week 13

flat galleries

it is a very intersting phenomen of existing so called flat galleries, I think there are two main reasons for it - first, a flat gallery could be seen as a private place not for everybody, meaning exclusivity and it is about making the clients and collectors feel special

second, - I think a very common reason is the rent payment, because buying or renting a place on Falk Miksa is extremely expensive, although it gives a lot more chances to attract foreign buyers. Local collectors do not care if the gallery is on Falk Miksa or somewhere in the 13th district, because they do research and do not buy spontaneously. It can be proved by the comparison eg Molnar (flat gallery) and Art Factory (Falk Miksa- Marko ut) - Molnar is doing well and sold several pieces from the last exhibition, and Art Factory is not that stable these days, because partly of the rent they higher the prices for paintings and usualy ollectors buy them directly from the artist cheaper

some problems existing with such flat galleries refer to the external look of the exhibitions - eg. labels on paper and lack of info (Deak Galeria)

however, having a bar and a nice space for vernisages and business parties is a very good marketing tool, because eg small galleries on the main gallery street lack it - no space, when an opening happen - half of people stays outside, because of no space inside the gallery

week 12

Mucsarnok

great, great and very contemporary and entertaining, that is why we saw a lot of high school students visiting this exhibition)  I like the white walls, because it is not disturbing from looking at the pictures, which cover most of the space of walls

about the pieces itself - my favourite are the three pieces from an american photorapher, former skateboarder, because I can feel the track of youth and freedom (and skateboarding!) in his works) putting together such a variety of techniques (videos, installations, photos, paintings, etc) is a very good idea, so a viewer doesnot get bored after a while

but the great problem was that there was no enough air to breathe (only in a room where the window was opened), also some pictures were just stuck to the wall with a skotch tape, which looks odd for such a big museum; and I think a bit more information is required to describe the pieces

week 10

Museum of applied arts

the current permanent exhibition creates an atmosphere of boredom, because of a lot of problems with making the concept work

good idea to put computer games based on the information related to exhibition, we spent almost the same amount of time doing it as looking at the exhibition, but all the games are in hungarian only, they are simple, but it is doubtful that eg a 6-10 years old kid can figure out what to do if he doesnt speak hungarian

also, the labels lacked information, which is crutial (technique, materials); several stands were organised in a way that small pieces (jewelry) were on the back, so people needed to look really close and even touched the glass with their faces

I would suggest that organisers put some music on the background, make the exhibition area more lively, and maybe re arrange the pieces

week 9

Mucha:
+
good lightning, creating intimate atmosphere
suitable wall color
good distinguishing by topics
very good tags

-
no serious problems, except for a lot of empty walls


Gustav Moreau

-
not the best choice of wall colors
some works are to sketchy to show (it is not a problem, but there were too many of them)
strange smell

+
info about curators and sponsors on the wall
interesting clips for hanging the pictures


Kreta kiallitas

very interesting use of space - using also stairs
not a huge space full with interesting works

week 7

today I was helping to open an exhibition at the Art Factory studio, the exhibition is featuring the works of Levente Thury, a ceramist and sculptor

the studio space is quite big and we had to use heating systems (similar are used for contemporary section at Budapest art fair), it was pretty crowded, so the opening was really a success) some problems were about exhibiting really small pieces (app. 3-4 cm in hight), there was a special room for them with shelves, but still they are so small that people may just take them and it is hard to notice, that is why we are thinking maybe about numbering them
one more problematic thing is that the studio is situated in the factory area, so the entrance is not from the street, but u need to go through the building and factory in order to get to the studio, we put signs on the way from the building entrance so it helped people to find the place

everything was done just perfect - catalogs, cards with sculptures, food and drinks, PR (press and Tv were there), opening speech, etc.

week 6

we had quite an interesting trip and I learnt a lot about what is going inside the gallery before the show)
it was strange to see the work in a not straight frame at the opening at Oktogon gallery, they did not fixed it, it would not be a problem, but this painting was quite an important one or one of the most important ones)
plus, it was too crowded at oktogon gallery, because people who went to Varfok's openings and also new comers - all went to Oktogon's opening, moreover it seemed to me that people were 'stealing' wine from Varfok and going to Oktogon, because at the Oktogon gallery they did not serve wine and food)it might sound funny, but such little things give an impression about the gallery itself, and I think if it adds professionalism and does not require huge amount of investments, then why not do it?

week 5

it was a very useful trip to see what mistakes could be done even in such big and important museums) basically what we learnt from these two exhibitions is that everything should be updated from time to time (having and exhibition for a very long time is great when you keep an eye on it and try to eliminate any technical problems which may occure), plus since the museum is one of the important ones in Budapest and a lot of tourists visit it every day (simply because it is infront of the parliament) it was an unforgivable mistake to make it without translation into english-german languages. 
when planning an exhibition in such a huge place with great importance, everything should be taken into consideration, because people who will see the exhibition are usual people (not the professional arts managers or curators with experience) and they will just got an unpleasant feeling if something is wrong, but they won't be able to see what is wrong and explain to themselves "oh the curator forgot this thing, but it is ok, such things happen" and understand, but will leave the museum with strange feeling and won't be satisfied

week 4

we looked through different examples of catalogues, some of them were quite good, but some lacked different things (eg no titles, info about artist, etc)
I think that depending on the targeted audience catalogues should include different information (or at least give more space for one category of information or another), foe example if with this catalogue an artist want to interest the audience which has purchase power and increase sails, then the catalogue should include all the necessary information which increase the value of the artist and his works

using two languages is great, you never know who is going to look at your catalogue

week 3

this week was devoted to the actual exhibition planning and checking the steps of the upcoming exhibition in the Redidence hall
a lot of things which are vitaly important for big events are completely unnecessary for small ones (eg contracts, proper packaging while transportation, events during the viewing time, etc)
the possible problems which can occure during preparation may be related to installation and the way pictures are put on the walls, that is why the unstallation date is set on Wednesday, 1 day before opening, to make sure everything is all right and have time to fix in case there is a need for it.
the transportation will be done on Tuesday and then we will be able to see in what way we want to place the pictures in the hall

week 2

I found the exercise with concepts very useful, 'play-like' tasks can be quite important)
we looked through a lot of things important during the exhibition, from concept till finissage, and now I am interested how it works in reality and, what is more important, what kind of problems can emerge in organizing and how we can handle them)

week 1

the introduction lesson brought up some interesting questions, eg what are the functions of an art historian and a curator, and if they are so similar, why do we separate them?)
personally I think that a curator is a 'promoted' art historian, curator has the base (art historian knowledge and skills) plus he has valuable experience and skills in managing/organising)
we discussed the general things (eg components of exhibitions) we already know, but I am more interested in details and practical approach