The executive board of the Slovak National Gallery (SNG), comprising the heads of four departments, have offered their resignation in an open letter to Slovakia’s right-wing culture minister, Martina Šimkovičová. The letter, which has also been signed by the SNG’s director of expositions and exhibitions production, Ľubica Orechovská, was issued on Tuesday, 26 November, after a meeting with the institution’s newly appointed acting director general, Jaroslav Niňaj.
Niňaj, who was installed by the ministry of culture, is the third person to lead the SNG since the long-term director, Alexandra Kusá, was dismissed by the ministry in August. Niňaj takes over from another government appointee, Miloš Timko, who was in charge for less than two months.
In their letter, the five departmental heads said their first meeting with Niňaj on Tuesday “was full of intimidation, threats and investigations” and that they could no longer “do our job” under his leadership.
“Tensions are building throughout the institution, all the staff are demotivated, feeling unstable, frustrated and disgusted”, they added.
The resignations, which are expected to take effect next week, are the latest development in an increasingly turbulent relationship between Slovakia’s coalition government, led by the populist prime minister, Robert Fico, and the country’s culture sector.
Mass protests were held over the summer following the government’s decision to dismiss both Kusá and Matej Drlička, the head of the Slovak National Theatre, in what was seen as a politically motivated purge of the country’s top cultural institutions. Despite 4000 people joining a “culture strike” movement to coordinate their opposition, the government has continued to make further interventions, including replacing the long-term head of the Slovak National Museum, Branislav Panis.
177 SNG employees threaten to resign
Days before Niňaj’s appointment, the situation at the SNG had already reached a crisis point, with 177 employees threatening to resign en masse at a press conference held outside the institution on 21 November.
Stating their opposition to structural changes planned while Timko was acting as director, the employees explained in a detailed letter that they would consider resigning in January if a number of demands were not met. Chief among their concerns are what they see as “targeted dismissals”, with Timko planning to remove senior figures, including Alexandra Kusá, who has continued to work at the SNG in her role as a curator.
Citing a lack of transparency, the letter said the planned changes “would lead to the paralysis of the institution”, with the removal of senior curators negatively impacting the institution across a number of its core activities.
The employees requested that “a new director general be appointed to head the SNG who can professionally and transparently create and maintain stable working conditions for his colleagues and all collaborators… A person who will preserve the good name of the institution and will make all decisions in the interest of the institution, not on the basis of expedient or personal motivations.”
Responding to Niňaj’s appointment, the SNG’s public relations manager, Zuzana Dzurdzíková, who is among the group of 177, said “our demands are still standing and this does not qualify as listening or opening a dialogue with us, it’s the opposite.”
“The heads of departments will resign next week” she added, “the rest of us will start with giving out notices in January if nothing gets better.”
The upheaval at the SNG has already begun to impact its relationship with external partners, with its largest corporate sponsor, the Slovak bank Tatra banka, announcing it is unable to commit to future funding.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the bank said, “The situation at the Slovak National Gallery is currently too tense and unclear for us, so we are postponing our decision on potential future support until the situation becomes clearer.”
