What role should public museums and galleries play in the presentation of Hungarian contemporary fine arts?
MúzeumCafé 34.
– According to János Szoboszlai, art historian, acting head of the department of art theory at the hungarian university of fine arts and artistic director of the institute of contemporary art in Dunaújváros, those currently discussing the mission, financing and personnel matters of contemporary fine arts institutes agree that the situation is wholly untenable. However, the recent discourse probably indicates the start of a new period. This is a reflection of the political changes as an unfinished project.
– Júlia Fabényi, art historian and director of the Janus Pannonius Museum, would break down the question. Players in the art world are involved in the direct and indirect effects of intellectual processes and scientific and social developments, which cannot be modelled legally or mathematically. The role of institutions is formed together with contemporary arts and the understanding of this role – institutional identity – in terms of broad general opinion is not a linear consequence of this.
– According to Zsolt Petrányi, art historian and head of the contemporary collection at the Hungarian National Gallery, the answer at first sight may seem very simple – institutes maintained by the state have to play a communicating role by means of classifying contemporary art. The question is what to communicate, to whom.
– Katalin Keserü, art historian and assistant professor at ELTE’s department of art history, believes that exhibiting institutes are maintained not simply for the current contemporary arts and not just for Hungarian art. The question can be discus-sed by directors, decision-makers and funding bodies. Excluding those maintained by local authorities, Hungary has just one institute of the type being discussed, the Kunsthalle.