“For Hungarian artists, the Kunsthalle and myself”
Portrait of art historian and curator, Krisztina Jerger
MúzeumCafé 21.
Her double identity (with a Polish mother and a Hungarian father) and a life alternating between two countries has caused much happiness and sometimes difficulty to Krisztina Jerger. After university in Warsaw she gained a name for herself, first in Hungary and later internationally, as an art historian and curator of the Kunsthalle in Budapest, and she has spent the past five years at the Institute of Hungarian Culture, again in Warsaw. Krisztina Jerger’s mother came to Hungary as a refugee from Poland, which had been occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union. “My mother’s life could be the subject of a film, although her story was not unique.” Her wealthy Polish grandfather was executed by the Russians in front of the family. Her grandmother was taken to Siberia, while the men of the family lost their lives in battle. Her grandmother and aunt turned up a long time after the war. In the post-1945 era Krisztina Jerger’s father became politically undesirable and could not work as a lawyer, so he earned a living as an unskilled worker. An educated but embittered person who did not feel at home in Hungary, he left the country illegally in 1970, which caused much trouble for the family. “I was not allowed to travel to western countries for ten years, which at my age and especially in my profession was a great disadvantage.” Jerger attended a noted secondary grammar school in Budapest which had long traditions and some teachers who had qualified before 1945. “I was already into art history there. My class was an ambitious one.” Her interest in her mother’s homeland revived in the increasingly free atmosphere of the 60s. From then on it seemed natural for her to want to study art history in Poland, although those in authority didn’t find it so obvious. “That cannot be,” she was told officially. Why did she choose art history? “I liked to be among paintings, they filled me with energy and gave strength. However, at the time I was not yet aware that I wanted to focus on contemporary art.” Poland was only accepting young people to study fresh-water fishing and the timber industry, but she was not interested in those. Then someone in the ministry suggested she took the entrance examinations in Hungary and then she could leave. “I embarked on a surreal struggle with red tape lasting one and a half years. Meanwhile I counted dustbins, made coffee and began interpreting in order not to be unemployed, which was a crime at the time.” In the end she got to Warsaw. “I had to realise how little breathing space we had, how scope for development was limited and what restrictions there were. I’m not talking about professionals but ordinary people working without any perspective.” In comparison, Poland and the free atmosphere of the university’s hall of residence was a huge change. Art history education was of an international standard in Warsaw. Yet, living there had its drawbacks – she regularly had to apply for a residence permit to the Ministry of Interior in Warsaw. According to Jerger, who also worked in the gallery of Józef Szajna, one of the outstanding Polish theatre personalities, it was already clear in Poland that she had a feel for space, good insight and that she liked working with artists, managing exhibitions, so she specialised in that area. By the end of the 70s the Kunsthalle in Budapest was a major centre of Hungarian contemporary culture and it became even more so under Katalin Néray’s management from 1984. Jerger regards art historian János Frank as her mentor; he helped her to meet the best Hungarian artists. It was also through Frank that she got to the Joseph Town Gallery in Budapest where she arranged exhibitions for ten years. Times were different – today curators who are art historians take charge of an exhibition’s content, while specialist interior and graphic designers add the form to an exhibition. Following Hungary’s political changes Krisztina Jerger continued her work with great enthusiasm. Besides exhibitions about Coptic art, Marcus Aurelius and the heritage of the Holy Land in the Museum of Fine Arts, she organised several shows of contemporary art in the Kunsthalle. The opening exhibition of Budapest’s Holocaust Museum and the Invisible Exhibition about tolerance in the Olof Palme House specifically put her in the centre of attention. What does she think makes a person good at organising exhibitions? “Being well-informed professionally is a must. You must be present, see a lot and be up-to-date, as well as be committed. However, sensitivity to quality is most important of all.” Krisztina Jerger is intrinsically an open and interested person who never forgets that there is a human relationship between artist and curator. She worked at the Kunsthalle from 1976 to 2005 and was its deputy director between 1999 and 2001, although it was not her desire. In 2005 she applied for the post of director at the Institute of Hungarian Culture in Warsaw. However, she agreed to become deputy director, thus in the past five years she has been able to take a central role in constructing a new institute in Warsaw. It has produced a great feeling of success for Jerger, an art historian who is bound to Poland with a thousand ties.