Tragedy and many layers of memory The September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York MúzeumCafé 44. author: Katica Kocsis Since the tragedy of 11 September 2001 the site known as Ground Zero has been completely transformed. All traces of the catastrophe were removed, the environment was cleaned up and then a massive wave of building got underway. On the site of the former twin towers there now stands the Freedom Tower, and the construction […]
Conception, intention, specialists, money Compiling contemporary art in Hungary’s public collections MúzeumCafé 44. author: Emőke Gréczi One of the first Hungarian contemporary arts museums – known at the time by its working title as the “Hungarian Luxembourg” – was to be established in the old Kunsthalle, which was joined to the then Museum of Fine Arts on Andrássy Avenue. The idea was for Hungarian contemporary works of art compiled in the […]
The many ‘faces’ of museums, or what is expected of museum attendants today MúzeumCafé 44. author: Péter Hamvay The museum attendant is the ‘face’ of a museum, whose task is to ensure that visitors have a positive feeling about the ‘museum experience’. In most places they receive the minimum wage, though ever more is required of them. A basic requirement is secondary education, although there is hardly a museum without attendants who have […]
Plans to establish a museum in Veresegyház MúzeumCafé 44. author: Kálmán Varga Sooner or later the idea of founding an independent museum is raised in nearly every dynamically developing small town. The reasons are relatively simple – consolidation of self-appreciation and local identity, an increase of educational standards and a growth in sensitivity to the values of the past. Needless to say, it is a long road […]
Excavation and renovation of the castle and Castle Church in Târgu Mureş MúzeumCafé 44. author: Zoltán Soós, archaeologist, director of the Maros County Museum The castle and Castle Church monument complex in Târgu Mureş is one of the most important items of cultural heritage with a Hungarian connection in Transylvania. The four-hectare area surrounded by walls constituted the smallest royal town in the region. The earliest nucleus of the castle is its Calvinist church, which until 1556 was a […]
Back to the sources! The Hungarian National Museum’s new archaeology exhibition MúzeumCafé 44. author: Marianna Berényi The curators, designers and installers of the Hungarian National Museum’s exhibition The Carpathian Basin in the Carolingian Era and at the time of the Hungarian Conquest had to face three challenges. They had to present eras painfully missing from the National Museum’s displays as a continuation of the long ago planned and completed in 2001-2002 […]
Money and all that is required Visual design of exhibitions in Hungary MúzeumCafé 44. author: Beatrix Basics Staging an exhibition is a complex job whereby it is mostly the curator – who can be an archaeologist, historian, art historian, ethnographer or a representative of another scientific area – is in the foreground. The word curator is borrowed from British-American museum practice and has become fashionable. Deriving from the Latin word curare, meaning […]
What does it mean today for a museum of agriculture to meet 21st-century expectations and be simultaneously scientific and popular? MúzeumCafé 44. According to János Estók, historian and director of the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture, in order to answer the question a scholarly discourse is required. He agrees with those who interpret an ‘agricultural’ museum as involving everything agrarian in the broad sense of the term, or dealing with a specific field. Others believe that presenting issues […]
The museum as a space for therapy On visitors with a ‘cabinet attitude’ and ‘problem-solving attitude’, plus a paradox MúzeumCafé 44. author: Eszter Kállay, university student Therapy can happen only with an appropriate attitude, plus a strong willingness to engage in dialogue. Is it possible to regard a museum as a space suitable for discourse? After all, a museum is ‘given’, the objects are presented as matter of fact. Is it possible to establish a personal connection with such a space? […]
„The Starting Point was Trust„ Interview With Yuko Hasegawa, Former Director of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa author: ZsoltPetrányi Hasegawa believes there are essentially two different approaches for a curator. One is based more on art history, following how art is interpreted in history and connecting that to the present. The other is based on the viewpoint of the individual curator, his/her knowledge and intellectual thought. That requires intense observation and activated reaction. It […]