Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 29. (Budapest, 2013)
Imre TAKÁCS: The Upgrade Programme for the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts
These exhibitions will involve art historians and restorers in an unprecedentedly intense programme of museological preparation. Only about 50% of the objects intended for exhibition are currently in satisfactory condition. The remainder require many years’ worth of restoration work, and to bring this close to completion by the time the building has been refurbished we will need to involve a number of external experts and workers. Writing the exhibition plans and the text of the visitor information systems will be the job of the museum’s academic staff. A further major task in preparing the permanent exhibitions will be writing guides and public catalogues, which should be available to visitors when the exhibitions open. Producing the new, handbook-style guides will be the scholarly aspect of the new exhibitions, and will most likely involve major new academic findings. The Design Museum is an integral part of the museum’s approved reconstruction plan. It will occupy the top two floors of the new wing and comprise museum workshops, temporary and permanent exhibition spaces, stores, and workshop spaces. The Design Museum will have separate access but will also be linked into the museum’s main exhibition network. It is through the Design Museum that the Museum of Applied Arts plans to regain its progressive energy, taking it closer to currently active designers and artists and their supporters. It will also provide crucial support for Hungarian design efforts and creative industries. Its philosophy matches the broad interpretation formulated in the Munich Design Charta of 1990, “European design is a balance between technological and humanistic aspects of culture. It has always aimed to make the industrialized world both human and habitable, as well as to generate a better quality of life within artificial environments.” The greatest challenge for the museums of applied arts is the representation of contemporary design - just as the presentation of contemporary art is the most difficult task for the museums of fine arts all over the world. To date, Hungarian design has existed without a museum to record its achievements. So we might ask what happened, and what happens, to the plans, the prototypes, the successful designs that have long since passed out of mass production? Looking across the world, we see second-generation design museums being built in some places and long-standing institutions being re-interpreted, updated, expanded and refurbished. The same is true for the work in progress in the much-mentioned Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Its “Future Plan” for the transformation of the whole museum, besides aiming to develop and create new model exhibitions of its historic art and design collection, puts a strong emphasis on displaying contemporary design, fashion and architecture. The secret of that museum’s recent success, according to its management, lies in careful choices. London is also the location of another design museum development, in close cooperation with the V&A and based on its collections. This is the relocation and expansion of the Boilerhouse exhibition centre, opened in 1989. Its honours are indisputable: it has attracted five million visitors, and its activities for children and adults have been particularly sought after. Design museum development is also on the agenda on the continent. The Triennale Design Museum in Milan, Italy’s first design museum, opened in 2007, and is currently being expanded. Happy are the de17
