Madam Minister,
We write you this public letter as professionals working in museums, arts organisations and universities, as well as supporters of Slovak art and culture. We urge you to reconsider your decision to dismiss the Director General (DG) of the Slovak National Gallery (SNG), Alexandra Kusa, following the dismissal of the Director of the Slovak National Theatre, Matej Drlička. This decision has undermined the independence of the cultural field in your country and damaged the trust in and reputation of Slovak culture internationally.
As the main reason for the dismissal of the Director General of the SNG, you cite your impression of a conflict of interest between the DG and the contractor. It is not for us to judge such a connection. But we would ask that you allow the case to proceed according to the legal frameworks of European democracies and their independent judiciaries and auditors. The rule of law applies to state cultural institutions and decisions about the guilt or innocence of cultural directors should not be made solely on the basis of political expediency. Your statement says that “the department is preparing to file a motion for reconsideration” but we understand that the review has not been initiated. Your action undermines a fair trial and violates the principle of innocence until proven guilty that is the basis of our European legal framework.
We write this letter also in full awareness and appreciation of the dedicated and highly successful directorship of DG Alexandra Kusá. Her period in charge has focused entirely on enhancing the SNG to the benefit of visitors to the museum and to the Slovak and international art field more generally. Since 2010, she has opened the largest Slovak art museum to the public with free admission, modernised visitor services including a renovation of the building, opened a new museum shop and provided digital access to the collections. The SNG has become an important reference point within Europe in terms of collection display and temporary exhibitions. She has motivated the expert team under her leadership and together they have successfully nurtured Slovak art and artists, presenting them in international institutions and important narratives of contemporary international art. Under her directorship, Slovak artists have had solo exhibitions at Tate Modern London (M. Bartuszová) and Mumok Vienna (J. Koller) and have been included in many international collections and exhibitions.
Your decision threatens these crucial developments for art and culture in Slovakia. It also makes us very concerned about the future. We ask you to assure us publicly that we will continue to be able, as European cultural institutions, to trust collaboration with Slovak institutions in the years ahead. We ask you to respect the cultural diversity of the audience for art and the freedom of museums, theatres and cultural institutions to program independently. We ask you to reject the direct political control of cultural institutions and defend the right of art and artists to freedom of expression.
We are encouraged to read in your press release that you hope that the SNG “will become a recognized and respected cultural organization at home and around the world.” Under the directorship of Alexandra Kusa, the SNG has long been on exactly this path.Thus we ask you to take steps to ensure that the SNG can continue to do so, starting with a clear statement that, should Alexandra Kusá be found not guilty of a conflict of interest, you will immediately reinstate her as Director General.
Yours sincerely,
Dr.Hildegung Amanshauser, Art Historian, Salzburg
Edit Andras, Art historian, senior research fellow, Hungarian Research
Network, Institute of Art History, Budapest
Ingo Arend, Critic, Berlin
Inke Arns, Director HMKW Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund
Mirela Baciak, Director Salzburger Kunstverein and AAC, Austrian
Association of Curators
Zdenka Badovinac, Curator and Writer, former Director Moderna Galerija
Ljubljana
Pierre Bal-Blanc, Essayist and Independent Curator, Paris / Athens
Zbyněk Baladrán, Artist and Curator at Display, Prague
Anna Bartuszová, Veronika Bartuszová, Soňa Bartuszová, Sofia
Blahová, The Estate of Maria Bartuszová / The Archive of Maria
Bartuszová, Košice
Eric Baudelaire, Artist, Paris
María Berríos, Director of Curatorial Programmes and Research,
