Collection Care in Progress. Compared to artworks preserved in museums, the obsolescence of technical devices is considerably faster, and this media artworks belong to our cultural heritage. The most vulnerable works in the collection of Ludwig Museum are photographs, prints and media works. In Hungary, media art does not only mean software-based or digital art. Before the regime change in 1989, photography was the only available media. Earlier documentation of a performance is becoming artwork today, as exclusive evidence of an artistic action. In most cases, to not show an artwork simply means not allowing it to come into being at all. In a series of interviews with artists, this paper has been interested in issues which try to uncover the meaning and the context. The methodology of collecting, presenting, conserving media art are entirely new fields for professionals working in Hungarian public collections. What do we have to preserve, and what is it that truly matters? Well... These are the questions we strive to answer.

1. C O L L E C T I O N C A R E
I N P R O G R E S S
A N O V E R V I E W O F A M U S E U M C O L L E C T I O N
Béla Tamás KÓNYA
Head of Conservation and Collection Care
LUDWIG MÚZEUM
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
2016

2. Sauter STOPH,
Chocolate object, 1993
chocolate, 1/1
Ludwig Múzeum,
Budapest; 1999

3. 55%
16%
15%
3%
10%
video 1 0 %
video installation
3 %
print
1 5 %
photography
1 6 %
other works
5 5 %
THE COLLECTION OF
THE LUDWIG MUSEUM,
BUDAPEST

4. Endre TÓT,
TÓTalJOYS, 1975 - 1976
video © Ludwig Museum

5. Tamás ST.AUBY,
MUTANT, 1980
C-print, video, deck chair © Ludwig Museum

6. Marcell ESTERHÁZY,
h.l.m.v 2.0, 2004
computer animation © Ludwig Museum

7. C O N T E X T
„ … T H E C O N T E X T O F C O N T E M P O R A RY
D I S C U S S I O N S A B O U T E X H I B I T I O N S … O F T E N
S U G G E S T T H AT A R T C A N E X I S T E V E N
W H E N I T I S N O T S H O W N … ”
Boris Groys: Art and Money © 2011 e-flux

8. Péter FORGÁCS,
THE DANUBE EXODUS, 2005
interactive video installation © Ludwig Museum

9. Péter FORGÁCS,
THE DANUBE EXODUS, 2005
interactive video installation © Ludwig Museum

10. I S I T P O S S I B L E T O
P R E S E R V E T H E M E A N I N G ?
2.

11. Péter RÓNAI,
SELFMUTATION, 1991-1997
digital print, molino, cardboard, acrylic sheet, wood, video, DVD player,
LCD monitor © Ludwig Museum

12. Péter RÓNAI,
SELFMUTATION, 1991-1997
digital print, molino, cardboard, acrylic sheet, wood, video, DVD player,
LCD monitor © Ludwig Museum

13. Tamás WALICZKY,
THE GARDEN, 1992-1996
(from the film of STUDIES FOR THE GARDEN)
computer animation © Ludwig Museum

15. D R I V E R S O F
C H A N G E
themes
network
debate
research
support
H O W D O W E
G E T T H E R E ?
conference
principels
method
publication
education
Where we
want to be?
Where
we are
now?
W H E R E W E A R E N O W A N D
W H E R E W E WA N T T O B E ?
3.

17. <Thank You for your
attention>_