HOPE. AGAIN. ALWAYS.

Panel Magazine: How did your method emerge? Was it a sort of epiphany, or did it come to you through experience?
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Anna Ádám: It was an incredibly slow and organic process. For this reason, I can’t even say when exactly I “opened” the school. It wasn’t an event, but a layering, built step by step, brick by brick. I followed my interests, desires, instincts… and slowly, everything emerged. And it’s still emerging. It’s a living material, always transforming. Movement is everywhere in my methodology. First, the school itself is nomadic, we don’t have a fixed address, and this is intentional. Second, the method is a moving thought, always shifting through observation, analysis, adjustment. And third, I work with performance, so movement, the movement of the body, its meanings, its rhythms, is my main raw material. These three kinds of movement coexist in me and in the school. That’s why it feels like floating. It’s fluid, and that fluidity is what allows flexibility.

Panel Magazine: Who comes to the School of Disobedience? Who are your "students" and your audience?

Anna Ádám: Good question. Honestly, I don’t know. People just find me. There is no typical profile. They come from all over, recently, I had applicants from the Galápagos Islands, Colombia, New Zealand, the UK... Same for age: between 25 and 65. Backgrounds are diverse, some from art, some from theory, some from social practice, and some from unexpected places. But what unites them is sensitivity, they are receptive to my language, to my values. They care about agency, autonomy, and independence. They are warriors who still believe, in this cruel world, that other options are possible. My school wants to be that option. An island of hope. Collaboration instead of competition. Friendship instead of rivalry. Curiosity instead of fear. We all agree: we want to open. Relate. Make things happen.

Panel Magazine: What’s a moment at the school that almost broke you—but also made you certain you were doing the right thing?

Anna Ádám: Oh, many. Many times I felt I was done. Tired. Exhausted. Desperate. Sad. Disappointed. I wanted to quit, to leave, never return. But then… things shifted. I understood situations, understood the “why.” I saw my own responsibility. I took it. I accepted it. I learned from it. And I continued with more clarity, more strength, and more experience.

Panel Magazine: Participants come from many different countries to your retreats. How does this diversity of backgrounds, cultures, and artistic traditions shape the energy, challenges, and discoveries at the School of Disobedience?

Anna Ádám: Diversity is beautiful, but I’m not just talking about where someone comes from. Cultural difference is easy to applaud. What’s harder, and more interesting, is diversity of thought. Of perspective. Of political and emotional position. That’s where it gets challenging. Because unfortunately, in my milieu, there’s a kind of “clivage”, ideological fractures. There are certain topics where only one interpretation is acceptable. It becomes dogma. And when disagreement is no longer allowed, that’s a problem. There’s a formatted mindset. And it’s hard to say out loud that the mainstream artistic discourse is just one way of reading reality. So yes, at the School of Disobedience, I’m proud that we question everything. Even what’s uncomfortable. Especially that.

Panel Magazine: If you could ban three "rules" of traditional art education forever, what would they be?

Anna Ádám: I’m not sure banning helps. I come from a world where punishment and bans were everywhere, and they didn’t work. But I can tell you what I consciously challenge:
One: the idea that we’re in competition. We’re not. Each of us has our own singular place. I choose collaboration.
Two: the belief that intensity equals quality. No. I value digestion. Distance. Breaks. These are part of the process.
Three: big groups. No thank you. I work with a maximum of four people per program, so I can offer deep, individual mentorship. Otherwise, it’s just noise.

Panel Magazine: What’s something you secretly wish people would stop expecting from an "art school founder"?

Anna Ádám: I don’t care what people expect from an “art school founder.” That’s their story. I have mine.

Panel Magazine: You talk about “unlearning.” What’s the most dangerous or damaging thing we’ve been taught about art or being an artist?

Anna Ádám: So many. And the worst ones are invisible — because they live inside us without our knowing. Just a few:
Art is not a hobby.
Art should be paid.
You don’t need to fit in — you have a choice.
You don’t need a gallery or a production house to be valid.
Success is plural.
Not being inspired is normal — and necessary.
No art form is superior. Painting is not “better” than performance. It’s all dogma, all layers of bullshit that we have to unlearn.

Panel Magazine: For me personally, it’s hard to imagine such a state of inner freedom — not caring about validation, or even about the result. Is it really possible to reach this level of independence, or is it more about the journey toward it?

Anna Ádám: I think it’s possible. It takes time. But yes, it’s reachable.

Panel Magazine: When was the last time you disobeyed yourself?

Anna Ádám: Beautiful question. Often in my personal life. I make huge efforts not to follow old patterns. In my professional life a bit less often.

Panel Magazine: What are some of the most powerful or surprising moments you've seen unfold during a retreat? Is there a moment that has stayed with you?

Anna Ádám: So many. That’s what keeps me going. Watching someone open up, liberate, unfold, it’s sublime. That gives me energy. That gives me joy. I’m genuinely happy for them. Proud of them.

Panel Magazine: At your retreats, you ask people to unplug and reconnect with nature. What have you personally learned from nature that no teacher could have taught you?

Anna Ádám: To slow down. And to dare to slow down. To observe in detail. These are more valuable to me than perfectionism. They demand maturity. Honesty. Courage.

Panel Magazine: Why are the camps and retreats outside of Budapest important? How does being in nature add to artistic research and transformation?

Anna Ádám: I love the countryside. And I love the rhythm: city in winter, nature in summer. It gives shape to undisciplined thoughts. Suddenly, no more walls. More space. More sky. More horizon. More freedom in movement, but also in how we see: the horizon is suddenly enlarged.

Panel Magazine: How does the environment we live in — urban, rural, digital — help or interfere with the creative process?

Anna Ádám: It’s essential for many reasons. First, it defines the frame. Why do people come? What the space is for. The goal. I’m not saying the effect can’t be healing, it often is. But healing is not the function. We need to differentiate not just spaces, but also purposes and roles. That’s where verticality matters. I hold the space with both hands, gently, but firmly. With clear structure. That structure helps things unfold. It’s the container that allows transformation.

Panel Magazine: How do you keep a space radically open—but still safe? Especially when creativity touches on identity, politics, and even pain.

Anna Ádám: That’s where experience speaks. It’s subtle. Case by case. But again: the more solid the frame, the more fluid the space can be. The more it is structured, the more it can give shape to the shapeless.

Panel Magazine: What makes someone ready—or not ready—for the School of Disobedience?

Anna Ádám: Openness. And courage. Openness to the unknown. Courage to face what they find in the mirror. Not easy.

Panel Magazine: In times like ours, who and what helps you keep going?
Hope. Simply and deeply.

Panel Magazine: If you could plant one seed under the soil of Hungary’s future culture—something invisible now but vital later—what would it be?

Anna Ádám: Hope. Again. Always.

Panel Magazine: Imagine the School of Disobedience in 50 years. What strange, wild, or radical practices do you hope will be happening there that would shock even you today?

Anna Ádám: I don’t care about shocking, I never did. Maybe surprise me instead. I’ll be 94. If it still exists, that would be the surprise. Projects have a beginning, a blossoming, and an end. I love what I do, but I don’t need to do it forever. I’m an artist first, I evolve, I change paradigms. Who knows? Maybe by then I’ll open the Pension of Disobedience for elderly rebels. Let’s see.
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​Maria Gyarmati and Masha Kamenetskaya
Panel team
www.panel-magazine.com