Once again the circus museum’s magic box is unveiled!
“Circus Elephant in the Porcelain Museum”. The unique and special exhibition presents a selection of Herend porcelain art and breathtaking achievements of Hungarian circus art.
The exhibition was opened by Péter Fekete, Director General of the National Centre for Circus Arts and Dr. Attila Simon, CEO of Herendi Porcelain Manufactory Ltd.In his welcoming speech Péter Fekete emphasized that seriousness and timelessness are values that apply to Herendi Porcelain Manufactory Ltd. and the Budapest Circus as well. He said that the opening of the exhibition was attended by some of the most distinguished professionals of the Hungarian art world, Hungarian artistry and Hungarian public life. “The 13-metre circle of the Fővárosi Nagycirkusz and the Hungarian travelling circus is like a halo laid on the ground or a giant wedding ring that tears you out of the world. In this circle, black and white people stand on each other’s shoulders, Russian and Ukrainian artists catch each other in mid-air, regardless of religion or worldview. In this circle we forget the outside world as we work for an unbroken faith in each other. Our message is that this is how we should live. This is the message we would like to convey here in Herend,” said the Director General, and thanked Dr. Attila Simon, CEO of Herendi Porcelain Manufactory Zrt. for providing the museum staff with a special space and atmosphere for the creation of the exhibition.
Dr. Attila Simon, CEO of Herend Porcelain Manufactory Zrt., emphasized in his speech that the exhibition is a rendezvous between the circus world and Herend. The two institutions are linked by a number of ideas, he said. He mentioned social responsibility, the creation of value, the preservation and transmission of traditions, an unwavering commitment to quality and innovation as examples. “We are bound together by a hint of a secret, because every artist carries a secret in his or her production, just as the secret recipe of the artists is reflected in the Herendi creations,” he added, thanking the staff of the exhibition and the General Director Péter Fekete, who will host all the employees of Herendi Porcelain Manufactory Zrt. for the performance “Stars-Like Pins on the Sky” of the Budapest Circus.
Emese Joó, curator of the Hungarian Circus Art Museum, Library and Archive, curator and chief curator of the circus history exhibition “Circus Elephant in the Porcelain Museum” said: When she and her colleagues were asked to organise an exhibition of circus art and circus history, consisting of costumes and relics donated by Hungarian artists, and related to Herend porcelain, they themselves became artists in the process.
We were inspired by porcelain,” he added. The result is an exhibition of 100 square metres, extremely rich in content, with wonders from the floor to the ceiling,” said the director of the Hungarian Circus Art Museum, Library and Archive, who invited László Simet, Károly Hortobágyi Prize-winning artist and Merited Artist of Hungary, to open the exhibition “Circus Elephant in the Porcelain Museum”.
The event was a huge success with the performances of Dániel Richter, clown and Rudolf Ádám Junior, juggler. The “Circus Museum Wonder Chest” is a travelling circus art exhibition series of the National Circus Arts Centre, which was launched in 2023 at the Budapest Circus. The series of exhibitions will highlight a different interest and value from the past and present of Hungarian circus art at each new venue. The exhibition features a combination of wonderful Herend porcelains and original circus costumes, props, photographs, posters and film footage, and even unique porcelain objects from the circus world. The exhibition turns to Hungarian circus art from the direction of decorative and elegant Herendi porcelain, carefully and patiently worked out. It highlights the shared characteristics and values of porcelain and the circus world, while approaching, protecting and defending the heritage of Hungarian circus culture in the manner of a clever circus elephant. The exhibition features 40 selected Herendi porcelain masterpieces from the Herendi Porcelain Manufactory: pet and wild animal figures, clowns, a special juggler statue and a rabbit emerging from a magician’s cylinder. The animal figures are reminiscent of the menageries of yesteryear, the wild animal figures are a reminder of the species of animals that are becoming less and less visible in circuses, and the pet figures are a representation of the animals that still perform in circuses today. The figure of the bunny with the top hat inspired the depiction of circus magicians and illusionists, and the clowns inspired the depiction of Hungarian clowns. The unique porcelain juggler sculpture is easily associated with the world of Chinese acrobats. Herend’s porcelains bear a variety of shapes, painting techniques and motifs, all of which reveal a bravura human performance – similar excellence can be found in circus performances.
This exhibition presents the outstanding events, artists and performances of the history of Hungarian circus art, selected specifically for the world of porcelain, without claiming to be exhaustive. The focus is on Hungarian circus art and the activities of the Budapest Circus, which can be explored through original costumes, props, posters, artworks, photographs, documents, film footage, interactive circus education games and virtual reality rope dancing. The main themes of the exhibition are: circus history, circus building history, high wire and the “I passed” project, the Russian ride and the “Dodi ride story”, magicians and illusionists, jugglers, tightrope walkers, jump rope walkers, Chinese acrobats, clowns, benders, equestrian acrobats, free training, responsible animal husbandry, animal-assisted circus pedagogy, circus porcelain.
The exhibition was organised jointly by the National Centre for Circus Arts and the Herend Porcelain Museum. Rita Cserhalmi, Emese Joó, Tünde Kerülő, Attila Krámlik, Ágnes Szlávik, Szandra Szonday, Eszter Petró, Henrietta Pilgermayer.
The circus historical material presented at the exhibition is mainly from the collections of the Hungarian Circus Art Museum, Library and Archive, and to a lesser extent from the personal loans of Hungarian artists – thank you for your support!
The exhibition can be visited until 31.10.2024, Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00 at the Herend Museum of Porcelain Art (Herend, Kossuth Lajos utca 140.)