the OddTones Band

The OddTones Exhibition

Preparation:
Idea/Concept – Main idea is to organize an exhibition for ODD musical instruments (those are, for example, the trump, the didjeridu, the djembe, the clackamore, etc.). These instruments are not that well-known, and my idea is to bring these instruments to one place in Hungary, to the Godor club in Budapest. Besides that the OddTones band would support us, and perform at the exhibition opening, closure and supervise the audience during the workshops at the Godor.
Budget ~ 1 000 000 Huf.
Timing – 4 days long event
Location – Budapest, Godor club
Date – 20 – 23 May, 2010 (Thursday – Sunday)
Title of the exhibition – the OddTones
Research – we are set with the performing band, the OddTones. However, we would need to find partners who would be responsible for finding same musical instruments for our sale. Plus we are planning to get the objects for our exhibition from local collectors of these musical instruments.
Search/invite fund raisings – main funders are the ministry of culture, t-mobile, erste bank,
Selection – no selection needed
Additional equipments – musical instruments for sale
Contracts – contract with our visiting band, plus all the sponsors
Lists – we would need both the price list and list of works (objects – instruments)
Labels – simple labels, readable, understandable, in two languages (English, Hungarian), include some history of the instrument.
Descriptions – some words about the band OddTones, and the main focus on these odd musical instruments.
Insurance – for the artists, for the musical instruments being exhibited, as well as for those which artists use at the performances (their own ones), could be also made for the whole event (to prevent failure)
Transportation – main problem will occur when we will try to transport our musical instruments, both local Hungarian from collectors, and the musicians’. We will use a safe truck for local ones, and an airplane for the musicians’ as they are coming from America.
Security – is necessary mainly for the collectors’ musical instruments, we will try to arrange this with the managers of the Godor club. Plus would be useful to use some kind of security for our coming band.
Restoration – might be needed for the old instruments taken from collectors.
Layout, mock-up – in short it will look more like the installations at the museums, like small boxes with a glass on the top.
Interactive panels – at the exhibition there will be an area where people could sit down on a sofa and listen to some music (being played on these instruments, of course)
Audio guide – no need
Website - www.godorklub.hu/
Invitations – to our partners and sponsors, plus collectors and the band’s friends
Catalogue – no need

Preview
Opening
- Sb. who opens the exhibition – could be a representative of our organizing group, or rather one of the collectors who donated his instruments, who would speak about his close relationship with his instruments, about their history, something more personal.
- Events/ performances/ concerts – our performing band
- Food and drink, catering – provided by the Godor club (the bar)
- Photo, video, technical stuff – only one tv in the exhibition room with a sofa
Events
- Other events in other galleries/museums – no other venues
- Workshop – our band will be supervising those people who bought a musical instrument in our musical shop at Godor, lasts for 3 days.
- Symposium – no symposium
- Guided tours - no need
- Museum education - none
- Talks & discussions – visitors are free to have a conversation with musicians as well as collectors.
- Finissage – a small performance again from the band, plus some people from the audience can participate in this event standing on the stage.

PR
Sponsors – ministry of culture, t-mobile, erste bank
Press release – nothing much
Conference – no need, but if the artists wish that, we can arrange that. Could take place right at the Godor club, before or after the opening.
Advertisement, publicity (radio, tv, internet) - exit, funzine, duna tv, jazzy radio, www.godorklub.hu
Poster, banner, flyers – no need for spending much money on this, as many people visit the Godor club quite often, especially our target group (16 – 26 years old, both ganders)
Gifts in the Museum shop – no free gifts, but a merchandizing, selling shops at another big room at Godor.

Installation
Preparation of the exhibition hall (cleaning, repainting, display panel, interior designers) – no need for repainting the walls, we don’t need any fences or walls as it’s not about paintings, but musical instruments, so we will need quite a big space, the furthest room will be enough for us. We will build big platforms by the walls, and display huge instruments. For smaller ones we will put some black boxes with glasses on the top.
Arrange the artworks, set up the exhibition – the huge platform will be most probably in the very centre of the room, all the other small boxes will be situated around, by the walls.
Lighting – there is a good lighting in the club, but if necessary we will put some more
Technical equipments – tv, microphones, headphones, speakers
Stickers, labels, descriptions, prices – no huge text on the walls, but short interesting notices. No information about prices, they will be available at the shop.
Guest book – at the entrance, we could ask for the Godor club’s guest book

