Ludwig Museum — Attraction in Budapest

I was really looking forward to visiting the Ludwig museum, but it was a very disappointing experience. I love modern art museums and have been to many over the years, but this one is probably the most disappointing of them. On the outside the museum looks amazing- it's modern, vast, spacious, and I expected to spend 1-2 hours inside. They had 2 exhibitions on. We booked tickets for one of them. It was 6000 huf for 2 people, or 15€. Felt pricey compared to other myseums in the city. The actual exhibition was just one floor, and everything was basically 4 rooms in total. One of the rooms was supposed to have an interactive display, which I was excited to see, but it had a sign that it was temporarily out of order. It took us 15 minutes to see the whole exhibition. On the same floor there was a book shop / souvenirs, which had a sign that the person was on a lunch break and it was closed. The 3rd floor was empty. It feels really frustrating as it was such a waste of time and money to come all the way. Disappointing exhibition, empty building, overpriced tickets. To travel in the 40 C heat to this part of the city, just to visit the museum, out of pure passion for modern art, and to receive this felt like...

A rarely meaningful institutional voice on the otherwise very much party-politics-aligned cultural landscape of Budapest and Hungary overall whose curations and exhibitions date to highlight issues seemingly in line with the decolonial, “anti-capitalist” and re-imaginative realities of the wider discourses of some art today. The artworks and artists on show can be oftentimes surprising to see within the wider contemporary reality of this doomfully retrograde nation which does make me question the actual purpose and genuine intentions of this shiny institution and i am only hopeful it is not the lack of my cynicism that lets me believe in its purpose especially for and towards local realignments instead of hypocritical foreign-oriented signaling. I might perhaps be too biased in my feelings by having an experience with the likewise ‘westwardly’ oriented signaling of Garage in Moscow. Regardless i stay still more truly confident in the workings of Trafo so check it’s programming out for a less ambivalent experience. And as for the institution or rather a direct message to them: please get rid of this old guard guiding and policing your gates and spaces — they feel and are experienced as the...

Wonderful and really intelligently curated contemporary art, marred by INCREDIBLY sullen, surly and rude staff, especially the guy behind the ticket desk.

He practically rolled his eyes when we made a perfectly sensible enquiry. And then spoke in a very fast, largely unintelligible gabble, laced with sarcasm.

The man at the till in the shop didn’t glance up from his phone as we entered (we were the only customers in there). We left without him seeming to notice our presence at all.

The dignified, elderly gent on the door of the Time Machine exhibition actually said thank you as we handed over our tickets, and then nearly forgot himself - the hint of a smile began to glimmer in his eyes. Then, in the nick of time, he clearly remembered his anti-customer training and a cold stare took over.

Anyway, there was some truly special art, especially conceptual stuff. So it...