Own Reading – Our favourites from the museum collection

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This unique collection-based exhibition offers a special experience. It replaces the traditional, often hierarchical, professional approach to engaging with art with a much more direct and community-oriented perspective. Here, each colleague played an equally important role in the selection process, as their voice is as significant as anyone else’s. The museum staff, whether they are restorers, administrative workers, maintenance staff, or curators, all selected one or two items from the Ferenczy Museum Centre’s exceptionally diverse national collection that are particularly meaningful to them and added their own personal explanation to these pieces. Therefore, this selection is not based on art-historical knowledge but focuses on personal connections and individual experiences.

The uniqueness of the exhibition lies in the fact that the institutional approaches we are used to are replaced by a much more everyday, subjective perspective. The choices made by colleagues, along with their thoughts, experiences, and stories, provide insight into how museum objects can become an integral part of our lives. How they shape our perspectives and, conversely, how the arts appear in our own stories. Thus, not only do the artworks become more accessible to visitors, but so does the museum world itself, as visitors can now get to know not just the displayed objects but also the staff members who work behind the scenes.

This anti-elitist approach emphasizes that any relationship with art is primarily not tied to professional knowledge but is based on fundamental and personal experience. Among the various comments written by the staff, visitors can read moving family stories, humorous art analyses, encounter poetry, music, pure admiration for art, and practical approaches. This way, the collection can reveal an entirely new, human side to the viewer.

During the exhibition’s preparation, nearly 80 colleagues explored the treasures found in the museum’s fine arts, historical, and ethnographic storage. As a result of this collective selection, visitors can discover not only the great classics but also surprising pieces, such as a beautifully embroidered skirt, a decorative chamber key, a pistol adorned with brass embossing, a majestic ship model, a bride’s wreath sewn with wax pearls, horseshoe duck eggs, or Roman-era pickaxe heads. For the first time, a special item will also be on display: a flag from Szentendre, which is attributed to the work of Károly Ferenczy. These are all items that have surfaced unique stories and a range of emotions.

The main message of Own Reading is that museum objects are not alien, inaccessible phenomena, but sources of personal experiences available to everyone. This exhibition offers an opportunity to explore artworks and other collection pieces from a new perspective, forging a direct connection, and enriching ourselves with experiences that are not just about the works themselves but also about the museum staff and, through them, all of us.