“Too far does not exist for a tourist, but it does for the funding body”
Gyula Barczi, deputy director of the Slovak National Museum
MúzeumCafé 44.
It is no small matter for someone in their twenties to be the deputy director of a country’s National Museum, especially when such a person is of Hungarian nationality and the country is Slovakia. Importantly the person in question is also the director of the Andrássy Mansion Museum in Betliar, and is in charge of the Krasna Horka Castle, which suffered fire damage in March 2012, and of other museums housed in major listed buildings. Yet Gyula Barczi has begun working with enthusiasm and has some firmly shaped ideas.
– You were born in Rožňava, a town of hardly 20,000 where 4,000 people whose mother tongue is Hungarian live today. The Andrássy Mansion in Betliar is five kilometres away.
I worked as a guide there in the summers when I was at secondary school. I carried on as a university student of Trnava.
– Where did you start working after graduation?
At the SOGA Auction House in Bratislava. It was a very important place for me since I was working with prominent professionals. You could learn about all sorts in a practical way. I saw a huge number of works and met many artists. I took part in staging exhibitions and the preparation of catalogues. Your aptitude became refined in SOGA. You could learn what was good or bad. Good taste is very important for an art historian and if you don’t recognize value, you cannot be involved in contemporary art. Trendy young people came to SOGA to buy pictures and they would buy a painting by Antal Neogrády, for example.
– You have also staged exhibitions independently.
Katrina Bajcurová and I staged Ernest Zmeták – the Last Classic: Collector and Artist in the Slovak National Gallery in 2011. In 2013 a version was presented at ArtMill in Szentendre. An even bigger task was the Mednyánszky exhibition in the SOGA Auction House. 127 works from the Ringwald Collection were exhibited in May 2012. And this year I was in charge of a large project – the exhibition Impressionism SK in the Slovak National Gallery.
– The Ringwald exhibition involved very beautiful, so far unknown works of art. Unfortunately they were not acquired by public collections, but scattered among private collectors.
But there is a catalogue and I still follow the fate of some of the works.
– The catalogue was published in Slovak, Hungarian and English … a great achievement. In short, the beginning was quite promising for you. How did you become the deputy director of the Slovak National Museum in April this year?
I’ve paid great attention to the operation of the National Museum for years. I’ve also written a couple of very critical articles. When in February the director changed, the new director asked me and I didn’t think for long.
– You are in charge of castles and mansions and also the director of the museum in Betliar. The exhibition 120 Years of the Slovak National Museum was held in Bratislava recently. You have been appointed to a responsible post at the young age of 29. Let’s talk about the National Museum.
I often say that it doesn’t really exist. It’s an office building which accommodates the Museum of Natural History, a permanent exhibition and temporary shows. And there are offices and a library.
– What are the exhibitions like? The permanent exhibition seems rather old-fashioned.
The trouble is that the natural history exhibition was staged in the 70s and although it was updated two years ago it reflects the taste of the 70s. It’s important what designers a museums employs. There is no international competition, actually there is no competition at all. I think the museum in Krasna Horka will be the first where we’ll select, on the basis of a competition, an architect.
– Have the exhibitions here been made by a member of the staff as with the anniversary temporary exhibition?
The natural history rooms upstairs have been designed and installed by someone on commission. Although these designers have graduated from the University of the Arts, this is what they can achieve.
– What about reshaping the structure? After all, it is the National Museum with a natural history exhibition.
The main problem is that the present structure of the SNM is such that the central building is actually only an office building where the managers and staff can be found. The different museums belong to this central institution. My concept is for the History Museum in Bratislava Castle to cease and turn into the National Museum.
– So the self-definition and the mission statement of the SNM would be important.
There is something like that, but it is very general about how important the SNM is and that it aims to preserve the relics of the national past. After I had got acquainted with the conditions inside the museum I formed an idea about it. I have aimed at simplifying the structure of the SNM. The concept that I will implement in Betliar has included reinforcing the identity of the mansion museum, as well as allowing it a free hand in forming its own image. The Andrássy Museum with a restaged exhibition, a temporary exhibition, a museum shop, new cash desk and information system will open in May 2015 and will meet 21st-century requirements.
– How long is your appointment for?
In Slovakia the appointment of the deputy director is for an indefinite time, while it is for six months in Betliar.
– Change involves a long, difficult process.
Yes, and at least it has been started in Betliar. I am very pleased about that. Besides being the deputy director, I am essentially in charge of directing Betliar.
– So there are no time limits in your plans.
There is an internal time limit. But I will only reveal it when the changes we have discussed come about.
– There are quite a lot of ethnic Hungarian directors in Slovak museums.
Merely the fact that someone is of Hungarian nationality means nothing. Even not so much that he/she speaks Hungarian. However, the fact that I could become the deputy director shows that something has happened. Besides my nationality I think it is mostly good that the museum has involved its former critic in the team. The country has changed much in a good direction. Bratislava has also developed a lot. At last it begins to look like a capital. The Slovak National Museum must address this renewed country and its capital.