Kinga Szemessy, M.A. BA PhD

Kinga Szemessy is a researcher born in Hungary and based in Austria who is interested in how affect and power are mobilized in participatory contexts, and who also explores critical ecosomatic practices. She holds a BA as a Contemporary Dancer, a BA in Theater and Film studies, an international MA in Dance Knowledge, Practice, and Heritage (Choreomundus), and a PhD in Science & Art (Performing Arts) (dissertation title: Embracing Discomfort – Participatory Choreographies and Their Relation to a Heritage of Dissent).

Since 2019, her transdisciplinary artistic projects have mostly been realized in collaboration with the SVUNG research group and frequently presented at the PLACCC International Festival for Site-Specific Art and Art in Public Space.

At W&K, she is a co-founder of the transdisciplinary research collective Lithos.

She works as a lecturer and mentor at the Mozarteum University’s (Salzburg) MA in Applied Theatre – Artistic Theatre Practice & Community, and as a visiting lecturer, she has taught courses at Fontys University (Tilburg) – MA in Performing Public Space, OLIve / Central European University, University of Theatre and Film Arts (Budapest) – BA in Applied Theatre, BA & MA Erasmus, and at the Budapest Circus Arts and Contemporary Dance College.

Responsibilities
Research and Teaching
Planning and implementing events within the focus area

Teaching and Research Focuses
Collaborative and transdisciplinary research processes and knowledge production
Knowledge transfer between academic and artistic practice
The body as a site of epistemic knowledge
Translocal methods of cultural mediation in Eastern and Central Europe
Transformative learning theories and the discomfort zone
Artistic research in the field of participatory dramaturgy
Protocols of togetherness (collective care in cultural management)
Independent cultural work and critical diversity in the cultural sector
Public space and the civil society’s cultural engagement
Communities’ perception of time and cultural practices that alter the perception of time
Anthropological and posthumanist theatermaking
Critical (eco-)somatic practices

Websites
kingaszemessy.com
https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8382-5093
https://sbg.academia.edu/KingaSzemessy
https://uni-salzburg.elsevierpure.com/de/persons/kinga-zsofia-szemessy/

Publications (selected)

Szemessy, Kinga. Bitten by the mountain. LITHOS. Untersberg: Perspectives from arts, humanities and science [Untersberg: Perspektiven aus Kunst, Kultur und Naturwissenschaften]. (2026) DOI: 10.25598/ToAloni-5 https://eplus.uni-salzburg.at/download/pdf/14037166.pdf#page=12

Szemessy, Kinga. Curating Pause: Rest, Relation, and Landscape Recovery. magazin53a. (2026) https://magazin53a.net/curating-pause/

Szemessy, Kinga. Zugänge gestalten. [Making access]. KUPFzeitung 196/2025. pp. 9. https://kupf.at/zeitung/196/zugaenge-gestalten/

Szemessy, Kinga. Elmosódó test- és énhatárok, kortárs öko-koreográfiai gyakorlatok. [Blurring borders of the body and the self – contemporary eco-choreographic practices] Tánctudományi Tanulmányok (2021) pp. 240-272. https://real-j.mtak.hu/27348/1/TanctudomanyiTanulmanyok_23_2020-2021.pdf#page=239 (peer reviewed)

Szemessy, Kinga; Végvári, Viktória. Performansz alapú táncos/bábos részvételi játékok [Performance based participatory dance and puppetry games]. THEATRON.15 : 1 pp. 54-69. (2021) DOI: 10.55502/THE.2021.1.54  https://theatron.hu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Theatron-2021.1-egyben-DOI.pdf#page=56 (peer reviewed)

Szemessy, Kinga. Koreografált terek és mozgalmi mozgások: William Forsythe-tól a parlamenti őrségváltáson át az Ingyen Ölelésekig. [Choreographed Spaces and moving movements: from William Forsythe through the changing of the guards in front of the Parliament to „Free Hugs”] P. Müller, Péter; Egri, Petra; Kvéder, Bence Gábor; Németh, Nikolett Anna (eds.) Kontaktzónák: Határterületek a színház mentén. pp. 55-66. (2019) (peer reviewed)

Szemessy, Kinga. Embodied Research of the Invisible Regulations in the Gaga Community and in Its Movement System: About the Nature of a Semi-Inscribing Dance Practice. CONTACT QUARTERLY: Dance & Improvisation Journal. 43. 2. pp. 13-16. (2018)

Szemessy, Kinga. Egy potenciális elméleti keret felterjesztése a részvételi táncelőadásokon szerzett élmények vizsgálatához. [A proposed framework to be applied for the analysis of experiences gained at participatory dance performances] SYMBOLON – Revista de Stiinte Teatrale 18: pp. 109-118. (2017) (peer reviewed)