Experts disagree on whether Rösela's dismissal was correct

Ladislav Kesner: "The dismissal of the director of the National Gallery is further evidence of the amateur management of the ministry."

Prague - Experts are not unanimous in their opinions on the dismissal of the director of the National Gallery (NG) in Prague. According to some, the minister's step was correct, as NG, under Vladimír Rösel, lacked a concept. Others believe that if he was to be dismissed, it should have happened much earlier. According to other members of the commission for gallery affairs established by the Ministry of Culture, who were approached by ČTK, Rösel's dismissal is evidence of incompetent behavior by the minister.
Similarly, the chairman of the Senate Committee for Education and Culture, Marcel Chládek (ČSSD), perceives the dismissal in this way, stating that Alena Hanáková continues "with an indefensible chaotic personnel policy, dismissing heads of significant state institutions without obvious reasons."
"The dismissal of the director of NG is further evidence of the amateur management of the ministry, which damages Czech cultural institutions," said art historian Ladislav Kessner to ČTK. "I often viewed his actions in the position critically. Still, there was no reason for his immediate dismissal, especially given the situation in which the Ministry of Culture objectively made it difficult for him to perform his duties," he stated.
The commission, at its last meeting, according to him, refused to explicitly evaluate the leadership's activities. "And especially the conclusion that he is failing in his work - which the ministry evidently wanted to hear," said Kessner. Some members of the commission, who preferred to remain unnamed, noted that the proceedings of the commission and the subsequent minutes recorded by representatives of the ministry sometimes differed against Rösel.

Rostislav Koryčánek: "The minister should have decided to dismiss him much earlier."

"I agree with the dismissal of Mr. Rösel. However, the minister should have made this decision much earlier. There were already signs that under the new leadership, it was still not possible to kickstart the renewal of the crucial museum institution," said the former director of the Brno House of Art, Rostislav Koryčánek. According to him, Rösel did not understand the mission and purpose of the gallery and did not indicate what role he wanted to assign to it.
"I agree less that Mr. Rösel is unqualified to lead the institution," believes Koryčánek. Conversely, the dean of the Faculty of Arts at Charles University, Michal Stehlík, understands and considers the Ministry of Culture's step as correct. "I think NG needs a clearly defined conceptual direction," he stated. The dismissal of Rösel was also welcomed by the artist Jiří David, who has been critical of both him and his predecessor at NG, Milan Knížák.
The ministry stated today in response to a query from ČTK that NG is still in the red. "For this year, the former director planned a lower financial result from core operations and a lower level of self-sufficiency than was achieved in 2012. Mr. Rösel was appointed as a crisis manager to lead NG out of economic decline and increase its self-sufficiency. That has not happened," stated spokesperson Lenka Brandtová.

Marek Pokorný

The NG leadership, however, states that the budget for 2013 is planned to be balanced with state support equal to last year and that the lower revenue estimates from its own activities are precisely related to the reduction of state contributions - with less money, it is possible to do only a few exhibitions with lower attendance.
The ministry also specified that it will not announce a competition for Rösel's successor, but a group of experts will identify candidates and recommend one for direct appointment. "The group will also take into account the results of the selection procedure from 2011, so it is possible that among the selected candidates will be participants from that selection procedure," said the spokesperson. At that time, art historian Jiří Fajt and former director of the Moravian Gallery Marek Pokorný participated in the competition.
The concept for NG for the years 2013 to 2018 was worked on alongside Rösel by his deputy Nikolaj Savický and the director of the Collection of Old Art Vít Vlnas. Although the Ministry of Culture criticizes the concept, it has appointed Vlnas to lead the gallery until a new director is appointed.
The concept was published on the server artalk.cz on Wednesday. Rösel plans that by 2015 he will increase the gallery's self-sufficiency to 30 percent. Through an exhibition program and the relocation of permanent exhibitions, he wanted to achieve one million visitors per year by 2017. In 2012, NG's sites were visited by 443,000 people. The development of NG's attendance over the past ten years has been around half a million, although it sometimes fluctuates year-on-year by up to 100,000, influenced by the closure of some sites.