPSH (International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences), Beijing, China, 2024
“Examining the Ruin, Learning the Past. Experience and Experiment in History Education” – Paper presentation in the Ninth Conference on Philosophy for Children and “Shuai-xing” Education, Changchun, China, 2024
“Common Grounds: Practices and Further Opportunities for Cross-Disciplinary Research Collaboration. CIPSH and IGU” – Keynote speech in the 35th International Geographical Congress, Dublin, Ireland, 2024
“The Difficult Heritage and Aesthetic Challenges of Bunkers” – Paper presentation in the Roundtable titled “Dark Aesthetics. War, Destructions and Massacres in Art and Everyday Life”, organised by the International Association for Aesthetics at the XXV World Congress of Philosophy, Rome, Italy, 2024
“Should Scientists listen to philosophers? – DLMPST/IUHPST panel” – Participation in the panel discussion organised by the Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science and Technology / International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the XXV World Congress of Philosophy, Rome, Italy, 2024
“Depicting Sport and Wellness in Art Through Ages” – Paper presentation in the 2024 Taipei Health Humanities Conference: Humanities in “One Health”, Taipei, Taiwan, 2024
“Shifting Real-World Art Habits to Virtual Spaces” – Paper presentation in the 2024 Taipei Health Humanities Conference: Humanities in “One Health”, Taipei, Taiwan, 2024
Discussion of my paper titled “The Art in Monuments” in The First Annual Coffee Break Conference of Aesthetics,
Velence, Hungary, 2024
Erasmus Staff Mobility for Teaching, Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, Portugal, 2024
“The aesthetic potential of the not (yet) civilised urban environment” – Paper presentation in the conference “ECHO – Civilised Nature. Aesthetics in theory and practice”, Budapest, Hungary, 2024
“Real problems with fake ruins. What is at stake in the conservation of follies?” – Paper presentation in the panel “Philosophy and Practice of Heritage Conservation and Reuse”, in the 81st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Aesthetics, Arlington, VA, USA, 2023
“What are we fighting for then? The time has come to be worried about and take responsibility for the sustainability of our culture” – Round table moderation at Art Market Budapest – International Contemporary Art Fair, Budapest, Hungary, 2023
“From Nostalgic Ruins to Challenging Monuments” – Paper presentation in the workshop titled “Nostalgia and Aesthetics” at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Vienna, Austria, 2023
“New Techno-Humanities: Sustainable Development for Human Community” – Co-Chair of a Round table on techno-humanities in the CIPSH International Conference: Humanities in the Global and Digital Age. The role of Humanities research traditions and interactions in contemporary society, The University of Tokyo and Keio University, Tokyo, Japan, 2023 (online)
“How to conserve a fake ruin? Heritage dilemmas between aesthetics and practice” – Paper presentation in the annual conference of the European Society for Aesthetics, Budapest, Hungary, 2023
“The changing modes and manifestations of ruination. Nostalgia for classical decay” – Paper presentation in the panel titled “Varieties of Sustainability in the Relationship Between Art and Nature” in the International Institute of Applied Aesthetics XV International Summer Conference: Scoping Sustainable Aesthetics. Rethinking Nature, Man-Made Environment, Lahti, Finland, 2023
“Reflecting the codes. Investigations of cultural complexities in contemporary visual arts” – Paper presentation in the international conference “Multimodal Code-Switching”, Budapest, Hungary, 2023
“Conversation with the art historian Zoltán Somhegyi” – Invitation for a talk at the University of Szeged, Hungary, 2023
“Introduction to Aesthetics” – Guest lectures at the University of Akureyri, Iceland, within the framework of Erasmus Staff Mobility for Teaching, University of Akureyri, Iceland, 2023
“The Intercultural Perspectives of Ruins. Decaying Heritage and What Do We Do With It” – Guest lecture at the University of Malaga, Spain, 2023
“Curing and Caring Through Art. Memory and Memorials in Times of Changing Interpretation of the Contested Past” – Keynote speaker in the international conference “Tracking Global Wokeism”, Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait, 2023
