Unframed Collection partners with NUMIX Lab, an itinerant European event that brings together immersive creation professionals in dialogue with cultural institutions across the continent. The 6th edition in 2025 brought together 459 participants from around the world across 16 venues in Budapest, Veszprém, Vienna, and Linz, fostering exchanges between Europe and North America around immersive cultural practices.
Among the key stops of this journey is CODE Veszprém, a digital and immersive audiovisual centre established as part of the Veszprém–Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture programme. Conceived as a space where art, science, and technology converge, CODE positions itself as both an experience-based cultural venue and a creative hub, offering new pathways for digital arts, education, and international artistic collaboration.
On this occasion, we met Alíz Markovits, CEO of CODE Veszprém. Since 2020, she has overseen the coordination of the Veszprém–Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture programme, leading the cultural strategy and infrastructure development across 116 municipalities in the region. In this interview, she reflects on the founding vision of CODE, its role within Hungary’s cultural landscape, and the broader challenges and opportunities facing immersive and digital cultural institutions today.
The relevance of immersive spaces comes from a major shift in cultural consumption: today’s audiences don’t want only to look at culture but to enter it. Digital and immersive culture is not lighter, it operates with a different logic, turning reception into a lived experience.
– Alíz Markovits
To begin, could you briefly introduce CODE Veszprém and explain your role within the institution?
Aliz Markovits — CODE Veszprém is a digital experience centre and immersive audiovisual institution in the heart of Veszprém, a mid-sized town in Hungary. CODE is a space where the meeting point of art, science, and technology becomes tangible through complex, multi-sensory experiences. We work with three main experience zones: the 360° Hexagon space, a 3D Studio, and an interactive exhibition area, each engaging visitors in a different way.
As the director of the institution, my role is partly to define CODE’s strategic direction: how it can be both internationally relevant and deeply rooted in the local cultural context. At the same time, I coordinate content and curatorial decisions, support the team, and build professional partnerships and collaborations.
CODE positions itself as a space dedicated to digital experiences and new media, between art and technology. What led to its creation, and what gap or need does it aim to address within the cultural landscape of Veszprém and Hungary more broadly?
A.M — CODE was established as one of the key legacies of the Veszprém–Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture program. The founding idea was to fill a long-standing gap: in Hungary there are very few stable, professionally equipped venues where digital art can exist not merely as occasional projects but as continuous institutional practice.
Within Veszprém’s cultural ecosystem, we wanted to create a new kind of meeting place between traditional culture consumption and contemporary experience-based, technology-driven forms.
An important goal for us is bringing younger generations closer to traditional cultural topics. Often, it’s not a lack of interest, but a missing point of connection: CODE offers a language and format through which a classical oeuvre, a historical period, or even a topic from the natural sciences can become a personal and genuinely immersive experience.
In this sense, CODE responds both to a generational cultural demand and to a professional need: it is a platform that is relevant for Hungarian and international digital creators alike, providing space not only for presentation but also for development.
As the person leading the institution, how do you approach the selection and development of immersive or digital projects? Could you share a few examples of recent or current projects that illustrate the type of experiences CODE aims to produce or support?
A.M — In project selection we always try to balance three criteria: artistic and conceptual strength, technological quality and audience accessibility.
As recent examples that illustrate this approach we have Csontváry – In the Language of Photons, where iconic artistic legacies are re-read through digital and audiovisual reinterpretations. Our goal is for CODE to not just be a hosting venue, but a co-production partner where contents are born and where creators have room to experiment.
In your view, what makes immersive digital centres like CODE particularly relevant today ? How do you see CODE contributing to redefining what a cultural institution can be in the 21st century?
A.M — The relevance of immersive spaces comes from a major shift in cultural consumption: today’s audiences don’t want only to look at culture but to enter it. Digital and immersive culture is not lighter, it operates with a different logic, turning reception into a lived experience. It is also a strong international trend that immersive experiences are becoming one of the fastest-growing cultural and tourism formats.
In this landscape, CODE represents the idea that a 21st-century cultural institution can be: interdisciplinary, experience-based yet intellectually meaningful, a community platform, not only an exhibition space, and a learning environment, where digital literacy is built through culture.
What have been the main challenges so far in launching and operating CODE and how are you addressing them?
Launching an institution like this naturally involves several layers of challenge.
Firstly, we have technical challenges. An immersive system requires continuous maintenance. Each project redefines the functioning of the space. A strong communication between technicians and artists brings stability. High-tech spaces also are more costly than traditional exhibition venues. Long-term, we need multiple pillars: ticket revenue, co-productions, grants, sponsorship, and international exchange programmes.
Furthermore, as a new institution, building trust and local routines takes time. We are developing local partnerships, school and family programs. Projects that connect us directly to Veszprém.
Finally being in a mid-sized town brings its challenges. Reaching the critical mass is harder even if Balaton is a touristic region. In that sense, we have to plan our programming in a way to make CODE reach the most number of people possible, taking into consideration off-season and peak periods of tourism.
Looking ahead, what are your ambitions for CODE over the next few years? Are there specific types of immersive projects, partnerships or audiences you hope to develop further?
A.M — In the coming years, we want to develop further in several directions. One of our most important ambitions is to strengthen the CODE LAB, a content-development workshop closely connected to CODE. The aim of the CODE LAB is to ensure that we are not only a presenting venue, but also an interdisciplinary creative and development hub where new immersive works are born.
CODE aims for both international and national expansion. Internationally, we want CODE not just as a stop for touring productions, but as a primary venue for the creation and premiere of international works. Nationally, our goal is to offer consistent opportunities for younger and mid-career Hungarian media and digital artists to develop and exhibit their work here.
We also aim to further expand interactive, learning-based programmes for children, students, and families. CODE will become very strong if digital culture becomes a natural part of everyday local life.
To sum up, my goal for CODE, within a few years, is to become one of Central Europe’s leading digital and immersive cultural centres. A professional place, but also one where the audience loves to go back to.