2024-08-14 00:12:38
Slovak Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová is getting rid of people in key cultural institutions. After the director of the National Theater, she also dismissed the head of the Slovak National Gallery. Commentator of the daily Sme, Peter Tkachenko, claims that the minister’s actions are causing anger in her own coalition. According to him, almost everyone is nervous about her actions, except Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Last Tuesday, officials from the Slovak Ministry of Culture surprised the head of the Slovak National Theater, Matej Drlička. In the morning, the appeal decree was delivered directly to his home. The day after, Minister Martina Šimkovičová also dismissed the director of the Slovak National Gallery, Alexandra Kusou.
Vyhazov came immediately after she stood up for her colleague Drličky. “I think it wasn’t planned for the long term, maybe it should have come, but another time. But it’s not about my dismissal or his dismissal. I take it as an attack on our institutions in general, on my colleagues, on what we are. The two of us are only a symbol, ” Kusá points out for Aktuálně.cz. Cultural organizations and artists protested against the minister’s actions on Monday evening in Bratislava.
Commentator of the Slovak daily Sme, Peter Tkačenko, refers to the firings as “the arbitrariness of Šimkovičová and her court ideologue and unelected official Lukáš Machala”. “He likes when he can bang on the table, make decisions and throw out people he considers to be representatives of the declining liberal, and therefore hostile, camp,” he says to Machaly.
At first, Kusá did not receive any explanation for her appeal. The Ministry began to analyze the reasons only later. He accuses her of managerial failures and an “unacceptable procedure” in the reconstruction of the gallery. Kusá has been the head of the gallery since 2010, and under her leadership the main building of the institution underwent extensive repairs.
At the same time, the ministry stated that, according to him, Kusá, as head of the gallery, ignored “the whole range of artists from Slovakia” for a long time. “As soon as we started to voice our disagreement, various contradictory accusations and reasons suddenly began to accumulate,” Kusá adds. According to her, the ministry “doesn’t bother with the truth at all” and has no inhibitions. “One day they claim that the gallery is empty, then they call it a garage sale. I don’t even know how to react to that,” he says.
According to her, Šimkovičová fired her because the management of the gallery is incompatible with the positions of the ministry. “They don’t like that we enjoy our work, there is a free environment with freedom of speech. I deal professionally with the 1950s and I was always interested in how it actually worked. Well, now I know,” describes art historian Kusá. According to her, however, it is not a coordinated plan to transform Slovak culture. “That’s just how they are, they have different tastes,” he says.
Tkachenko believes that apart from personal revenge, the government has nothing to gain by sudden dismissals in cultural institutions, and they are rather counterproductive, as they provoke the influential cultural-social elite. Šimkovičová entrusted Anton Bittner with managing the gallery, who, according to her, is a crisis manager.
Upsetting coalition partners
During her nine months in office, the Minister of Culture took several questionable steps that were criticized by representatives of culture and the opposition. In June, it pushed through a new law on public television and radio, the aim of which, according to the opposition, is the control of the station by the current government.
Tkachenko claims that the minister’s actions are already creating tension within the coalition. “According to my sources, practically everyone is nervous or angry about this, including the representatives or deputies of the Slovak National Party (SNS), which nominated her for the post. The Slovak government is led by Robert Fico’s Direction party and the Hlas and SNS movement. “They are bothered on the one hand unnecessary provocation, the absence of any plan and alternative, and then the very act of arbitrariness. The minister should at least consult on this type of decision, which goes beyond her department, at home,” the commentator describes.
He reminds, however, that only the Minister of the Interior and the chairman of Hlas, Matúš Šutaj Eštok, openly articulated his reservations in the case of the dismissal of the head of the Drličky Theatre. According to him, the voice of the coalition parties is by far the most moderate voters, and such behavior discourages him. The representatives of Hlas are also personally closer to the cultural elites than the SNS or Smér.
“The rare exception who does not interfere with the minister’s activities is Prime Minister Robert Fico, who for a long time preferred controlled conflicts. But today, indifference and the desire for revenge prevailed for him,” adds Tkachenko.
The head of the museum is also upset
A few days ago, the SNS also announced a proposal to limit the promotion of LGBTQ topics in schools. However, the Ministry of Education pointed out in response that, according to the coalition agreement, Hlas is responsible for this department. According to Tkačenko, this may be the reason why the coalition will have to stop the actions of Culture Minister Šimkovičová.
“However, it will be almost impossible to silence Šimkovičová and Machal. Considering the relatively narrow majority in the parliament (the coalition has 79 deputies and needs 76 to govern), it would not be a good idea to send the minister back to the parliament, so she will have to find another sufficiently prestigious and motivating workplace. ” says Tkachenko.
Šimkovičová also pushed through changes to the laws on the art support fund and the audiovisual fund. In them, the influence of the ministry on the distribution of subsidies was strengthened at the expense of expert commissions. In March, she also replaced the director of the Bibiana International House of Art for Children without giving a reason. Her acquaintance Petra Flach later went through a closed selection process to replace her.
According to the Slovak media, the director of the Slovak National Museum Branislav Panis, who also defended the dismissed director Drlička, should now be in the position.