VASARELY – The Father of Op Art

Almost everyone is familiar with Victor Vasarely’s art. His works, which create optical illusions, live on not only on museum walls: they can be found on postcards, design objects, book covers, and can even be found blending into the facades of buildings in numerous cities around the world. 

To mark the 120th , CODE will bring his works closer to you than ever before, starting May 29. 

This space is not static. It pulses. It undulates. It reacts to you.   

This is precisely the essence of op art, or optical art: it plays with our perception. The paintings seem not to be static surfaces, but living, breathing systems. It is not reality that changes, but the way we perceive it. 

Vasarely’s life story is truly unique. Would you have thought that he drew his inspiration from nature—and, more specifically, from the waves of Lake Balaton? He later became world-famous in Paris, where the convergence of modern art and geometry gave his works an entirely new direction.  

He did not seek to replicate nature, but rather to explore the systems underlying it: the patterns, proportions, rhythms, and repetitions. This is how his iconic works came into being; during their creation— well before the digital age, as precursors to computer graphics— he transformed the rules of geometry into art and optical vibrations with mathematical precision. 

The walls melt away,  

the shapes transform,  

the colors shift, 

and the space begins to come alive.  

An immersive animation inspired by Vasarely’s work that explores the relationship between space, rhythm, pattern, and color, where every movement creates a new visual experience.

In this interactive installation, visitors will not only be spectators but also shapers of the space. Their movements create new patterns, colors, and shapes on the walls and floor, while the geometric world continuously reacts to their presence.

The algorithm treats the space as a malleable canvas, where the pattern, color, and geometry continuously respond to the presence of the body. Each interaction creates a new composition, so the installation transforms the experimentation with abstract geometry into a playful, a collaborative creation.

The creators of this interactive installation are Bence Samu (Animata Studio) and László Naske. 

• Featured artists — in the order of the animations: László Zsolt Bordos, András László Nagy, Gáspár Battha
• Additional animations: Patrik Kiss, Dániel Besnyő
• Editor: Gábor Tarcsay 
• Composer: Áron Pfitzner 
• Narrative text: Krisztián Nyáry 
• Narrator: Tibor Szakács 
• Experience corridor: József Simon, Dániel Ránki 
• Artistic Director / Director: Dániel Besnyő, Mátyás Kálmán 

Centrum Production + COLLOC Productions, 2026. 

The immersive exhibition “Vasarely—The Father of Op Art” was inspired primarily by the following works:

ZEBRA-A / VEGA-ZETT 2 / S272 LINE / MANIPUR 108 / Gestalt Jaune

Licensed by ©ADAGP, Paris, 2026

• Creative code, interaction design: Bence Samu, Animata Studio
• Graphic consultant: László Naske
• Composer: Gábor Halász