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An exhibition titled Makropædia – a contemporary reading of the book will be opened by Modem and the Museum and Library of the Reformed College of Debrecen.
Visitors to the Reformed Great Library can now learn about the 500-year history of bookbinding. In the other room, where the shelves are still empty, a special exhibition will be held, where contemporary artists will present the history and present of the book.
“They put into a different perspective what we are used to, and perhaps what the people of Debrecen are used to. Now young eyes, young artists are coming into this old space,” Reformed Bishop Károly Fekete said.
MODEM Modern and Contemporary Art Centre is starting a cooperation with the Public Collections of Tiszántúl Reformed Diocese. As a first result of the cooperation between the cultural centres of Debrecen, MODEM and the Museum and the Great Library of the Reformed College of Debrecen will jointly organise an exhibition in the classicist library of the College.
In 2018, MODEM launched its series of applications focusing on young artists and curators, and the Makropædia exhibition is connected to it. Gergő Kincses (Graphic Design student at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts) and Veronika Zachar (Art Management and Curatorial Studies student at METU and MOME) won the opportunity at the exhibition curatorial competition for the emerging generation of Hungarian visual artists to realise their curatorial concept in the famous biblioteca of the country’s oldest continuously operating school.
“As part of the competition, they could come to Debrecen and see this fantastic material, which is kept here in the college library. Here, inspired by the pieces, they have developed a concept that will soon be on display for visitors to see,”MODEM’s Managing Director Katalin Vizi said.
Makropædia is an exhibition of old and new books, book-based conceptual works and other artworks that reflect our book-based culture, for those who read today. Its curators attempt to show the roles that books have played in the almost six hundred years since Gutenberg printed the first Bible.
For a long time, the book was the obvious way to communicate information, which in the 20th century was rivalled by digital media. Changes in technologies for storing and communicating data have presented new opportunities and challenges to every generation.
How did the book affect science as its mediating tool? How do we think about education since textbooks are increasingly losing ground to smart devices? Can we preserve our book heritage in the age of digital humanities databases? Makropædia explores these and similar questions through preserved volumes from the 17th and 18th centuries and artefacts left behind by professors of the Reformed College of Debrecen, as well as through the contribution of contemporary artists.
“István Puskás said that it is very important that the two institutions have joined forces for this purpose. Books, literacy and literature have been the most important pillars of Debrecen’s culture for centuries, and we trust that they still are today. This exhibition reinforces this pillar,” the Deputy Mayor emphasised.
The exhibiting artists are Zsolt Asztalos, Erika Fábián, Gábor Gerhes, Bernadett Hegyvári, Andor Erazmus Illés, Tünde Karolina Mézes, Viktória Pamuki-Balogh, Tibor Pataki, Zsombor Pólya, Sára Richter, Kamilla Szíj and Máté Üveges. As an expert Róbert Oláh helped to sort the old books. The curators are Gergő Kincses and Veronika Zachar.
The exhibition can be seen between the 19th of April and the 2nd of November in the Great Library of the Reformed College of Debrecen.
Source: debrecen.hu
