CULTURE Minister Daniel Krajcer and representatives of the art community have now agreed that the Danubiana private art gallery will be transformed into a national museum of modern arts and not a Kunsthalle – or space for mounting temporary exhibitions – as the ministry had originally announced, the SITA newswire reported.
The Ministry of Culture will now assume responsibility for the transformed Danubiana and will establish a separate Kunsthalle institution, rather than combining the two concepts. The ministry said in December that it would provide a €7-million subsidy for reconstruction of Danubiana.
Representatives of the art community criticised the proposed state subsidy and the concept of transforming the Danubiana into a Kunsthalle, saying that a true Kunsthalle operates under different principles to those set out by the ministry.
After a meeting on January 16 at the Culture Ministry, the critical members of the art community said that they were now satisfied. They praised the fact that the ministry had agreed to establish a Kunsthalle at a location separate from Danubiana itself. A petition criticising the state subsidy for Danubiana has now been withdrawn, SITA wrote.
