Arts and Art Theory Section

Call for Papers
38th National Student Research Conference
Arts and Art Theory Section

I.     GENERAL INFORMATION

Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Rippl-Rónai Institute of Arts and Theatre

Address: 7400 Kaposvár, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky E. u. 10.
Website: https://muveszet.uni-mate.hu

Section website address: ….
The Section’s e-mail address: omdk2027@uni-mate.hu
Date of the event: April 14-16, 2027

The National Association for Student Research (OTDT), the OTDT Arts and Art Sciences Section Committee, and the organizing Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences Rippl-Rónai Institute of Arts and Theatre hereby announce the 38th National Student Research Conference (OTDK) in the Arts and Art Sciences Section, under the conditions outlined in the following call. The conditions for participation and registration in the Arts and Art Theory Section of the 38th OTDK are set out in the General Call of the 38th OTDK and in this Call of the OTDT Arts and Art Theory Section Committee.

The aim of the event is to provide an opportunity for higher education students to showcase and compete with their independent, high quality artistic creations, performing arts activities and research in the field of art theory.

I.1.  Eligibility Criteria

I.1.1. Who is eligible to participate

In the 38th National Student Research Conference (OTDK), TDK papers and authors (in the case of multi-author TDK papers, all authors) may participate that meet the conditions specified in the General Call for the 38th National Student Research Conference (details are provided in Supplement 2 of the General Call for the 37th OTDK.)

Study circles from cross-border universities and colleges can participate in the 38th OTDK under the same professional conditions as those in Hungary. Details are available in the General Call of the 38th OTDK.

The conference is also open to secondary school students in Hungary and across borders who present their research results at conferences of higher education institutions or national high school science student conferences (for details see Supplement 4 of the General Call for the 38th OTDK) and are nominated for the 38th OTDK. A detailed description of the participation of secondary school students is available in the General Call of the 38th OTDK.

A thesis produced in the course of continuous TDK activity during BA and BSc education, can be entered to the 38th OTDK, if it meets the requirements of the Call and its Supplements and has been presented at a student research conference either during the BA/BSc or the subsequent MA/MSc training and has there been delegated to the OTDK.

I.1.2.  Quantitative limitations for entry

In the Arts and Arts Theory Section – based on the experience of previous National Student Research Conferences – the number of applications is limited, in order to ensure manageability, according to the number of institutional programs in VISUAL arts/art mediation and in ART THEORY.

The institutional quotas are as follows:

• institutions offering 1–5 visual arts and art theory programs may submit a total of 10 visual and theoretical TDK papers;
• institutions offering 6–10 visual arts and art theory programs may submit a total of 16 visual and theoretical TDK papers;
• institutions offering more than 11 visual arts and art theory programs may submit a total of 25 visual and theoretical TDK papers;
• and this number may be increased by the number of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards obtained at the previous (37th) OTDK in the visual and theoretical arts panels (up to a maximum of 10);
• the organizing institution may additionally enter up to 10 more visual works;
• the quotas also include high school students advancing from institutional TDK conferences, as well as teacher training or other TDK papers;
• the number of TDK papers in music and stage creative arts and in music and stage performing arts is not limited; however, the number of performers per TDK paper may not exceed five;
• For theoretical art TDK papers, a maximum of two co-authors is permitted!

In case of doubt, the host institution and the leadership of the Section Committee will decide.

I.2.  Rules for the presentation of TDK papers in foreign languages

The language of the OTDK is Hungarian, but the Arts and Art Theory Section also accepts TDK papers in English. If the language of the TDK paper is not Hungarian, the abstract must be uploaded, and the presentation must be given in English. If a Hungarian native speaker submits an English-language TDK paper, the student must submit the abstract in Hungarian, regardless of the language of the TDK paper, and present their work in Hungarian – or at least partially in Hungarian. The requirements for the abstract are outlined in Supplement 1 and Supplement 4 of the Arts and Art Theory Section Call.

I.3.  In the Arts and Arts Theory Section, TDK papers may be submitted in the following areas (subsections):

I. Visual works of art
II. Musical and stage composition, musical and stage performance activities
III. Art theory papers

I.  Visual works of art:

I/1. Two-dimensional art

painting, graphics (individual and reproduction), graphic design, photography, etc.