After the exhibition
Documentation – photos, video, sound recordings
Take down the exhibition – sell the platform to the Godor, and small boxes to someone else (museums, galleries)
Wrapping – packaging the musical instruments (all of them) - cases
Transportation – same way (airplane, truck, minivan)
Archiving – we’ll save it on our hard-drive, bought specially for our archiving events we organized
Attendance – we would be asking people at the entrance to say their name if they were invited, and ask which company they represent, then we’ll see who came, who didn’t. Counting visitors every day.
Draw conclusion – main aim is to collect as many people as possible, and sell more of the musical instruments. We will have a contract with the Godor club, which will carry a certain minimum number of people visiting our event, and with the distributors of the musical instruments we will have another contract, which will talk about some percentage we get from the sales. This is not a free-entrance event, so we will get money from the ticket sales as well. So aim is to raise money, sell instruments, promote our artists, and promote these odd instruments.

GÖDÖR KLUB
Cím: 1051 Budapest V., Erzsébet Tér
Nyitvatartás: Vas-Csüt: 10-02 | Pé-Szo: 10-04
Központi info: +36 (20) 201 3868 | info@godorklub.hu

Flat Galleries

Molnár Ani, Godot, Inda, Knoll - all these galleries are located in the center of Budapest, on Pest side, and common thing between them is they are all flat galleries.
There are both advantages and disadvantages of having a flat gallery, instead of a usual gallery on Falk Niksa utca, for example.

Advantages:
- no renting payments
- they can have an attractive yard
- it's more comfortable inside
- they can have good storage rooms
- and they usually have staff's own room, where they have a kitchen, table and chairs. They can easily have a rest there.

Disadvantages:
- not many people know about these places, only those who are really interested in this field
- they spend a lot on PR
- most of them are new, will take quite a long to attract customers
- usually no good security, they rely on neighbourhood mainly

A very new and quite shocking information for me today was that from a sell of a painting a gallery gets 50% of the profit, and 50% the artist. I thought galleries get much less, like around 20%.

Fine Arts Museum

Two absolutely different exhibitions:
"In praise of women" of Alphonse Mucha and "The land of Myths" of Gustave Moreau.

Main differences were the following:
- No good security in the first exhibition (Mucha's), only old women.
- However the first one was much better in a sense of design, the walls were dark, and the whole emfasis was on paintings and graphics, unlike the bright blue and pinkish walls of the second exhibition.
- But bad side of the first rooms is that they were too dark, it made people feel sleepy
- Moreau's rooms were not attractive, first, then you feel strange smell, and it's much colder than in Mucha's.
- First: thematically good structured,
- Second: didn't really recognize that

Museum of Applied Arts

I liked the architecture of the building itself first of all.
I didn't know that was of an Avant garde period.

The exhibition itself was quite boring, but the structure was ok.
The floor was separated into two, and u have to make a circle to see the whole exhibition.
I think that's a good solution considering the fact that they didn't have much of space.
there was no special lighting and no security alarms and cameras, just old women watching after visitors
couldn't find any mistaken writing , though some of us noticed some
i liked the computer corner, it was quite interactive, and interesting.
everyone wanted to try each of the games.
and what i liked in this exhibition is that they look after the objects,
unlike the Ethnographic Museum with those dirty clothes.

so, overall, not a bad exhibition: accurate structure, visitors know which way to go clearly;
clean objects, clothes and tables; great architecture and design;
some interactive staff relevant to the subject of the exhibition.

as a result, i can say not bad at all.

Change

After last week's class I had to change my theme, because of some problems that occurred during the discussion of my project, like , for example, we thought that the Fine Arts Museum will not give us their paintings to display them in the Godor club. I think we won't be able to protect them that much and also it would cost a lot for renting them. So, they will not give it to us for sure. (maybe only for displaying them in another highly appreciated and secure museum with a great reputation, but we cannot offer that.) So, i just decided to change the subject.

Though i did change my concept I still feel attached to the Godor club (the venue of the event). And i thought why not create something that is deeply connected to music, as the club works as a night club and as a concert venue from time to time. Music is traditionally inseparable from the musical instruments... There are many great young talents who want to play music and enjoy the company, as well as there are many wishers of knowing more and more of the musical instruments, their history, etc.

Now I'm thinking of creating a show week of The ODDTONES, which employ a variety of unusual instruments with which many folks are not familiar with. Here are some examples fo them:
- trump
- didjeridu
- Djembe
- MouthBows
- Clackamore
- Nose Flute
- Waterphone...

The idea is getting these instruments from all parts of the world (or from Hungary, if there are such) and not just display them as at Museums, but rather let people try to play these instruments. Also would be great to offer visitors specialists who know these instruments professionally, and who could help others. That would also help us, as people will not damage the instruments that much, as they all will be instructed.

