Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 28. (Budapest, 2012)
Events 2009-2010
fashion at home and abroad and about the cultural, artistic, social, sociological and economic implications of fashion design. Since 2006 the Core Program of National Culture and the Museum of Applied Arts have staged joint exhibitions of noted and influential contemporary designs selected and prized by a responsible jury offering an insight into present-day decorative arts. In 2009 curator Eszter Agnes Szabó coordinated the Works Completed 2009 exhibition of 18 artists - Judit Bányász, Vendel Bicsár, Emese Csókás, István Czebe, Mrs Péter Istenes b. Klára Bein, Margit Zsuzsanna Jáger, Katalin Karattur, Csilla Kelecsényi, Kalatin Zelenák Kocsor, Edit Kondor, Krisztina Kókay, János Máté, Éva Nyerges, Éva Penkala, Éva Sipos, Edit Szűcs, Péter István Vajda and Anikó Varga. The exhibition open from 5 to 29 November was opened by Béla Tildi, leader of the Applied Arts Section of the National Cultural Fund, with a greeting by the director of the Fund László Harsányi. In the 46page catalogue the artists each had a page to write about their works following the introduction by Eszter Agnes Szabó. Various puzzles, wood knots, tangrams, pentominos - hosts of brain-racking toys and games - were visible in the first and second-floor showcases from the collection of the passionate collector and playful engineer and technology historian Tibor Szentiványi from 3 December 2009 to 2 May 2010. The seemingly simple geometric forms selected and arranged by museum educator Emese Joó derived from the realm of amusing mathematics are actually intricate and exciting logical riddles whose solution requires dexterity, patience, thinking and 3-D vision alike. The majority of toys on display at the exhibition can still be bought, and a set of various toys was at the disposal of the visitors to try their skills in different pedagogical programs. KreatIMM was the name of the renewed Christmas fair of the Museum of Applied Arts (abbr. IMM) held on 18, 19, 20 December. In externals it was reminiscent of the atmosphere of traditional markets but also offered the contemporary trend of design, and reinforced an important strand of the year's exhibitions: environment-conscious thought in the array of artefacts from recycled materials on sale. For three consecutive years the Museum had been honoured with one or another of its associates being awarded the Opus mirabile prize donated for remarkable professional achievements by the Art Historical Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The award-winner this time was Gabriella Balla for the exhibition and catalogue The Dowry of Beatrice. Italian Majolica Art and the Court of King Matthias Corvinus. The other staff member to be awarded was Balázs Semsey for his critical review entitled "The Medici Feeling or the Shadow of the Golden Age" of the Golden Age of the Medici , an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, published in the periodical Műértő. 140
