Alicja Knastová will be the new General Director of the National Gallery in Prague
Alicja Knastová from Poland will be the new general director of the National Gallery in Prague. The name of the winner of the tender was announced on Tuesday by the Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSSD). The director of the Plato Ostrava gallery, Marek Pokorný and Jiří Fajt, who have been leading the gallery for five years, were also in the finals.
“What Mrs Knast has presented to me today is absolutely crucial for the National Gallery. They still need to get rid of the routine, get people to the museum and gallery that are still there today, and reach out to young people, which it has done with successful events in In particular, it has managed to build the Silesian Museum in Katowice and increase its attendance more than ten times, and has received awards from the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Association of Museums in the Netherlands, “the minister calculated. Zaoralek.
Former director of the Silesian Museum in Katowice Knastová will take office on January 1, 2021 with a six-year term. “The time of the pandemic is very difficult, it will be important to address the accessibility of the collections and at the same time to ensure that young people born in the Internet era go to the gallery. to function, ”says Knastová.
Move to do Prague he plans with his family from January. “It will precede the transmission process, which is very important in cultural institutions. As far as the language is concerned, I do not yet have the courage to answer in Czech, but I must read in Czech and believe that I will be able to communicate soon,” she added.
Due to the sudden dismissal of the director National Gallery in Prague (NGP) Fajta had a gallery for a year and a half of temporary management. Last April, Fajta, together with the director of the Olomouc Museum of Art, Michal Soukup, removed Antonín Staněk (ČSSD) from the then Ministry of Culture. He appealed both, alleging economic misconduct, and filed a criminal complaint against them.
The police later postponed both criminal reports and the Czech Republic apologized to Fajt for dismissing him as director. After Fajt’s dismissal, Staněk commissioned economist Ivan Morávek to manage the National Gallery and announced a tender for Fajt’s successor.
After joining the Ministry of Culture, the new Minister Zaorálek canceled the bankruptcy announced by Staňek, Morávka was removed from the gallery management and entrusted the gallery with Anne-Maria Nedoma, the wife of the director of the Rudolfinum Gallery, Petr Nedoma. In April, he announced a tender.
In August, the candidates went through a selection procedure, whereby their actions in various model situations are ascertained, team work is tested or psychodiagnostic tests are taken. In the meantime, their concept, which they submitted to the Commission, Ministry of Culture sent to several addressed foreign experts from the Vienna Albertina or the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
Museologist and musicologist Alicja Knastová graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, and is currently completing her doctorate at the London Metropolitan University – School of Art, Architecture and Design. She has directed or collaborated on more than a hundred exhibitions. She currently works as a consultant for the Museum of Polish History and the Museum of the Wielkopolska Uprising.
Video: The state blew up my machine gun, it was Zeman’s order, says Fajt
I was accused in broad daylight, the damage to my name was severe. I do not expect an apology from Staňek, I hope that it will disappear in the abyss of history, says Jiří Fajt. | Video: DVTV, Emma Smetana
