Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 21. (Budapest, 2002)
Diary of events 2001
sions of the other lectures given were published in our last yearbook, Ars Decorativa 20. By tradition, young designers holding László Moholy-Nagy Design Scholarships, which, on the recommendation of the Industrial Design and Ergonomics Council, were created in 1988 by three government ministries - the portfolios for construction, industry and culture - and the National Committee for Technical Development, display their work at exhibitions held annually. From 30 March until 22 April the general public was able to view the creations of thirteen such artists. The exhibition, which was organised by Agnes Fejes, was opened by Dr. Gábor Szabó, deputy state secretary at the Hungarian Ministry of Education, and Ivan András Bojár, editor-in-chief of the magazine Octogon Architecture & Design. In Sweden "good design" is an important part of daily life. This has been especially true since 1998, when the Swedish government implemented an exemplary action programme in the interests of raising the standard of applies arts products. In the first half of 2001, during its presidency of the Council of the European Union, Sweden organised many exhibitions and other cultural events in the member-states and in the applicant countries alike. Shown in Budapest from 11 April until 13 May and afterwards in Prague and Bratislava, the exhibition Design for Every Body - which was organised by Krisztina Kender - drew attention to Swedish products satisfying everyday needs. Adults, children, the visually impaired, and those with mobility problems could all find among the artefacts in the exhibition things that could help them in their daily lives. In 2000, the millennial year, the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest staged a highly popular jubilee exhibition of picture-postcards. From 22 June until 16 September 2001 visitors could see another such show: Paris Sights, 1900. New documents from the time supplemented picture-postcards published on the occasion of the 1900 Paris World Exhibition. The backbone of the material, which was selected by Hilda Horváth, consisted of documents held by the Museum and picture-postcards belonging to the private collector László Székely. The opening address was delivered by Endre Kardos, a regional director with the firm Hungarian Tourism, Ltd, in a genuinely Parisian atmosphere, supplied by an accordion accompaniment. To Europeans India has, for centuries, been a country of great contrasts, secrets and mystery. The photographer Sándor Csortos Szabó soughtout and captured on film the temples of Khajuraho built between the 9 th and 11 th centuries during the time of the Chandelas. The India specialist Zsuzsanna Renner wrote explanations of the photographs, which numbered more than fifty and which were for the most part large. It was thanks to her organizational work that visitors could familiarise themselves at the exhibition with this aspect of India's distinctive culture. The show ran from 28 September until 28 October. That it served further to strengthen relations between Hungary and India was best shown by the fact that its patron was Dr. Ildikó Puskás, president of the Hungarian-Indian Friendship Society, and the fact that His Excellency Lakshmi M. Puri, India's ambassador to Hungary, greeted the guests. Dr. József Hámori, the prime minister's chief advisor on science policy, gave the opening address. Since its foundation, the principal supporters of the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest have included - in the fields of collecting and restoration alike - the Hungarian Applied Arts Association and the Friends of Art Society. With the exhibition Our Treasures Belong to the Nation, Hilda Horváth wished to raise a memorial to these organizations and simultaneously to present them as exemplars to today's wealthy elite. The exhibition was at the same time the first event of an art sponsorship group re-forming as the Society of Friends of the Museum of Applied Arts. Dr. István Benkő, director of the Hungarian branch of the firm Egon Zehnder International, opened the exhibition, which could be viewed from 17 October until the end of December. By the term úrihimzés ("aristocratic embroidery") Hungarians mean a characteristically Hungarian kind of embroidery that in terms of
