Zsuzsanna Kovács, ethnographer at the Göcsej Museum
MúzeumCafé 12.
Why does someone become an ethnographer in the 21st century when virtual reality is gaining ground? “It’s not easy to answer this question because your motivations keep changing,” says Zsuzsanna Kovács. “I studied at the University of Pécs where I received a high level of theoretical training, yet it was only when I was out on practice in the Open-Air Ethnographic Museum that I truly realised how the theory and all the knowledge were connected to a career that I would be happy to pursue and would enable me to pass on what I know to others. Although it is true that today several digital tools can help you learn, everything is at my disposal in the open-air museum in its reality. Nothing virtual can copy or replace that. Everything the village museum presents can be touched and comprehended. “It is impossible to reach everyone with the same method. Neither is it sufficient simply to present an exhibition and display in writing what you can see. Visitors do not get interested in a museum which they just go through, yet an exhibition immediately becomes attractive if you discover the method which can make it motivating. Let it be a camp, a craft session, learning music, dance or a gastronomic presentation. Of course, we shouldn’t forget that it’s not a playground but a museum. At present we are working on a log house in the museum in order to make it suitable for learning in an exciting way as well as useful for sessions and museum education. The house is going to be furnished in the style of the 1930s. We ourselves have to make contact with schools because no one comes forward on their own initiative. Perhaps this is because everyone has an image in their mind that a museum is a place for relics and objects of the past.