“What Is Translatable in Art? Opportunities, Challenges and Revisitation of Cultural Interconnections” – Paper presentation in the Third CIPSH International Academy on Chinese Cultures and Global Humanities Seminar: “Towards a Common Heritage”, Lisbon, Portugal, 2022
“From Pergamon to Detroit. Classical Ruins and Decaying Architecture Between Aesthetics and Ethics” – Paper presentation in the conference organised by ELTE University, celebrating the 150th anniversary of art history education in Hungary. Budapest, Hungary, 2022
“Encountering the Past. Aesthetic and Ethical Issues of Ruination and Decay” – Guest lecture at the University of Palermo, Italy, 2022
“The Construction of Romantic Landscapes. Caspar David Friedrich and His Circle” – Invited talk within the framework of a series of lectures on the history of landscape painting, organised by The Space, Budapest, Hungary, 2022
“Aesthetic relics of the agency of Nature. Questions and challenges around the conservation and reconstruction of (built) heritage in the Anthropocene” – Paper presentation in the 1st Relics of Nature workshop: Sustainability and heritage in the Anthropocene, University of Oslo, Norway, 2022
“Ruins Around Caspar David Friedrich. Changing Pictorial Aspects of Decaying Heritage” – Paper presentation in the international conference: Aesthetic Communication in Europe 1700-1900, Budapest, Hungary, 2022
“From the Awareness of Care to the Care of Awareness. Aesthetic and Ethical Perspectives Around Endangered Environments” – Paper presentation in the Conference of the Nordic Theoretical Archaeology Group, Oslo, Norway, 2022
“The Aesthetics of Ruins and of Architectural Dereliction” – Guest Lecture at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, 2022 (online)
“Painting Wind. On Some Sublime Aspects of Art and Nature” – Paper presentation in the International Symposium: The Imagery of Wind, Organised by The research group of the Studies on Representations of Landscape, the Institute of Oriental and Occidental Studies, Kansai University. The Study Group of the Netherlandish Arts in Japan, 2022 (online)
“Chapters from the History of Beauty” – Guest lectures at the University of Akureyri, Iceland, within the framework of Erasmus Staff Mobility for Teaching, University of Akureyri, Iceland, 2022
“The Birth, Life and Possible Afterlives of Ruins. Aesthetics, Experience and Issues of Conservation around Architectural Decay” – invited talk at ART (Aesthetics Research Torino), a periodic philosophical seminar, organised by the Department of Philosophy and Educational Sciences of the University of Turin and the PhD Program FINO, 2022 (online)
“The Humanities, Museums, and Art,” – Round table moderation at the CIPSH (The International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences) international conference “Sustainability, Social Relevance, and the Humanities: Opportunities and Challenges”, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, 2021
“Values and Challenges of Ruins. Aesthetic Investigations Around Architectural Dereliction,” – Guest lecture at Sichuan University, China, 2021 (online)
“Learning, Playing, Creating. On the Diverse Forms of Early Art Appreciation,” – Paper presentation at the international conference: The Values of Play. A Cultural and Educational Analyses. Hangzhou, China, 2021 (online)
“Central Europe in the Centre of Attention. The power of regionalism and the emerging interest in cultural cooperation within the Visegrad Group countries,” – Round table moderation at Art Market Budapest – International Contemporary Art Fair, Budapest, Hungary, 2021
“Avant-Garde Anatomy. Dissection and Re-composition of Art and its History in the Oeuvre of Milorad Krstic,” – Paper presentation at the International Association of Aesthetics Interim Conference: European Avant-Garde – A Hundred Years Later. Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2021 (onlline)
“From Ruins to the Ruins of Ruins: The Challenging Afterlife of Architectural Dereliciton” – Presentation in the “Ringvorlesung” (lecture series) titled: Ruins from the Perspectives of Cultural Studies and Humanities. Universität Hamburg, Germany, 2021 (online)
“Heritage, Mobility and Identities” – Round table discussion at the European Humanities Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, 2021 (online)
“Contemporary Art and Children. Possibilities and Challenges of the Education of Visual Art Appreciation in Exhibitions and Art Fairs,” – Paper presentation at the 2021 International Conference on Childhood Studies, Hangzhou, China, 2021 (online)
