The closing exhibition is experimental in nature and responds primarily to developments in the two thousand years: collaborative and participatory artistic aspirations and the increased responsibility of museums. Visitors can choose from the collection the most interesting, most important, favorite works from the collection, so they can actively participate in shaping the museum’s activities.
curators: Krisztina Szipőcs and the visitors
Radio and television request shows were once very popular, although there often was a narrow choice – popular hits, sentimental songs, cabaret pieces. What would we learn about the audience of contemporary art if we let them decide this time? Visitors now have the opportunity to select the works they like the most in the collection of the Ludwig Museum by voting online, and based on the result, we will display approximately twenty works at our last – surprise – exhibition.
The last stage of the Ludwig 30 series, CUSTOMIZE is both an interesting experiment and survey, in which we want to know more about our audience: how they look on art, what aspects they consider when choosing an artist, genre, theme (perhaps size or technique)? What makes an artwork important to a layman? For example, a dear, non-professional, friend of mine went to the Ludwig Museum for a large, non-figurative painting: looking at the picture, she was almost in a meditative state; we might say she used art for therapeutic purposes. Others require information related to the artwork, are hungry for references and stories, because they feel lost in contemporary art without them. Many come for the big names, and some love rarities – here and now we give visitors the opportunity to climb into the museologist / curator’s skin and browse through the collection to find their most favourite pieces.
Entrusting an artist – or a film director, musician or even someone from another culture – to select works from a well-known collection with a fresh eye has always enriched museology with new perspectives, and that’s what we are doing. In the spirit of participatory art and the open museum, this time we invite our audience to actively express their needs, explain their points of view and expectations of our museum.