Zsolt Gyenge

Zsolt Gyenge is an Associate Professor with habilitation at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) in Budapest, where he has been a lecturer since 2007. He serves as a supervisor in the Doctoral School and teaches courses in film theory, film analysis, theory of visual communication, and scientific text drafting. Gyenge is also an active film critic and scholar with significant contributions to film phenomenology and avant-garde cinema studies.

His educational background includes studies in history and art history at Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Gyenge's research primarily focuses on film phenomenology, exploring the viewer's embodied experience of moving images and the role of bodily perception in film reception. His work examines how spectators interact with various forms of cinematic presentation, particularly in gallery and museum settings where traditional viewing conditions are altered. He investigates the relationship between attention and distraction in the experience of moving image installations, analyzing how multi-channel projections create unique perceptual experiences that differ from conventional cinema viewing. His scholarship demonstrates particular expertise in Romanian New Wave cinema and avant-garde film practices, bridging theoretical frameworks with concrete analyses of specific filmmakers and works.

His publications reveal a consistent trajectory exploring the phenomenological dimensions of cinematic space and viewer experience. Gyenge's work often examines how the physical context of viewing (cinema versus gallery) fundamentally shapes interpretation, with particular attention to the embodied nature of spectatorship. His research connects film theory with broader questions of perception, consciousness, and the relationship between visual media and bodily experience.

Gyenge is a member of several prestigious professional organizations, including the Film and Television Critics Section of the National Association of Hungarian Journalists, the International Federation of Film Critics, the Hungarian Film Studies Society, and the European Network for Cinema and Media Studies.

As an educator, Gyenge has been instrumental in shaping film studies curriculum at MOME. Since 2013, he has served as editor of the academic journal Disegno - Journal of Design Culture, contributing to scholarly discourse in design and visual culture. His teaching philosophy emphasizes critical thinking and encourages students to question the world around them, believing that 'left-wing values of solidarity, sustainability, and fairness can someday result in a better world.' As a film critic since 2000, he has contributed reviews, essays, and festival reports to publications including Revizor, Filmvilág, ÉS, Prizma, Filmtett, and Balkon, maintaining a vital connection between academic film studies and public film discourse.