Opening at the Warfag Gallery

The opening was on 17th of March at the Warfag Gallery. Was very crowded.
What i liked in this event is that they were displaying a French artist, who painted mainly bodies, muscles, and faces. I liked one painting the most (and interestingly i noticed that it was in a centre of the exhibition), i went to the artist and asked her about the price she wants for this particular piece. She said she didn't know, and introduced me to her agent. That was quite unusual for me.
And agent didn't know the price either, so he invited another girl with the price list, and said it costed 2 000 000 Huf.
Hehe, i thanked them wholeheartedly, and went home.

But the layout of the exhibition was good, though i didn't quite understand the connection between the title "love in Budapest" and the male bodies (though yes, green paintings are about love). Lighting was good, labels were okey, they had enough space for people, a comfortable sofa, and they had many important persons invited. The catering was, as usual, about wine and pogacsas. Was good though.

Opening of Oksana's exhibition

First, I'd like to what i was in the exhibition:
- I was an artist (still a beginner), we played 9 songs, instead of 6, as we were thinking about. I was playing the guitar, the flute, and helped as a back-vocal
- Also i was an installation man. On Wednesday after the classes, we went to the venue with the curators, Elinor and Evi; Oksana herself, Delia and some other group mates.

The whole process of organizing the exhibition was not that difficult for us, as we are very organized. We separated the work among us, made an exact schedule (who is doing what and when). Most of the group was involved in this process. Marcell and Ralph designed posters and invitation cards, using photos made by Evi. Transportation was on Maya. Framing was Oksana's duty, and making labels and possible price list as well. Elinor and Evi, as i already mentioned, were the curators, telling where to put which painting; but Delia was helping as well, consulting them. Adel, Kata and others were in a publicity field, informing the directors of IBS about the event, sending letters to everyone, etc.
Fathir was the cameraman, Damla was a photographer in the event itself. Natela, me & our friend, Pasha were musicians for that evening. Maya and Anna were openers.

So, we had a great crew. We helped each other when one needed help. And it worked out well, though none of the works are sold yet. We made it all just on time. And we had almost no problems (maybe only during the installation, as we had some arguments about how to layout the paintings, in which order and how).

The Museum of Ethnography review (permanent exhibition)

(The Museum of Ethnography's permanent exhibition offers visitors a glimpse of the material culture of the Hungarian peasantry as it was from the end of the 18th century until the First World War. Through 13 rooms of material, the exhibition illustrates the ethnic and religious diversity of the peoples of the Carpathian Basin, the forms of community typical of the region, the variety of tools involved in a wide range of peasant labours, and the everyday and festival wear of the Carpathian peoples of the period.

Visitors are also familiarised with the traditions surrounding food and nutrition as held by various social groups. Of the various handicrafts pursued by village artisans, the exhibition deals in some depth with those of the furniture-maker, blacksmith, potter, felt-maker, szor tailor, bookmaker, hat maker, and furrier.)

The most important thing in every exhibition is to communicate a certain message to the audience in a right way, so they know exactly what this all is about.
From this point, i can surely say that the curator did a great job, as the exhibition is very well structured, has a clear concept, and very good set. But first thing we notice when we enter the hall is the dirt, all the white clothings are greyish, and you can guess that no one has touched any of those installations from the moment they were installed.

Another bad thing i noticed were labels on the walls, some of the words lost some of their letters (e.g. Calend_r customs, old ge..), and labels under pictures were about to tear off.

Besides that they had one TV turned off, computer with some information, but only in Hungarian, plus they offered an old video tape, with no subtitles and very quiet, so even Hungarians couldn't quite understand what they are talking about. Though the programm itself was quite interesting, at least for me.

Positive things about the exhibition are:
- good structure,
- relevant info (on the walls) - both in Hungarian and English
- Sitting places
- Good security: cameras in each room, alarms, fire extinguishers
- Thematically organised
- Clear signs of the exit
- Good titles (short and clear) and labels
- relevant light
- good installations themselves
- Relevant pictures as a background
- Useful map at the entrance

And that's probably it. Overall i would like this exhibition very much, if it was a little bit more interactive in a way, and much cleaner.

