Candidates for the head of NG in the competition continue

Prague - All three candidates for the position of director of the National Gallery in Prague (NG), recommended by Culture Minister Václav Riedlbauch to his successor, perceive the competition as unfinished and are willing to continue pursuing the position. However, it is essential that the selection process doesn't prolong after the appointment of a new minister and that there is an expressed effort from the ministry to transform the NG into an internationally renowned institution. In response to a query from ČTK, art historian Jiří Fajt, Moravian Gallery Brno director Marek Pokorný, and economist Vladimír Rösel responded similarly.
    However, the opinions of Fajt, Pokorný, and Rösel on the competition's progress differ. According to Fajt, the minister should have begun negotiations with the candidate recommended by the committee (i.e., with him); if he did not want to accept the committee's opinion, he should have justified it and called for other candidates. Committee members also express dissatisfaction with the fact that the minister invited almost all candidates to a personal meeting.
    "This was not a standard solution. The minister should have published the name of the recommended candidate, as promised," said Fajt. "The result is nothing more than a disgrace, unfortunately with an international audience. I doubt that in the future anyone from abroad will want to be drawn into the murky waters of Czech reality again," he recalled regarding the international composition of the committee.
    The other two candidates argue that the committee has only an advisory vote. Pokorný ranked third in the committee voting, and Rösel fifth. "The announcement of the selection process and the conduct of the selection committee meeting were perceived by me as very correct. The committee's status as an advisory body was clear, unlike in Slovakia, where its recommendation is binding," Pokorný noted regarding a recent competition for the director of the SNG, which took only one day to conclude with the appointment of a new director.
    "The minister is in a situation where there is no legislative framework ensuring greater autonomy for cultural institutions, such as a supervisory board. The person with the final right to decide is also responsible for their decision - albeit purely symbolically. Therefore, the informational round with the candidates does not seem to me to be fundamentally questionable, especially in such a complicated situation as the current NG is in," defended Pokorný's approach to Riedlbauch.
    "Given that the responsibility for appointing the NG director rests with the minister, he should take the committee's evaluation merely as a recommendation," also stated the only economist in the competition, Vladimír Rösel. "Even though the competition ended practically without results, the impact seems to be positive," he added.
    Fajt, who before Milan Knížák's appointment as head of the NG led the Collection of Old Art at the gallery and who, like Pokorný, was invited by the minister to participate in the competition, initially felt the competition had an "unusually transparent impression for Czech conditions." "The minister spoke quite convincingly and decisively at the time. It was ultimately this hint of a new political style that made me consider my candidacy," he said.
    He felt a sense of awkwardness regarding the selection process when the ministry refused to disclose the name of the candidate recommended by the committee. "I perceived my participation in the competition much more as an offer of my expert competence and international experience and contacts rather than as an existential necessity," stated the expert, who primarily works in a research institute at the University of Leipzig (GWZO). Nevertheless, he does not consider his involvement in selecting the new NG director to be concluded.
    "If the future minister of culture genuinely wants to transform the currently nationally provincial NG into an internationally renowned museum institution, I am ready for discussion and to defend my ideas. I am not available for a maintenance program and cosmetic changes," he added.
    Pokorný views the prolonged duration of the competition as unpleasant, especially concerning his colleagues at the Brno gallery. "Although we work the same as before the competition, some decisions and the way plans are implemented depend on the director's position. I have a clear date by which a decision must be made, after which it makes no sense for me to engage in NG matters," he said.
    Nevertheless, regardless of how Riedlbauch ultimately decided and the fact that the new minister does not have to respect his recommendations at all, Rösel still feels "in the game." "I see it as a service for which I have gained certain supporters who agree with my content and strategy," he stated.
    While according to Fajt and Pokorný the NG primarily needs to repair its international reputation and improve its professional outputs as well as attractiveness for the audience, Rösel believes that the institution is fine professionally and needs radical improvement in its management. He himself talks about his potential role at its helm as that of a crisis manager who would pull the institution out of the worst and leave it to a successor.