ArtMill, Szentendre
MúzeumCafé 5.
In the old centre of Szentendre you sooner or later stumble on ArtMill. ‘Gyula Konkoly exhibition’ – says the current poster. ArtMill is the hub of a local network of small museums and hopefully the building will be seen in its full splendour sooner or later. It has been hidden behind another building in Bogdányi Street, and even many locals were not aware of its existence. In the 1960s artists Dezső Kornis and Pál Deim independently raised the idea of converting the mill into a museum. However, artists were not taken seriously at the time, so the matter was left unattended. After the changes of 1989-90, Pál Deim reiterated the proposal with the result that the Foundation for Szentendre’s Art was established in order to turn the mill into an institution of art. The founding president was Deim himself. Developments were slow, thus a non-profit company was established in 1997 to speed up the conversion.
Ádám Farkas became president of the Foundation at that time and ArtMill at last opened in 1999. Since then the Foundation has organised the exhibitions and is trying to raise the money required to complete the building, which is only 40 per cent ready at the moment. With that in mind, they are working with the Szentendre Cultural Non-profit Co. Joint work, however, is not free of disputes, since the Foundation’s members are mainly artists, whereas the company’s managers are not art or museum experts.
The future of the Mill will emerge from these discussions. Currently, the most important issue concerns the function of the future complex. A completely new idea has recently been raised concerning the fate of the Mill, since Europe’s first TV art channel is going to be established in Szentendre. The satellite channel will primarily broadcast programmes about European museums, art colonies and academies of art. According to plans, ArtMill will become its headquarters. Online auctions would be part of the programming, with bids being placed online for works by contemporary artists appearing on the screen. That, together with advertising revenue, could raise funds which would help the completion of the Mill and its maintenance costs would also be covered.