The deadline for applications for the position of head of the NGP is approaching, Fajt is applying

Prague - Today marks the end of the deadline for applicants to submit their applications for the selection procedure for the General Director of the National Gallery in Prague. The Ministry of Culture announced the competition in mid-April and anticipates the new director to take office from October 1 at the latest, January 1 of next year. The institution currently has an acting director following the dismissal of Director Jiří Fajt last year. Fajt told ČTK today that he has also applied for the competition.

The server iDNES.cz reported that the curator of the Kampa Museum, Helena Musilová, who previously worked at NGP, painter and restorer Martin Martan, critic, curator, former director of the Moravian Gallery in Brno and current director of the Plato Gallery of Modern Art in Ostrava Marek Pokorný, and art historian Nikolaj Savický, who also previously worked at NGP, have applied for the competition.

The announcement of the competition was made by Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek exactly a year after his predecessor Antonín Staněk (both from ČSSD) dismissed the then-director of the gallery, Fajt. Along with him, he also dismissed the director of the Museum of Art in Olomouc, Michal Soukup. Both directors were dismissed by Staněk due to alleged economic misconduct. A year ago, Staněk temporarily appointed economist Ivan Morávek to lead NGP and announced selections for new directors of both institutions. After his appointment to the ministry, Zaorálek canceled these processes. In the case of NGP, he dismissed Morávek and appointed Anne-Maria Nedomova, the wife of the director of the Rudolfinum Gallery, Petr Nedomy, to manage the gallery.

"I never imagined that I would ever apply for the position of General Director of the National Gallery in Prague, from which I was dismissed last Easter by the then Minister of Culture based on fabricated accusations. However, some things have changed since then," Fajt said today to ČTK. The police shelved both criminal complaints, and the Czech Republic apologized to Fajt for his dismissal from the position of director of NGP.

"Under normal circumstances, it would undoubtedly be fair for us to start negotiating the reconstruction of the original state, but in the situation of an ongoing international competition, this would be complicated," believes Fajt. According to him, some changes have occurred in the past year that will positively influence the functioning of NGP - including the establishment of the NGP Guarantee Council as an advisory body operating between the ministry and NGP.

"As I have found out, there is a significant will among all stakeholders to continue the much-needed changes that will enable the gallery to function in better conditions and continue to offer the public an attractive internationally relevant program. And I also do not like to leave unfinished work, especially since I did not leave, but was dismissed. After considering all these reasons, I have decided to participate in the selection procedure," stated Fajt.

Staněk dismissed Fajt last year after nearly five years of his tenure as the director of NGP. He had previously worked at the gallery, but left in 2000 in protest against the then management of Milan Knížák.

The selection procedure is announced as open and multi-round. Minister Zaorálek also stated that the ministry will approach some individuals directly.

The selection criteria for the ministry were prepared by the Guarantee Council of the National Gallery, chaired by architect Josef Pleskot, which Zaorálek established last September upon his appointment to the ministry. Zaorálek stated that Pleskot will also chair the selection committee.