At least 360 artists, gallerists and curators signed the open letter in support of Alexandra Kusá, who was fired alongside the head of the National Theatre.
ADVERTISEMENTAfter thousands took to the streets of Bratislava last week to protest the sacking of the country’s National Gallery head, Alexandra Kusá, hundreds from the international arts community have signed a letter in her defence.
Slovakia’s hard-right Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová dismissed Kusá earlier this month, together with theatre head Matej Drlička, in what some in the country see as a political purge.
“This decision has undermined the independence of the cultural field in your country and damaged the trust in and reputation of Slovak culture internationally,” the letter calling for Kusá’s reinstatement reads, going on to urge Šimkovičová not to make “decisions about the guilt or innocence of cultural directors…solely on the basis of political expediency”.
“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,” the letter says in support of Kusá.
High-profile international signatories of the letter include Karola Kraus, the general director of Vienna’s mumok modern and contemporary art museum; the management board of the ICOM association of German museums; and Sebastian Cichocki, chief curator of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
After firing Kusá, Šimkovičová said she was responsible for “several managerial failures” as well as being the daughter of architect Martin Kusý, who led the reconstruction of the gallery.
Kusá responded by saying the allegations were “vague and mostly fabricated,” pointing out that her relation to Kusý was known before her appointment in 2010.
Kusá and her peers’ position has been in the balance since Prime Minister Robert Fico appointed Šimkovičová as culture minister last October, with Fico’s left-wing nationalist Smer party relying on allies, including the ultranationalist Slovak National Party (SNS), to prop up the coalition government.