“From Densely Filled Vistas to Empty Piazzas. City Images Interpreting the Oscillating Dynamisms of Urban Reality,” – Paper presentation at the 4th International Conference: Aesthetic Energy of the City. Urban Images, Lodz, Poland, 2021 (online)
“Aesthetics and environmental dereliction,” – Paper presentation at the conference Coordinates of Aesthetics, Art and Culture VI.: Art, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Everyday Life, Presov, Slovakia, 2020 (online)
“The Impact of COVID-19 on the arts,” – Presentation at the 3. Online Conference: Planetary Health and Humanities, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, 2020 (online)
“Guidelines for COVID-19 Containment Measures: Privacy, Equality, and Fairness,” Round table discussion at the 2. Online Conference: Planetary Health and Humanities, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, 2020 (online)
“The Aesthetics of Ruins,” – invited talk (online) on my book: Reviewing the Past: The Presence of Ruins at The Wednesday Group, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2020 (online)
“COVID-19 and aesthetics. The impact of the pandemic on the infrastructure of arts,” Lecture at the 1. Online Conference: Planetary Health and Humanities, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, 2020 (online)
“Mirroring ruins. Aesthetics experience and engaging with the past,” Invited talk at the 40th Anniversary Conference of the
Panayotis and Effie Michelis Foundation, Athens, Greece, 2020
“The present and future past of ruins,” Guest lecture at Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture,
Espoo, Finland, 2019
“Possible worlds of contemporary aesthetics. The search of aesthetics,” Paper presentation at the 21st International Congress of Aesthetics, Belgrade, Serbia, 2019
“Empty pages and full stops. On the aesthetic relation between books and art,” Paper presentation at the 21st International Congress of Aesthetics, Belgrade, Serbia, 2019
“Beauty, environment and the changes in the man-made sublime,” Paper presentation at the Annual conference of The Nordic Society of Aesthetics, Espoo, Finland, 2019
“The Human Image seen through the history of exhibiting,” Paper presentation at the 5th World Humanities Forum, Busan, South Korea, 2018
“Eulogy to the fragment. Ruination and artworks,” Paper presentation at the conference of the International Association for Aesthetics, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland, 2018
“Sensing the city. Art, aesthetics and urban experience throughout the ages,” Master class at “Challenges and Duties of Humanities: Asian and Global Commitments” – Global Humanities Festival, organised by UNESCO, the International Council for the Philosophy and Human Sciences, the Asian New Humanities Net and Xiamen University, Xiamen, China, 2018
“Ruins as context and scenery. Temporal interference as source of aesthetic experience,” Paper presentation at the Annual conference of The Nordic Society of Aesthetics, University of Bergen, Norway, 2017
"History of Art from its beginnings to the 19th century", Guest lectures at ARTEXPERTS+, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Spring session 2017
“Ruins in East-West perspective. Comparative aesthetics and heritage management,” Paper presentation at the conference Philosophy in the desert. Comparative philosophy at the crossroads. American University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2017
Artist talk with Tor Seidel, The Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2017
"History of Art from Impressionism till the Post-War years. The beginnings and patterns of Modernism", Guest lectures at ARTEXPERTS+, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Fall session 2016
“Identity in Ruins. Aesthetics of decay, archaeology and cultural policy,” Guest lecture at the Philosophy Research Seminar Series, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, 2016
“Just a Look,” Artist talk with Tor Seidel on the occasion of his exhibition, XVA Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2016
“The aesthetics of Nordic landscapes,” Guest lecture at the Science and Philosophy Reading Circle, Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2016
"The painter in the landscape. Aesthetic considerations on a pictorial sub-genre" – Paper presentation at the 20th International Congress of Aesthetics, Seoul National University, Korea, 2016
“Hub in the making. Contemporary art in the United Arab Emirates,” Guest lecture at the Gulf Enterprises Studies MA-programme of the University Ca’Foscari, Venice, Italy, 2016