MACBA, Barcelona
Claire Bishop, Presidential Professor, PhD Program in Art History,
CUNY Graduate Center, New York
Board of ICOM Germany
Board of Secession, Vienna – Ramesch Daha, Barbara Kapusta,
Anna Witt, Sophie Thun, Nick Oberthaler, Wilfried Kühn, Michael
Part, Jun Yang, Ricarda Denzer, Axel Stockburger, Philipp
Fleischmann, Lisl Ponger, Ulrike Müller
Manuel Borja-Villel, Curator, Art Historian, former Director of the Museo
Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid/Barcelona
Candice Breitz, Artist, Berlin
Pavel Büchler, Emeritus Professor, Manchester Metropolitan University
Adam Budak, Director Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover
Dominik Busch, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
Filip Cenek, Dean of Faculty of Fine Arts of Brno University of
Technology
David Čeněk, Dean, Film and TV School, Academy of Performing Arts in
Prague
Vasyl Cherepanyn, Visual Culture Research Center/Kyiv Biennale,
Kyiv/Berlin
Hans D. Christ, Direktor, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
Sebastian Cichocki, Chief Curator, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw
Dr. Hyun Joo Chung, Independent Curator and Research Professor in
Philosophy, Chonnam National University, Gwangju
David Crowley, Art historian, Head of School of Visual Culture, National
College of Art and Design, Dublin
Pauline Curnier Jardin, Artist, Marseille
Josef Dabernig, Artist, Vienna
Anna Daučíková, Artist, Prague
Ekaterina Degot, Director and Chief Curator, steirischer herbst, Graz
Christina Della Giustina, Artist, HKU University of the Arts, Utrecht
Janneke de Vries, Director, Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst,
Bremen
Dr.Claudia Emmert, Director, Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen
Charles Esche, Director Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Simonetta Ferfoglia, Artist, Curator, Trieste
Andreas Fogarasi, artist, Vienna
Rike Frank, Artistic Co-Director European Kunsthalle, Berlin
Jörn Frenzel, Professor for Service Design, Estonian Academy of Arts
Gabriela Garlatyová, Art historian, Curator of the Archive of Maria
Bartuszová
Jana Geržová, Critic, Art historian, Chief editor Profil of Contemporary
Visual Art, Bratislava
Inka Gressel, Co-Director ifa-Galerie, Berlin
Marlene Haring, Artist, London
Vít Havránek, Vice Rector for International Relations at AVU
Swetlana Heger, Artist and Head of the Department of Fine Arts, Zurich
University of the Arts
Yolande Zola Zoli van der Heide, Senior Curator, Van Abbemuseum,
Eindhoven
Maria Hlavajova, Artistic Director, BAK Utrecht
Andreja Hribernik, Director, Kunsthaus Graz
Susanne Hviid, Managing Director, Art Hub, Copenhagen
Çağla İlk, Director of Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
Sanja Iveković, Artist, Zagreb
Luis Jacob, Artist and Professor, University of Toronto
Edith Jeřábková, Curator, PLATO, Ostrava
Magdalena Juříková, Director, City Gallery, Prague
Michaela Kalinová, Art historian
Mart Kalm, Rector, Estonian Academy of Arts
Michal Kalhous, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Music, Ostrava
Verena Kaspar-Eisert, Chief Curator, MuseumsQuartier E+B GesmbH,
Vienna
Bohunka Koklesová, Art historian, Rector of the Academy of Art and
Design, Bratislava
Vasif Kortun, Curator and Researcher, Istanbul
Eva Koťátková, Artist and Educator, Prague
Karola Kraus, General Director, mumok – Museum moderner Kunst
Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna
Paul Kuimet, Associate Professor, Estonian Academy of Arts
Yunjoo Kwak, Lecturer, Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam
Dominik Lang, artist and Head of Studio, Academy of Applied Arts in
Prague
Lars Bang Larsen, Curator and Writer, Copenhagen
Zsuzsa László, Researcher, Curator, Museum of Fine Arts – Central
European Research Institute for Art History, Budapest
Camille Laurelli, Artist, New Media Professor, Head of Estonian
Videogame Museum
Denisa Lehocká, Artist, Bratislava
Dr.Dieter Lesage, Professor of Political Theory and Artistic research,
Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema and Sound, Brussels
Fiona Mauritia Liewehr, Artistic director, fjk3-Contemporary Art Space,
Vienna
Thomas Locher, Artist, Berlin
Renate Lorenz, Artist and Professor for Art and Research, Academy of
Fine Arts, Vienna
