Bikur Cholim 2.0, 2024

A renewed version of the “Alms Collection Book of the Bikur Cholim Society of Pápa” (2014) interactive installation, allowing visitors to browse a virtual 200‑year‑old book and invoke names displayed on a curved LED surface.

The project is a renewed version of our 2014 interactive installation created for the Museum of Ethnography. The original work presented the Alms Collection Book of the Bikur Cholim Society of Pápa, displayed beneath a transparent multitouch screen. Visitors could view the physical book while browsing its digital, augmented counterpart layered on top.

The historical book once belonged to a Jewish community circle in Pápa, Hungary, and contained promissory notes listing donations offered by members. These notes served a practical religious purpose: charity was given on the Sabbath, when the handling of money was forbidden, so written promissory slips replaced physical exchange.

The new version reimagines this experience. Visitors browse the virtual book on a touch surface, while names recorded in the historical volume rise into view on a curved LED display positioned behind the original book. Through this extended visual layer, the installation highlights both the individuals and the communal structure represented in the archival material.

The current version is part of the permanent exhibition at the Museum of Ethnography.

The original 2014 project’s documentation is available here

credits

Concept & Design: Gáspár Hajdu
Creative Development: Flóra Petrók, Sámuel Setényi
UI & Visual Design: Eszter Kiskovács
Audio: Ba:lint
Texts: Tímea Bata, Zsuzsa Szarvas
Translation: Viktória Bányai, Szonja Ráhel Komoróczy
Exploration and Comparison of Sources from Pápa: Tímea Bata, András Gyekiczki, Réka Jakab
Restoration of the Book: László Nemes Takách
Expert Restorer: Pál Koncz

Original installation created at MOME TechLab and displayed at the "Picking up the Pieces – Fragments of Rural Hungarian Jewish Culture" exhibition (2014–2016).