Ludwig Museum opens out to expats

By: All Hungary News

The Ludwig Museum is offering Budapest expats an unusual opportunity to get involved in Hungarian culture from the inside by training to become volunteer guides, or docents. The Ludwig, Budapest’s premier venue for international contemporary art, is extending its outreach program beyond the Hungarian art world to the large foreign community.

 

It is also a rare opportunity to acquire a first-rate education in contemporary art of all kinds. The training will include “Art Studies Lectures” on artists and exhibitions such as the planned Retrospective exhibition of László Fehér, a defining figure of the contemporary Hungarian art scene. Volunteers will go through a series of classes on the different styles of art since World War II, not least addressing the distinction between what is called Modern Art and what is Contemporary, with an emphasis on the Hungarian works and outstanding international works in the Ludwig’s galleries.

 

The program will also benefit visitors to the museum. “If someone takes the time to take you through the art as a guide, it enhances your ability to grasp it and to decide whether you like it,” says Linda Kondor, a consultant to the institution’s docent program.

 

“The more people are interested, the more the exhibits will be enjoyed,” she adds. “This is fantastic for the public and the Ludwig. It’s a win-win situation.”

 

The volunteer guide program is only the second of its kind in Central Europe. The first, launched at Budapest’s Museum of Fine Arts in 1991, remains a big success.

 

The Ludwig training program is in English, but is available to all. Noting that Budapest has a “rich international pool,” Kondor is enthused at the prospect that some volunteers may then offer guided tours in other languages, after completing the course.

 

The museum has some 500 works, of which about 150 are on display at any given time, many of them by the biggest names in Pop Art, such as Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg and Roy Liechtenstein, as well as acclaimed European artists Joseph Beuys, Georg Baselitz and A.R. Penck. The gallery began collecting Hungarian art in 1996, and Imre Bak, László Fehér and László Lakner are prominent.

 

Volunteer training classes begin on March 1, with an introduction to the program and the museum. They are designed for volunteers, but anyone who is interested may attend, for the price of a donation.

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