Da Vinci - The Genius Exhibition review

One of the first things you think about when creating an exhibition is, of course, location. From this point this gallery is a great choice, as it is located in downtown, surrounded by many other different galleries and shops, in an area with a good transportation: metro’s, trams, buses and cars all around.
Right after entering the house through the main doors I caught myself admiring the place and the paintings of different artists, which were located just on the walls in the yard. This was the first time I ever been in this gallery-house, and must say it excited with its huge exhibition areas and lightness. 2000 m2 of an underground space and capability of inviting over 700 people into only that area are worth taking advantage of. I think that’s a great location for an event like this, as they had enough space for exhibiting all the works of the genius, and at the same time it wasn’t that huge and long; a visitor can go through all the works within two hours, that’s quite enough. Of course there are people wishing to watch all the videos and read each note, then it will take much more; in this case I must say there was a disadvantage, as they didn’t have seats for people wishing to rest a little bit before going further.

Besides that I’ve noticed that the owner is also aware of the new technology, like for example their security system, a software which keeps track of people entering the gallery, visitors downstairs; this let’s security guards be aware of what is going on, know exactly how many of their crew must be where. As we were informed, there are also trainees especially for the crew, like what to do in case of fire, emergencies, accidents etc. That is very important. And that actually can work as a promotion as well, employers inform their friends about these trainees, and then friends feel protected while visiting the gallery, this can bring more people to the exhibition.

Talking about the exhibition lay-out and media, I can say it was well-done. While entering the exhibition you find yourself in a room with walls covered with paintings and historical notes – quite useful, works well as an introduction. Then the curators probably wanted to get people’s attention by showing them huge and impressive installations built from Da Vinci’s engineering drawings. That makes people think of Leonardo Da Vinci as a genius whose inventions helped the progress and influenced many other inventions and discoveries. Wooden tools coming next were seen as something new for me, as I could touch and try how things work by me myself. That was interactive and interesting for me. Besides installations, wooden tools and pictures there were video tapes, which were made in two languages (English, Hungarian). And of course, all the descriptions and different extra notes were in two languages; that helped to have foreign people attracted as well as local. Notes were easy to read and understand. Though I didn’t really like all the 25 points of Mona Lisa’s secrets, for me they didn’t seem that exciting after reading.

What I’ve noticed, and I’m sure, not only me, it was quite cold downstairs. Air conditioning worked too well, people were freezing and had to go through objects quicker, so they could leave the exhibition sooner. I don’t think that was intended by the organizers.

Touching a little bit of marketing, this exhibition was not that vivid as “The Bodies”, for example. Advertisings are everywhere: in subways, on billboards, in magazines and internet; but for people it just doesn’t seem that expressive and a must-to-go, as bodies. Bodies were shocking and something new. But still, I think, they get good quantity of visitors every day thanks to their advertisings and also good promotion made by clients themselves, as they share their opinions on the exhibition with their friends, relatives and colleagues.

Concerning HR must say they work well. For example, I’ve seen a girl working for the exhibition helping other people to understand an object, in this case that was a mirror box where you could enter and watch your own reflections in different mirrors, but you couldn’t really close the door yourself, so she was helping people to get in. Or another case in the cloak-room, when a worker didn’t know there were two separate coat racks for our group he asked about that his colleague, who proved that; and a man did apologize for his ignorance. But that was ok, as he was operative and polite.

Overall my impression was quite good, as I felt the effort the organizers put into this exhibition: managers, curators, technicians and crew. It was well-done, though there were some mistakes, as I think, like lack of seats, inappropriate air conditioning, and even wrong use of light. Sometimes lighting was not good enough, I was losing some details of the pictures because of lights in a picture, the organizers didn’t use special light for this exhibition, and they just used a usual one taken from the gallery. But in my opinion, that was a mistake.

Concept

The idea came to me when i was thinking about the Feminism movement in general, and i thought why not create an exhibition just about women; that could be interesting and would work as a promotion of the Fine Arts Museum, as i'm gonna take pictures from them. As the museum has a huge interest in this project they will become our main sponsor. The profit will come from the ticket sales mainly.

How i came to the idea of combining an art exhibition with a fashion show? I have a friend who is very passionate about fashion, she creates exclusive clothes by herself, and wears them, but she's never really had a chance to have her own fashion show, so i thought why not give her that chance. :)

I've already decided upon the venue, which is going to be the Godor club, Budapest. And the best time for opening the exhibition is April or May, when it's not that hot yet, as the Godor club cannot provide us with a good air conditioning, and it would cause some problems.
the fashion show will last only for 2 days from the opening, and 2 days before the closure date. And the whole exhibition will not last longer than 2 weeks, during which I'm planning to organize also a workshop, where all the wishers could meet the fashion designer we are working with, and also we welcome volunteers to teach people how to sew, embroider and knit even. That would be very interactive, and would be used as a great marketing tool as well.