Serving a can of Campbell’s soup elegantly
László Hemrik, Head of the Museum Education Department, Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art
MúzeumCafé 42.
László Hemrik worked as a teacher for ten years before being employed in the museum. His present job involves building a bridge between contemporary art and Hungarian public education, since the latter uses less than it should from the former’s approach. The department he is in charge of interprets museum education widely, thus they welcome not only children but also adults at their sessions which, besides facilitating the reception of exhibitions, aim at mapping the most characteristic trends in contemporary art and introducing the most prominent artists of the contemporary Hungarian arts scene. László Hemrik was born in 1963. He studied at Gyula Juhász Teachers’ Training College in Szeged and the Education Faculty at ELTE University, Budapest. He joined the Ludwig Museum in 1998 and was appointed head of the Department of Museum Education in 2009. He regularly holds lectures and practice sessions at ELTE and the Centre of Museum Education (MOKK). He has organised a number of conferences on museum education. More than 400 articles written by him about public life, art and education have been published in various journals and papers. His monograph about András Balla was published in 2011, while his latest article about museum education came out in the April 2014 issue of Új Művészet with the title Why? For Whom? What? How? – answers of museum education to four questions. When university students visit the museum he usually takes a can of Campbell’s Soup to the seminar. It is a reference to Warhol, and he begins his lecture by saying that the museum also needs to be opened – using the help of museum education specialists with a view to serving it elegantly and convivially.