Viktor’s research focuses on inventive methodologies of understanding interactions between people, technologies and the built environment in cities and speculating about more convivial urban futures.

Building on his background in philosophy of embodied knowledge, visual thinking and urban mapping, Viktor developed a research through design practice in which prototyping, ‘making’ and play are means of probing conceptual and design-related matters. I operate at the intersection of design theory, critical design, urbanism, and street game design. Topics I have recently been engaged with include commoning in urban neighbourhoods, the production and use of urban geodata, urban mobility and playful approaches to agent-based modelling.

His former affiliations include Olafur Eliasson’s Institut für Raumexperimente, Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Institute for Philosophical Research at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, HPI D-School in Potsdam, Design Akademie Berlin. He is founder of Tacit Dimension, the independent research lab for street games and co-founded the street games collective Invisible Playground.

Books

Interaktive Stadtkarten als Instrumente der Erkenntnis [Interactive Urban Maps as Instruments of Thinking], PhD Thesis, Humboldt-University Berlin, Faculty of Philosophy I, published 14. nov. 2011. (urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-100196971)

Book chapters

“Urban Game Design: Prototyping as Hacking”, in Martijn de Waal, Michiel de Lange (eds.): Hackable City Book, Forthcoming

“Részvételi játéképítés” [Participative Game Design], in Katalin Horváth, Márton Obláth (eds): A részvételi ifjúságkutatás módszerei [Participative Youth Research Methods], Forthcoming

(with Amani Naseem, William Drew and Sidsel Hermansen) “Playmakers in the Maldives”, in Daniel Cermak-Sassenrath, Chek Tien Tan, Charles Walker (Eds.): Playing The System – The Playful Subversion of Technoculture, Forthcoming.

“Size & Shape of the Playing Field”, in Anton Nijholt (ed): Playable Cities, Springer, 2017.

“Kartographie” [Cartography], in Stephan Günzel and Dieter Mersch (eds.): Bild. Ein interdisziplinares Handbuch. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart. 2014

“A Visual Approach to Locative Urban Information”, in Marcus Foth, (Ed.),Urban Informatics: Community Integration and Implementation. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, IGI Global. 2009

“The Many Faces of Interactive Urban Maps”, in Proceedings of ISEA2008, Singapore: ISEA2008 Pte. Ltd, 2008

“Maps as Tools of our Thinking” in Kristóf Nyíri (ed.), in Mobile Studies: The Birth of a New Discipline, Vienna: Passagen, 2007

“Landkarten als Werkzeuge unseres Denkens” [Maps as Tools of our Thinking], in Ingeborg Reichle, Steffen Siegel, Achim Spelten (eds.): Verwandte Bilder. Die Fragen der Bildwissenschaft, Berlin: Kadmos, 2007

“Térképek mint gondolkodásunk eszközei” [Maps as Tools of our Thinking], in Kristóf Nyíri (ed.): Mobiltársadalomkutatás: Új tudomány születik, Vienna: Passagen, 2007

“MMS of Allknowledge – MMS and Scientific Visualization”, in Kristóf Nyíri (ed.): A Sense of Place, Vienna: Passagen, 2005

“Networks of Knowledge in a Virtual Landscape”, in Kristóf Nyíri (ed.): Mobile Learning: Essays on Philosophy, Psychology and Education, Vienna: Passagen, 2003

Journal articles

(with Katalin Halasz) “An Utopian City in the Sand”, in Streetsigns, Centre for Urban and Community Research, Goldsmith University of London, Issue 2012-13, 2013

“denCity – Vom QR-Code zum Blick auf die Stadt” [den-City – From QR-Code to a View over the City], in Karsten Heck (ed.): Bilderwelten des Wissens, Kunsthistorisches Jahrbuch für Bildkritik, 7/1, 2009

“A mobilkommunikáció lehetőségei a tudomány és a társadalom közti párbeszéd alakításában” [Possibilities of Mobile Communication in Shaping the Dialog between Science and Society], in György Fábri (ed.): A tudománykommunikáció értelme/értéke, Budapest: Tudástársadalom Alapítvány, 2006

