Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 22. (Budapest, 2003)

Diary of Events 2002

time the presentation was on, visitors to the Museum could use the Internet to access the "Made in Umbria" showroom, in which the most important ceramics manufacturers stage exhibitions. At a conference held in December 2001, Hungary's Ministry of National Cultural Heritage explained the policy long used in Germany of the "Long Nights of the Museums", the essence of which is that on particular days of the year museums remain open until late in the evening, putting on special events for their visitors. This initiative found support - for tradition-creation purposes - at a number of Budapest museums (the Hungarian National Museum, the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture, the Museum of Applied Arts, the Budapest History Museum, and the Museum of Ethnography), where, under the title Midsummer Fires, they made the year's longest day memorable by means of extended opening hours and special events. Within the framework of this initiative, on 22 and 23 June two rare "automatic figures" were exhibited in the Museum's ceremonial hall, one made in the 16

th and the other in the 19

th century. These could be seen in operation at times announced in advance. The Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus, which operates in Hanau, a town renowned for its silversmith's work, and the Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst perform an important role in supporting contemporary silversmith's and jewellery art in Europe. Since 1968 they have staged, every three years, the Hanau Silver Triennale, which faithfully reflects the state of silversmith's art in Germany and abroad. For many years the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest has been the location for the Silver Triennale 's exhibition in Hungary. This time the event took place between 6 August and 15 September, when besides traditional tableware testifying to outstanding craftsmanship experiments in form and technique also featured. The exhibition entitled The 13

th Hanau Silver Triennale, 2001-2002 was likewise a great success with the public. In the field of presenting the past and present of Hungarian lace, the Museum has important tasks to perform. This has been recognised by Eszter Tiszavári, the head of the Museum's library, who was prompted by the library's stock of numerous pattern-books, design sketches and descriptions to call attention with the help of these documents to long-forgotten techniques and works. It was this initiative that launched the prospective series whose first number was the exhibition entitled Csetnek Lace, created from the private collection held by Ida M. Vághy and from the material in the library of the Museum of Applied Arts. Aliz Torday, a writer on art, opened the exhibition on 27 August. The great majority of the plans and documents comprising the Géza Maróti (Rintel) papers are to be found in the Archives of the Museum of Applied Arts. Maróti was a known and versatile artist of the first half of the 20

th century: a sculptor, a painter and an architect. Many buildings in Budapest bear the mark of his sculptural embellishment work. He was a designer who enjoyed success at many international exhibitions and a painter and decorative sculptor who worked on a number of public buildings in the New World, among them the Mexico City Opera House. Entitled "We Are Atlantis - Vederemo", an exhibition of his oeuvre was opened on 9 October by Dr. Márta Schneider, deputy state secretary at the Hungarian Ministry of Cultural Heritage's Department of Artistic and International Contacts, and Professor Dr. Ferenc Vámossy, architect. The show was organised by Piroska Acs. The architect János Gerle recalled the most important episodes in Maróti 's career. To mark the event, the Museum published a 240page volume with the same title as the exhibition. This contained studies dealing with the many different aspects of the artist's work. The authors were Piroska Acs, János Gerle, Eszter Götz, András Hadik, Rózsa Köpöczi, Endre Prakfalvi, János Sturcz, György Sümegi, Mónika Szenté Varga, Vera Varga, and Miklós Zeidler. The editor was Piroska Ács. The beginnings of contemporary jewellery art can be traced back to the late 1960s, to a