Boxes, children, exhibitions
The Kovács Gábor Art Foundation and museum education
MúzeumCafé 30.
The Kovács Gábor Art Foundation, which was established by a private initiative in 2003, is a unique art centre in that it is entirely self-funding and independent. During the nine years of its existence it has held several ground-breaking exhibitions which have attracted both Hungarian and foreign visitors alike. The three basic elements of the foundation’s aims are to expand its own collection (Kogart Contemporary Art Collection), to promote young talented artists (Kogart Scholarship and other awards) and to increase the general appreciation for art, which involves holding four of five major exhibitions every year. While state-funded museums have a statutory duty to operate a department of public education, the museum education activities of the Gábor Kovács Art Foundation represent a voluntarily undertaken task, which increases the range of events it can offer. In 2011 a series of four sessions facilitated by artist and museum education specialist István Sinkó were introduced as an experiment in connection with the József Egry retrospective exhibition. Although the exhibition area of Kogart House lacks separate rooms suitable for educational activities, the sessions held in the exhibition halls at weekends attracted visitors of all ages and generated much positive feedback. The foundation deemed it important to broaden the scope of its museum educational programme, since the average age of visitors has been estimated to be 40. Thus we consciously turned towards the secondary school age group with the exhibition From San Francisco to Woodstock presenting American rock posters.