“Invisible walls and concrete separations. Memory and cultural identity in the Middle East and Central Asia” – Invited talk at the “L’Orientale” University of Naples, Italy, 2016
"History of Art from Impressionism till the Post-War years. The beginnings and patterns of Modernism", Guest lectures at ARTEXPERTS+, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Spring session 2016
"Chapters from the history of art collecting" – Public talk at World Art Dubai art fair, United Arab Emirates, 2016
"History of Art from its beginnings to the 19th century" , Guest lectures at ARTEXPERTS+, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Spring session 2016
Featured Presentation: "Art from Walls. Aesthetic re-elaborations in the MENASA region and Central Asia"
IAFOR (International Academic Forum) International Conference on Arts and Humanities, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2016
"Imagining Ruins. Considerations on the aesthetics of heritage" – Lecture in the Interdisciplinary Conference on "Imagination", AURAK – American University of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, 2016
Round table discussion on contemporary art in the Middle East at Art Market Budapest – International contemporary art fair, Budapest, Hungary, 2015
Workshop initiated by Zoltán Somhegyi at Akbank Sanat Beyoglu, Istanbul, 2015, with the participation of Jale Erzen (Ankara), Jacob Lund (Aarhus), Ipek Duben (Istanbul), Bedri Baykam (Istanbul) and Zoltán Somhegyi (Sharjah)
| akbank_poster_2015.pdf |
"Learning from Detroit?" Aesthetics around decayed shopping malls – Lecture in the conference of the International Association for Aesthetics, University of Belgrade, Serbia, 2015
Public talk: "Focus on East – The shift and rise of art hubs" at World Art Dubai art fair, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2015
Public talk on Contemporary art in Central Asia at World Art Dubai art fair, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2015
Reviewer for folioPORT 2015 online portfolio review platform.
Presentation on contemporary photography in the Middle East and Artist talk, on the occasion of the exhibition "Out of Time. Reflexions and memory of the Middle East by Siniša Vlajković" – curated at CUBO Centro Unipol di Bologna, Italy, 2014
“Multi-ethnicity as source of inspiration” – Lecture in the conference "Ottoman Pasts, Present Cities: Cosmopolitanism and Transcultural Memories", AHRC Research Network, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom, 2014
| ottoman_cosmopolitanism_programme.pdf |
"The ways of collecting II. – Places and concepts of art collecting" – Public lecture at Akbank Sanat Beyoglu, Istanbul, Turkey, 2014
| akbank_zoltan_somhegyi_2014_june.pdf |
”Shortcuts to nostalgia? On the attempts of aestheticisation of the past” – Lecture in the Annual conference of the Nordic Society of Aesthetics, Haaga-Helia University, Helsinki, Finland, 2014
"The ways of collecting I. – The history of art collecting" – Public lecture at Akbank Sanat Beyoglu, Istanbul, Turkey, 2014
| akbank_zoltan_somhegyi_2014_may.pdf |
"Depicted (as) ruins. Archaeology and painting in the 18th and 19th centuries" – Public lecture at the Institute Français d'Izmir, organized by the Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey, 2014
"Contemporary art and social responsibility" – Guest lecture at the Department of Visual Communication Desgin of Ege University, Izmir, 2014
| ege_university_poster_somhegyi.pdf |
"Possibilities and challenges in public art" – Presentation at the meeting of the Grundtvig Lifelong Learning Programme, Izmir, Turkey, 2014
“The aesthetic status of contemporary ruins” – Guest lecture at Seville University, Spain, 2014
“Scientific nostalgia? Archaeology, aesthetics and politics” – Guest lecture at Seville University, Spain, 2014
"Remembrance or anticipation? From the ruins to the museums – and back" – Invited talk at the University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2014
Member of the Scientific Committee of the 9th ICDHS – International Committee Design History and Design Studies conference, 8-11 July 2014, Aveiro, Portugal
| icdhs_certificados_somhegyi.pdf |
Member of the Selection Jury of the interdisciplinary art exhibition organized by Kedi Sanat Merkezi, Izmir, Turkey, 2014
Artist talk at the exhibition of Aoife Collins, Izmir, Turkey, 2014
Vernissage of the exhibition of Aoife Collins, Izmir, Turkey, 2014
Round table on public art, Maquis Projects, Izmir, Turkey, 2013