I/1. Spatial art

sculpture, architecture, design, installation, land-art, scenic art, metalwork, textiles, ceramics, etc.

I/3. Time-based art

animation, short film, multimedia, intermedia, video, etc.

I/4. Spatial and time-based art

action art, performance, happening, etc.

II. Musical and stage composition, musical and stage performance activities:

II/1. Musical and stage composition

(presentation and analysis of own composition or performance)

II/2. Musical performance

classical music, jazz, folk music, other (e.g. works composed in different 20th century or contemporary music styles, popular music)

II/3. Stage performance

drama, puppet arts, dance arts, movement arts, etc.

III. TDK papers on art theory

III/1. Art history and art criticism

III/2. Philosophy of art and aesthetics, art psychology and art sociology, cultural anthropology, ethnography, cultural history, arts management, communication theory, etc.

III/3. Theoretical studies in all fields of art

III/4. Art pedagogy and methodology

TDK papers submitted to and accepted for the 38th OTDK must be presented in person, with physical presence and in their original form, in the respective panel. Deviations from this requirement are permitted only in exceptional cases, subject to prior approval by the host institution and the leadership of the Section Committee.

At the conference, applicants have a maximum of 20 minutes to present and explain their TDK paper. Time-based visual art works (animation, short film, multimedia, intermedia, video, recording of a stage performance, etc.) of up to 60 minutes in length, made available to the Session Panel prior to the conference via the link provided by the student during the application process in the online system. Applicants submitting such TDK papers are allocated a maximum of 20 minutes at the conference to reflect on their work in their presentation or to present a condensed version of it.

The fundamental rules for the establishment of the final session assignment are included in the General Call of the 38th OTDK. The condition for starting an independent session is the receipt of at least 6 TDK papers in the given topic, on the condition that at least 5 of the 6 to 15 papers will be presented at the 38th National Student Research Conference.

If the number of TDK papers to be presented in a given session is fewer than 5, that session may be merged with another session at the discretion of the Chair of the Arts and Art Theory Section Committee. In the Arts and Arts Theory Section, the optimal number of participants per panel is 9 ± 1.

For TDK papers that students cannot clearly classify into any of the above sessions, they should enter them into the one they consider most appropriate (see I/3. I., II., III.). The session organizing committee finalizes the session assignments. The organizing institution, with the agreement of the Arts and Art Theory Section Committee, reserves the right to redirect TDK papers with content that does not align with the Arts and Art Theory Section’s field of study, thanking the applicants and transferring the paper to the appropriate section of the National Student Research Conference.

The final decision on the sessions and the classification of the TDK papers will be made by the leadership of the Arts and Art Theory Section Committee. Students will be informed of this decision via the OTDT online system by April 10, 2027, at the latest.

I.4.  Application procedure

I.5.A Steps of registration for applicants

I.5.A.1. Following the student research conference (within 30 days of sending the email specified in point 4 of Supplement 2 of the General Call for the 38th OTDK), the following documents must be uploaded as the TDK paper, and the section as well as the subsection must be selected (in accordance with the areas specified in Section I.3 of this call) as specified in the General Call for the 38th OTDK.

• in the case of works of art 1 page summary and 1 photo,
• in the case of musical composition and stage performance activity 1 page summary,
• in the case of an art theory paper the TDK paper itself.

The 1 page summary must include the following: the topic, inspiration, concept, implementation technique, and contemporary context of the TDK paper.

Participants who will be eligible to submit a TDK paper at a student research conference held within 30 days before the application deadline for the 38th OTDK Arts and Art Theory Section must upload the relevant documents from those listed above to the OTDT online system by the application deadline.

The formal and content requirements for the documents to be uploaded are specified in Supplement 2 and Supplement 4 to the Section Call.

Please note that uploading a TDK paper does not automatically mean that you have applied for the 38th OTDK. Applications may be submitted during the application period, as detailed in Section I.5.A.2.

