The Slovak National Gallery building. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)
In December, three foreign cultural institution wrote to acting director of the Slovak National Gallery, Jaroslav Niňaj. In their letters, they express "great concern" about the recurring changes in the SNG management as well as the mass departure of experts, talk of the "alarming situation" the gallery has apparently found itself in, not to mention the "lack of stability and expertise in the top management", reported Sme daily earlier this week.
The institution also warned that they may cancel cooperation on a planned exhibition, or ultimately withdraw exhibits from an on-going exhibition, as the current situation poses a potential risk to loaned items the protection of which the institutions themselves are responsible for.
This Thursday, that has come to pass, the daily now reports.
Items that have not been on display before
One of the original letters was written by Marius Winzeler, deputy director of the Dresden State Art Collections. The institution loaned several items for the ongoing "Fruits of Discord: Portraying the Ottoman Presence" exhibition.
The exhibition was also attended by Wolfgang Zimmermann, director of the State Archives of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It was right then when SNG employees turned their back on Niňaj as a sign of disapproval. Niňaj has been the third acting director in six months.
"I am not convinced that the gallery will continue to have the competent staff to ensure professional care for our loans," Zimmermann wrote after seeing the "uncertainty and anxiety" of the employees.
His institutions loaned, among other things, a collection of hand-drawn maps that had never been on display elsewhere before.
Another institution in question is the Museum of Mining and Gothic Art Leogang in Austria. In the December letter, its director Andreas Herzog asked whether the upcoming "Red Gold. Miracle from Špania Dolina" exhibition would actually take place since a contract for loaning objects had yet to be concluded, even though the objects in question were to be moved to Bratislava in less than a month.
As of Thursday, it is certain that the exhibition slated to start in early March will not take place. Both the Leogang museum and the Dresden State Art Collections announced that they are withdrawing from cooperation. SNG would have received rare silver and copper bowls, 70 goldsmith's items from medieval mining towns, Gothic panel paintings, maps and prints on the theme of mining, among other things.
"Unfortunately, the international standards of the joint exhibition are no longer guaranteed," Andreas Herzog and Marius Winzeler wrote in a letter to the SNG management, adding that their questions remained unanswered and even basic administrative procedures had not been completed to their satisfaction.
The Fruits of Discord exhibition is also at risk.
Nothing like this has ever happened
"As far as I know, nothing like this has ever happened in SNG since the end of socialism," says Alexandra Kusá, former director of the gallery in response to the cancellation of international cooperation.
"It may seem like a moral gesture, but in reality it is actually a cultural demarche. Bouncing back from such a loss of trust will take years, because of course all the A-list museums and galleries will learn of it, and the Slovak National Gallery will have to laboriously restore its reputation," says Kusá, who was dismissed from her position by Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová in the summer.
"I have been at the gallery for 25 years and I don't remember anything like this and I don't even know about anything similar happening," long-time curator Dušan Buran, who worked on the March exhibition with the Austrians and Germans.
No previous experience
According to the daily, the December letters came after 177 out of 270 threatened the filing of resignations in late November. In addition, five more directors of SNG departments also said they would leave, a fact reflected by the letters from foreign institutions.
Niňaj also has neither previous experience with visual arts, nor with being the head of a cultural institution.
In light of all this, the foreign institutions are demanding answers in order to know how SNG intends to guarantee the protection and safe handling of loaned items, including their relocation, installation and protection. SNG was supposed to reply by early January; a reply was sent to the Leogang museum, and SNG will hold talks with the representatives of the Dresden State Art Collections.