| maquis_public_art_invite.pdf |
“Approaching the landscape” – Invited talk at Bilgi University, Istanbul, Turkey, 2013
Lecture on "contemporary ruins" at the II. Sanart congress of the Turkish Association of Aesthetics, Mersin, Turkey, 2013
Workshop initiated by Zoltan Somhegyi at Akbank Sanat Beyoglu, Istanbul, 2013, with the participation of Ipek Akpinar (Istanbul), Emin Mahir Balcioglu (Doha), Michael Diers (Berlin), Jale Erzen (Ankara) and Zoltan Somhegyi (Izmir)
| akbank_poster.pdf |
Lecture on the aesthetics of ruins at the 19th International Congress of Aesthetics, Krakow, Poland, 2013
Lecture on CEE art and art market at the workshop of Artmark.ro, Bucharest, Romania, 2013
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Vernissage of the exhibition: Creative transgressions, Kosice, Slovakia, 2013
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Vernissage of the exhibition of Róbert Várady, Budapest, Hungary, 2013
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Panel discussion: "Dreams in Art", Budapest, Hungary, 2013
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Round table on contemporary art and art market, Contemporary Istanbul, Turkey, 2012
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Round table discussion on contemporary photography, Art Market Budapest, Hungary, 2012
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Round table discussion on contemporary Turkish art, Art Market Budapest, Hungary, 2012
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Interview in Radio Q, Budapest, Hungary, 2012
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Panel discussion on Borbála Kováts, Budapest, Hungary, 2012
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Vernissage of the exhibition of the Károly Szalóky-collection, Szeged, Hungary, 2012
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"Nature and the city" - Lecture in the conference of the International Association for Aesthetics, Bologna, Italy, 2012
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Lecture in the conference of the Turkish Design History Society, Izmir, Turkey, 2012
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Guest lecture at Boğaziçi University on Romanticism, Istanbul, Turkey, 2012
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“The Cultural Landscape and the Shifting Art Centres”, Guest lecture at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey, 2012
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Lecture in the conference on contemporary art market, Fehérvárcsurgó, Hungary, 2012
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Presentation at the DAAD Winterseminar, Passau, Germany, 2012
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Presentation of the book: "“The Imprenetrable Beyond”. The landscape painting in German Romanticism. Budapest, Hungary, 2011
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Presentation of the catalogue of Ádám Magyar, Art Market Budapest, Hungary, 2011
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Lecture on contemporary Indian art and art market, Balatonfüred, Hungary, 2011
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Round table on art biennials, Art Market Budapest, Hungary, 2011
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Round table on contemporary Gypsy art, Art Market Budapest, Hungary, 2011
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Round table on contemporary photography, Art Market Budapest, Hungary, 2011
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Vernissage of the exhibition: "Two Artist from London" (Tamás Jovánovics and Károly Keserü), Budapest, Hungary, 2011
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Vernissage of the exhibition: Cered Art Camp, Salgótarján, Hungary, 2010
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Vernisssage of the exhibition of Zénó Kelemen, Győr, Hungary, 2010
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Lecture in the conference on Romanticism, Szarvas, Hungary, 2010
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Vernissage of the exhibition of Károly Hopp-Halász, Kalocsa, Hungary, 2009
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Presentation of the book: Libero Libro Essegi, Argenta, Italy, 2009
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Presentation of the book: The Ways of Landscape. Walkabouts Around a Genre. Budapest, Hungary, 2008
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