Vesna Mestric, Director of Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
Omar Mirza, Curator and Critic, City Curator of Trenčín, Slovakia
Monika Mitášova, Curator, Theoretician of Architecture
Vanessa Joan Müller, Artistic Co-Director, European Kunsthalle
Daniel Muzyczuk, Interim Director, Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź
Joanna Mytkowska, Director of Museum of Modern Arts, Warsaw
Prof. Olaf Nicolai, Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich
Ruth Noack, Curator, Author, Teacher, Berlin
Michal Novotný, Director, Collection of Art after 1945, National Gallery
Prague
Boris Ondreička, Curator and Artist, Bratislava
Elvira Dyangani Ose, Director, MACBA, Barcelona
Jeanette Pacher, Curator, Secession Vienna
Nikos Papastergiadis, Professor of Media and Communication,
University of Melbourne
Lia & Dan Perjovschi, Artists, Bucharest/Sibiu
Blaž Peršin, Director of Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Nataša Petrešin Bachelez /Simona Dvorák, Initiative for Practices and
Visions of Radical Care, Paris
Pina Piccolo, Writer, Editor of The Dreaming Machine, Italy / USA
Heinrich Pichler, Artist @ Gangart, Vienna
François Piron, Art Critic, Curator at Palais de Tokyo, Publisher and
Professor, Paris
Marek Pokorný, Director PLATO Ostrava
Jan Press, Director of Moravian Gallery, Brno
Laura Raicovich, Writer and Curator, Former Director Queens Museum,
NYC
Marie Rakušanová, Professor of Art History at Charles University
Kolja Reichert, President of the German Section of the International Art
Critics Association AICA, Berlin
David Riff, Senior Curator, steirischer herbst festival, Graz
Sophie Rocca, Business Director, Wiels, Brussels
Lucie Rosenfeldova, Artist and Teacher, UMPRUM, Prague
Anda Rottenberg, Curator and Art Historian, Warsaw
Augustin Perez Rubio, Independent Curator, Madrid
Katarína Rusnáková, Art historian, Žilina
Sabel Gavaldon, Head of Public Programmes at MACBA, Barcelona
Alenka Gregorič, artistic director, MGML and Cukrarna, Ljubljana
Grace Samboh, Researcher and Curator, Hyphen, Jogjakarta
Hedwig Saxenhuber, Editor of Springerin magazine and Curator, Vienna
Georg Schoellhammer, Head of tranzit.at, Curator, Author, Founder of
the Julius Koller Society, Vienna
Manuel Segade, Director, Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid
Ene-Liis Semper, Author, Theatre Director, Professor in Estonian
Academy of Arts
Kateřina Šedá, Artist, Brno
Vassiliki Sifostratoudaki, Director Yellow Brick, Athens
Dirk Snauwaert, General and Artistic Director, Wiels, Brussels
Joanna Sokołowska, Curator, Art historian, Academic teacher, Łódź
Raimar Stange, Curator and Art Critic, Berlin
Angelika Stepken, Curator and Author, Pescia/Berlin
Apolonija Šušteršič, Independent Artist and Researcher, Oslo
Katerina Szymanski, Artist, Performer, Financial manager, Studio ALTA,
Prague
Adam Szymczyk, Curator at Büro für geistige Mitarbeit, Kunsthaus
Zürich
Koen Theys, Artist, Brussels
Maria Topolčanská, Architect and Rector, AVU Prague
Otto Urban, Chief Curator, Center for Contemporary Art DOX, Prag
Mara Traumane, Art historian, Researcher; Institute of Contemporary
Art, Design and Architecture of the Art Academy of Latvia
Valentine Umansky, Curator, International Art, Tate Modern
Renger van den Heuvel, Director, STAGE, Bregenz
Lidwien van de Ven, Artist, Amsterdam
Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Artist, Berlin
Anton Vidokle, Artist and Founder of e-flux
Raluca Voinea, Curator, Co-director of tranzit.ro Association
Miroslav Vorlíček, Curator and Registrar, Lidice Art Collection, Lidice
Memorial
Jindřich Vybíral, Rector, Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in
Prague
Adnan Yıldız, International Curator for the 20th Biennial of Young Artists
from Europe and the Mediterranean, Mediterranea
What, how and for whom / WHW, Zagreb
Tomáš Winter, Director, Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of
Science
Rein Wolfs, Director, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdamein Wolfs, Director Stedelijk
Museum Amsterdam
František Zachoval, Director, Gallery of Modern Art in Hradec Králové
Jiří Žák, Artist, Artyčok TV, Prague
Vera Zalutskaya, Curator and Co-Editor-in-Chief Most Magazine,
Warsaw
Barnabás Zemlényi-Kovács, Curator, Critic, Artmagazine journal
Zsuzsanna Zsuró, Researcher and Curator, Eötvös Loránd University,
Budapest