“Adat, információ, tudás. Három lépték” [Data, Information, Knowledge. Three Scales], in Világosság, 9-10, 2003

Exhibition Catalouge

“A particularly sketchy philosophy of urban game design and the tacit dimension of the urban”, in The Future of Art is Urban Exhibition Catalogue, London, 2014

2017
‘Straßenspiel als Labor’ [Street games as laboratory] – Process Festival, Dortmund, GER

‘Street Game Design: Rapid Prototyping for the Urban’ – Obel Guest Lecture, Aalborg University, Aalborg, DK

2015
‘Urban Game Design: Prototyping as Hacking’ – Digital Cities 9 workshop “Hackable Cities: From Subversive City Making to Systemic Change”, 27 June 2015, University of Limerick, IE

2014
‘Urban Games as Prototypes in the Urban Design Process’ – Keynote speech at Smart City Conference 2014, Budapest, HU

‘Introduction to Urban Game Design as Prototyping and Mapping Tool for Urban Design and Research’ – Talk at the Symposium The Future of Art is Urban at Enclave Gallery London, UK

‘How Game Design Can Teach Us About Urban Scale’ – Obel lecture at Art and Technology Aalborg University, DK

2013
‘Size and Shape of the Playing Field’ – 4th International Conference of the Visual Learning Lab, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, HU

‘On the Game Mechanics of Urban Sites’ – Games Talks at w00t Festival, Copenhagen, DK

2012
‘Disruptive Mapping Strategies For Urban Innovation’ – Sustainable Infrastructure Innovation. A Future Cities Symposium. Co-organized by Innovation Center for Mobility and Societal Change (InnoZ) Berlin, LSE Cities, LSE Enterprise, LSE Informations Systems Group, Berlin, DE

‘Field Research Copenhagen. Exploring the Playces’ – Plenary talk at Metropolis Laboratory 2012, Copenhagen, DK

2011
‘Implicit Knowledge in Design Thinking’ – 2nd International Conference of the Visual Learning Lab, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, HU

‘Embodied Knowledge in the Interpretation of Interactive Urban Maps’ – Visual Learning Lab Workshop, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, HU

‘Realtime Maps in the Hands of Citizens and Urban Planners’ – 5th Intelligent City Salon, Innovation Center for Mobility and Societal Change (InnoZ), Berlin, DE

2010
‘Muster urbanen Stadtlebens in Locative-Game-Design’ – „Cross-Media & Location Based Gaming – Neue Formen von Gameplay in der vernetzten Stadt“, Panel at Game Design Conference Quo Vadis 2010, Berlin, DE

2008
‘Imagine the Moving Community’ – Mobile Communication and the Ethics of Social Networking, Conference at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, HU

‘The Many Faces of Interactive Urban Maps’ – International Symposium on Electronic Arts 2008, Singapore, SG

2007
‘Visuelle Navigation als Echtzeit-Rückkopplung im Stadtraum’ [Visual Navigation as Real-time Feedback in Urban Space] – Navigation in visuellen Räumen, Conference at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Berlin, DE

‘From Locative Information Towards Urban Knowledge. Visual Metaphor of Organism“ – Towards a Philosophy of Telecommunications Convergence, Conference at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, HU

‘Pattern of Locative Urban Knowledge’ – Locative Media Summer Conference, Conference of the Research Center Medienumbrüche, University of Siegen, DE

‘Visual Approach to Locative Urban Knowledge’ – Digital Cities 5 Workshop at the 3rd International Conference on Communities and Technologies, Michigan State University, East Lansing, US.

2006
‘Landkarten als Werkzeuge des Denkens’ [Maps as Instruments of Thinking’ – Young Forum of Pictorial Studies at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Berlin, DE

2005
‘The Importance of Being Earnest: Playing Around With Mobile Phones’ – Communications in the 21st Century / Seeing, Understanding, Learning in the Mobile Age, Conference at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, HU

Skatepong – a platform for games using the skateboard as controller
http://tacitdimension.com/portfolio/skatepong/