Call to close every other museum raises storm in Germany
Artists respond that proposal would “destroy the base of
the public funding of culture”
By Clemens Bomsdorf. Web only
Published online: 19 April 2012
A call by a group of academics and cultural commentators to
close every second state-subsidised cultural institution—in particular art
museums and theatres—in response to the economic downturn has provoked a robust
response from German artists, filmmakers and writers. The proposal, by the
consultant and director of the Centre for Cultural Research think tank in
Berlin, Dieter Haselbach, the director of the state-funded Swiss arts council,
Pro Helvetia, Pius Knüsel, and academics Armin Klein, and Stephan Opitz (also
an official at the ministry of culture in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein),
was set out in the recent book Der Kulturinfarkt (Cultural Heart Attack) as
well as in an article in the German magazine Der Spiegel. In an open letter
under the banner of “Akademie der Künste” (Academy of Arts
“This is not a concrete demand, but just a theoretical
[proposal],” says Opitz. “Expenditure for culture has increased without control
since the 1970s but many institutions cannot fulfil their task in an acceptable
way. They lack money for research, marketing and so on.” He maintains that
decreasing the number of institutions could [improve] quality with each
remaining institution getting more money. In addition, he argues, cultural
institutions should be organised differently and [be given] more detailed
targets, not only in regard to visitor numbers, but also guidelines about where
visitors should come from and what age groups in particular should be attracted
to the museums. “In Scandinavia , institutions
are already advanced in this field”, he says. Opitz referred to the letter from
the “Akademie der Künste” as reflecting an “uncivilised anger” and said the
authors were driven by unrestrained vested interests.
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