Thousands of demonstrators have attended rallies in Slovakia's capital, Bratislava, to protest against the actions of the country’s right-wing nationalist culture minister, Martina Šimkovičová. The protests come after Šimkovičová stepped up an agenda of direct intervention in the arts scene by dismissing Matej Drlička, the director of the Slovak National Theatre (SND) and Alexandra Kusá, the director of the Slovak National Gallery (SNG) in the space of only two days on 6 and 7 August.
The sudden dismissals caused consternation both inside Slovakia and abroad, with employees of the two institutions defiantly supporting the ousted directors. Buoyed by the response, Drlička and Kusá have presented a united front, appearing together in a press conference outside the SNG on 8 August, and on 12 August at a Bratislava protest organised by the civic group Open Culture! Platform, with around 9,000 people reportedly in attendance. A day later, around 20,000 demonstrators attended a rally organised by opposition political parties objecting to recent actions by both the ministry of culture and ministry of justice.
Speaking to The Art Newspaper, Kusá echoed other commentators in arguing that the situation boils down to the broad gap in “ways of thinking” between those on the arts side and the anti-liberal stance of Šimkovičová and the wider populist coalition government.
“It is something very well known”, Kusá says, “as ‘irreconcilable differences’ in movies and literature. The constructive and open-minded attitude of both the SNG and SND was a problem—even the joy our visitors have expressed was a problem, too. Both of our institutions have increased the number of visitors in the past year. We have created and offered inspiring public programmes, and the ministry, in fact, wanted to stop it and destroy it. This is its appetite for destruction and an insult to our professionalism, competence and taste.”
As Slovaks take to the streets, the rising anger at the minister of culture’s actions has seen at least 360 international arts professionals and organisations sign an open letter calling for Kusá to be reinstated. Arguing that her removal “has undermined the independence” of culture in Slovakia and “damaged trust” in the country internationally, the letter’s signatories include the board of ICOM Germany, Sebastian Cichocki, the chief curator of the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, and Karola Kraus, the general director of mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna.
Six former Slovak ministers of culture have also issued a joint statement condemning Šimkovičová. Explaining that they come from different political backgrounds, the former ministers say they are united in viewing “culture as a space of freedom, diversity, tolerance and cooperation”, adding: "We reject the actions of the current minister of culture, by which she is trying to normalise culture, demean its foreign policy significance, devastate continuity, degrade professionalism, intimidate individuals, manipulate and falsely divide society into normal and abnormal.”
Šimkovičová has used both YouTube and Telegram to defend her own position, castigating Drlička over numerous issues, including mismanagement and misconduct, and accusing Kusá of a conflict of interest in relation to the role of her father, the architect Martin Kusý, in the renovation of the SNG building.
In response, Kusá says that the architectural practice where her father is a partner was awarded the renovation project in 2005, five years before she became director. She adds that the terms of their working relationship were "regularly checked and proofed by all relevant state authorities. This is the third or the fourth time that a serving minister has tried to scandalise our collaboration. But all verifying processes proved no conflict of interest whatsoever.”
Five employees of the SND and SNG met with Šimkovičová at the ministry of culture on 12 August, after the minister declined to attend a larger meeting with staff from the two institutions. Those who attended the meeting say nothing of note was resolved.
Barbora Šajgalíková, the director of communications at the SND, says that “the mood in the entire cultural scene remains very tense”, with the removal of the two directors viewed as “highly concerning”.
Explaining the unity the two institutions have shown in opposing the ministry of culture, Šajgalíková notes: “The Slovak National Gallery is one of our key partners and holds a prominent position in Slovakia's cultural sector. Alexandra Kusá has been the head of the Slovak National Gallery for 14 years and is highly respected both as a cultural manager and a curator.
"The Slovak National Theatre has always spoken out when society needed our voice. With a strong voice comes great responsibility. We hope to always use it to protect the vulnerable, show solidarity, and stand up for human and civil rights.”
The ministry of culture did not respond to a request for comment.