I.5.A.2.  The registration period

Registration period: November 16, 2026 – January 20, 2027 (Wednesday), 16:00 (CET)

Registration deadline: January 20, 2027 (Wednesday), 16:00 (CET)

• Filling in the information related to the uploaded document.
• Uploading the abstract. If the language of the TDK paper is not Hungarian, the abstract must be uploaded in English, except when a Hungarian native speaker submits an English language TDK paper. In this case, the abstract must be submitted in Hungarian, regardless of the language of the application. The requirements for the abstract are outlined in Supplement 1 and Supplement 4 of the Arts and Art Theory Section Call.
• The list and detailed description of the data sheet/abstract are outlined in Supplement 3 and Supplement 4 of the Arts and Art Theory Section Call.
• The application is finalized in the OTDT online system.

After the registration deadline for students – January 20, 2027 (Wednesday), 16:00 (CET)

– it will no longer be possible for students to upload application documents in the OTDT online system.

I.5.A.3.  Application of students with a pre-degree certificate

Students who have obtained a pre-degree certificate between the student research conference and the 38th OTDK must declare the date of obtaining their pre-degree certificate in the OTDT online system. For those expected to obtain their pre-degree certificate in the semester of registration, after the registration deadline, it should be indicated that they are expected to receive their pre-degree certificate in the semester of registration.

I.5.A.4.    Documents to be provided by participants to the institutional TDK chairs/responsible persons

After the registration deadline for students, the documents and materials (including the outline of the presentations in ppt, pptx or pdf format) specified in Section II of the Section Call (Registration to the organizing institution) and in Supplement 3 Section Call must be submitted to the institutional TDT Chair/responsible person.

I.5.B  Tasks of the institutional TDT chair

I.5.B.1. Submission of the documentation of student research conference to the OTDT Office (within two weeks) following the student research conference, according to point 3 of Supplement 2 to the 38th OTDK General Call.

I.5.B.2.  Following the participants’ registration deadline

I.5.B.2.1. Approval of participant registrations in the OTDT online system (all registrations are automatically approved in the system, so action is only required if the institution/faculty/institute does not wish to delegate a submitted TDK paper to the OTDK).

I.5.B.2.2. Approval of the consolidated list of approved applications in the OTDT online system and/or its generation from the online system and signature with a qualified electronic signature, or printing and signing, followed by electronic upload to the OTDT online system. By approving/signing the consolidated list, the TDT Chairs also declare that all TDK papers and their authors included therein meet the requirements set out in the General Call of the 38th OTDK. Deadline for institutional and faculty TDT Chairs to upload documents to the OTDT online system: January 25, 2027 (Wednesday), 16:00 (CET). After the deadline it will no longer be possible to upload application documents to the OTDT online system.

I.5.B.2.3. Collecting from students the documents and materials specified in detail in Point II (Registration to the Organizing Institution) of the Section Call and in Supplement 5 of the Section Call.

I.5.B.3. The documents collected electronically by the institutional/faculty TDT Chairs in this way are to be sent to the organizing institution of the Arts and Art Theory Section through an electronic platform that provides appropriate access for the organizers from the sending institution.

Deadline: February 17, 2027 (Wednesday) 16:00 (CET) (Sharing the link of the submitting institution.)

We are unable to accept TDK papers submitted after the deadline or those that do not meet the requirements outlined in the call for the Arts and Art Theory Section.

I.5.  Registration fee

The registration fees for the 38th OTDK will be determined at a later stage, subject to the availability of funding.

I.6.  Evaluation criteria for the TDK papers and presentations

A written review is prepared only for theoretical art TDK papers, and only if the student’s institution carries out the plagiarism check and submits its result to the host institution by February 17, 2027, in accordance with the provisions set out in Section II of this call. The completed reviews will be available in the OTDT online system by April 7, 2027.

For works of art:

• the originality of the subject,
• a professional/artistic level of implementation appropriate to the content,
• harmonious presentation of the artwork and the related paper.

For art theory TDK papers:

• the topicality and novelty of the subject,
• the knowledge of the relevant literature,
• the results achieved, their validity, and significance,
• the argumentation and style of the TDK paper,
• the structure of the essay, the quality of its formal presentation, and its illustrations
• the professionalism of references, in accordance with the specific requirements of the field of art theory.

Evaluation criteria for the oral presentation:

• clarity,
• structure,
• scope,
• style,
• the quality of the visualization,
• debating skills.

