Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 16. (Budapest, 1997)
Kiállítások, események 1995-96
the one-time seat of the Japanese emperors, in the National Museum of Modern Arts. The exhibition was seen by tens of thousands of visitors in three more cities in 1996: in Tokyo the opening ceremony took place on January 5 at the National Museum of Modern Arts, situated at the entrance to the Imperial Gardens; in Aichi it was held on April 2 at the Museum of Ceramics; and in Sapporo it was staged on May 12 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, then celebrating its tenth anniversary. Nearly four hundred items, selected from twenty-one public and private collections as a result of enthusiastic and efficient co-operation between researchers at Japanese and Hungarian museums (Kohmoto Shinji, Éva Csenkey, András Hadik, Orsolya Kovács and Magdolna Simon), presented the main trends of the dynamic turn-of-thecentury period. Original plans and contemporary depictions of key buildings, together with applied arts material closely linked with them, were displayed in thematic and chronological groupings. The arrangement of the exhibition was technically perfect and rich in aesthetic subtleties. This, combined with broad spaces and archive photographs enlarged to life-size and placed behind the artefacts, made the exhibition genuinely panorama-like and evocative. The catalogue, containing studies and information in Japanese and Hungarian together with photographs of all the items exhibited in the order of their display, was published in ten thousand copies and proved to be a great success. 7996 From January 16 until February 11 works by Martin Székely, a French designer of Hungarian descent, were on show. The exhibition, which attracted many visitors, was opened by Jean-Luc Soulé, Director of the French Institute in Budapest. The first Craft Corner exhibition was open between January 30 and March 31. Its very title, Furniture Shock, indicated an unconventional display of furniture. The aim of the exhibition was to draw attention to a particular and remarkable trend in contemporary Hungarian furniture art, one which approaches autonomous sculpture. Twenty individual items from the works of eleven young artists were selected for display by Hilda Kozári, Zsuzsanna Lovay and Agnes Prékopa. The location of the display saw the staging of an avantgárdé fashion show on February 3, while on February 6 a symposium was held to discuss the extent and ways Hungarian artists and experts are present in the fields of furniture design, furniture production and furniture trade in Hungary. Ferenc Győri, General Secretary of the Association of Hungarian Furniture Contractors, gave a short account of the present situation. His presentation was followed by a review of international trends given by Miklós Vincze, the head of V.A.M. Design. Finally, Esa Vesmanen, a designer from Finland, spoke about the potential of the "formbreaking" experiments conducted by designers in the Scandinavian countries. Financial support from the National Cultural Foundation made possible the continuation of the series presenting works by the most prominent Hungarian textile artists. Accordingly, an exhibition of the oeuvre of Éva P. Szabó was staged between March 22 and May 27. This time, Aliz Torday, the arranger of the series, compiled a fanfold book containing an account of the artist's career complete with colour photographs. This also served as an invitation to the opening ceremony, at which a speech was given by Csaba Polgár, departmental head at the College of Applied Art. The porcelain factories of Berlin, Vienna, Herend, Ludwigsburg, Meissen and Sèvres jointly set up the European Porcelain Manufacturers' Group, which proclaims the observance of 19th-century traditions in the making of their products, as well as the task of supporting and popularizing each other's products by means of exhibitions. The group introduced itself to the Hungarian public with the exhibition Classics of European Porcelain Art, which opened on April 19.
