Hungary’s installation brought a touch of romance to London Design Biennale, celebrating both the architecture of the Hungarian capital and moments of intimacy. Kiss in Budapest explored the relationship between digital culture and human emotions: while ubiquitous technology has made communication easier, it cannot replace the warmth of real-life moments with loved ones. The installation played with this ambiguity, drawing on seemingly opposing elements such as heritage and contemporary design, intimacy and distance.

Couples entered the darkened installation from opposite sides and met in a clean, homogeneous space, where the only things that they focused on are their expressions and emotions. The space was equipped with LEDs, cameras and a green screen, as well as sensors detecting the couple’s movements in front of the screen and the intimate moment of the kiss.

Meanwhile, the scene outside the room was quite different – instead of high-tech minimalism, it was almost reminiscent of a tourist attraction. Those who stayed outside saw the large LED displays, meeting and kissing each other in front of Budapest’s art nouveau and neo-renaissance sights. The result was a virtual memory with a real emotional charge: their first kiss in Budapest.