The author(s) must declare the use of artificial intelligence in the OTDT online system during the application to the 38th OTDK. General guidance on the use of artificial intelligence is available in Supplement 6 of the General Call of the 38^th OTDK.

I.7.  The awards and Special Prizes that can be granted at the OTDK

A certificate of recognition will be awarded to all authors and supervisors attended in the OTDK and presented their TDK papers. In addition, a maximum of one third of the papers presented may be awarded one of the first, second and third places per section, taking into account that a maximum of one entry per session may be awarded first place. The Section Panel may award a special prize to those papers that do not achieve ranking but are judged by the Session Panel to be worthy of recognition on the basis of their professional merit, and which are judged to be immediately behind the winning applications. The authors of the winning papers and those of the papers receiving the Special Prize of the Session Panel will each receive a certificate for the ranking or the Special Prize of the Session Panel.

The total number of winning papers and papers awarded the Special Prize of the Session Panel may not exceed 50% of the total number of papers presented in a section. Further rules on prizes are set out in Supplement 3 to the General Call.

I.8.  Submission of Pro Arte Gold Medal application

The authors of TDK papers that have been awarded first place at the national conference may apply for the Pro Arte Gold Medal, provided they meet the additional criteria set out in the call. Details are given in Supplement 5 of the 38th OTDK General Call.

II.  REGISTRATION WITH THE ORGANIZING INSTITUTION

Introductory remarks

The documents listed below are collected electronically by the TDT Chair/responsible person of the submitting institution and sent by 16:00 on Wednesday, February 17, 2027, to the host institution of the Arts and Arts Sciences Section via an electronic platform to which the submitting institution provides appropriate access:

• documentation of artistic works;
• theoretical art TDK papers and their accompanying documents, including the plagiarism screening documentation;
• documentation of musical works and stage works;
• documentation of performer productions;
• presentation outlines in ppt, pptx or pdf format.

After the registration is approved, institutional/faculty TDK referents and students will receive information on delivering the artistic works to the Section venue.

The Section Panel primarily evaluates individual performances. This does not preclude submissions of collectively created works; however, the numerical limits are as follows: in the case of musical performance, a maximum of 5 participants; in the case of theoretical art papers, a maximum of 2 authors.

II.1   In the case of submissions with visual art works, documents to be shared electronically with the host institution

II.1.A Documents to be submitted electronically

Documents to be collected from students:

• written summary of the creative process (description of the work);
• photos or screenshot of the work (A5, 300dpi, CMYK);
• audiovisual recording in mpeg3 or mpeg4 format for time-based and time-space-based artworks (maximum duration of 60 minutes), 15-50 pages for a screenplay;
• presentation outlines in ppt, pptx or pdf format.

The formal and content requirements for the above-mentioned documents are set out in Supplement 4 to the Call of the Arts and Art Theory Section.

Institutions must collect all materials to be submitted by their participating students on a single electronic (drive) platform, organized into folders and grouped by fields in accordance with the call (Supplement 6 to the Section call). The submitting institution must share this drive link with the host institution by the specified deadline. (February 17, 2027 (Wednesday) 16:00 (CET) – date of sharing);

II.2      In the case of submissions with music and stage creative works or music and stage performing arts activities, documents to be shared electronically with the host institution

II.2.A    Documents to be submitted electronically

Documents to be collected from students:

• a summary of the composition or playwriting process,
• for musical works: the sheet of music of the composition,
• for a stage play: the script of the stage play (15–50 pages),
• for a stage play recording in mpeg4 format (maximum duration of 60 minutes)
• description of the concept of the performing arts product
• program plan of the production
• presentation outlines in ppt, pptx or pdf format.

The formal and content requirements for the above-mentioned documents are set out in Supplement 4 to the Call of the Arts and Art Theory Section.

Institutions must collect all materials to be submitted by their participating students on a single electronic (drive) platform, organized into folders and grouped by fields in accordance with the call (Supplement 6 to the Section call). The submitting institution must share this drive link with the host institution by the specified deadline. (February 17, 2027 (Wednesday) 16:00 (CET) – date of sharing);

II.2.B    Other conditions

When choosing the program, please note that the musical performance and the oral presentation of the essay will be evaluated together, and their combined duration must not exceed 20 minutes.

A performing arts production cannot be evaluated without an accompanying theoretical paper (summary of the compositional or playwriting process) and its interpretation.

II.3  In the case of submissions with art theory TDK papers, documents to be shared electronically with the host institution

II.3.A  Documents to be submitted electronically

Documents to be collected from students:

• the TDK paper,
• presentation outlines in ppt, pptx or pdf format.

The formal and content requirements for the above-mentioned documents are set out in Supplement 4 to the Call of the Arts and Art Theory Section.

Institutions must collect all materials to be submitted by their participating students on a single electronic (drive) platform, organized into folders and grouped by fields in accordance with the call (Supplement 6 to the Section call). The submitting institution must share this drive link with the host institution by the specified deadline. (February 17, 2027 (Wednesday) 16:00 (CET) – date of sharing);

II.3.B Further remarks

Students wishing to submit an art critique to the 38th OTDK are requested to ensure that the critique does not exceed 15 pages; in the case of shorter texts, they are asked to submit a series of critiques as part of their application.

For theoretical art TDK papers, a maximum of two co-authors is permitted!

We invite and welcome all interested students and their masters! Budapest, April 21, 2026

SUPPLEMENT 1 TO THE CALL FOR PAPERS
38TH OTDK
ARTS AND ART THEORY SECTION

Abstract

Students must upload the text of the abstract to the OTDT online system in the text box provided. Only the main text needs to be uploaded, as the other details — title, author(s) name(s), institution, supervisor(s) name(s), etc. — are generated by the OTDT online system based on the institutional TDK record. (The institutional TDK records are submitted by the TDT Chair/Responsible of the respective higher education institution, certified by the Chair of the Session Panel — thus, the data displayed here can only be modified after special review!)

The OTDT online system will automatically format the uploaded text, so please enter the text without formatting and without line-ending hyphenation. Please use a new line to indicate the segmentation. The maximum length of a body text with spaces is 2,500 characters. The abstract should include a brief overview (maximum 500 characters) of the student’s own attributed results.

If the language of the TDK paper is not Hungarian, the abstract must be uploaded in the language of the TDK paper, except when a Hungarian native speaker submits a foreign language TDK paper. In this case, the abstract must be submitted in Hungarian, regardless of the language of the application.

Please select special characters from Symbol font for the abstract. Tables, graphs and figures must not be included in the text.

Once you have uploaded your text, check it carefully on the confirmation page and save it only afterwards. This format will be used to print the data sheet/abstract of the TDK paper. The final format uses 12-point font size, Times New Roman CE font, single line spacing, justified alignment, continuous text, and 3 cm margins on all sides.

SUPPLEMENT 2 TO THE CALL FOR PAPERS
38TH OTDK
ARTS AND ART THEORY SECTION

Sample title page for the following documents:

art theory paper (TDK paper), written description of the creative process, written description of the composition process, written description of the concept of the production, description of the program plan

[100 points from the top of the page] Title:

[24 points from the title] Name of the author(s) and/or performer(s):

Institution, faculty:
Area of study, specialisation, year:
Name, academic degree, position of supervisor(s)

SUPPLEMENT 3 TO THE CALL FOR PAPERS
38TH OTDK
ARTS AND ART THEORY SECTION

• Supplement 3

SUPPLEMENT 4 TO THE CALL FOR PAPERS
38TH OTDK
ARTS AND ART THEORY SECTION

• Supplement 4

SUPPLEMENT 5 TO THE CALL FOR PAPERS
38TH OTDK
ARTS AND ART THEORY SECTION

Summary table of TDT chair’s/responsible person’s tasks

CHECKLIST PER STUDENT, BY GENRE

SUPPLEMENT 6 TO THE CALL FOR PAPERS
38TH OTDK
ARTS AND ART THEORY SECTION

Required drive folder structure by institution

Documents related to plagiarism screening must in all cases be placed in the individual folder of the respective student.

• 38th OTDK Arts and Art Theory Section Call
• Supplement 1
• Supplement 2
• Supplement 3
• Supplement 4
• Supplement 5
• Supplement 6