Freedom requires virtue and boldness

Let those who heavy feel
The cupreous hand of fear
Under slavery’s yoke live;
Mettle and virtue is what
Freedom wants.
“Fourth Ode, To Samos” by Andreas Kalvos
(translated by Neni Panourgiá)

 

I read Lonnie Bunch’s “A fool’s errand” as if it was a fascinating novel. With the same urgency, with the same pleasure and emotion. I had the honour of meeting Lonnie Bunch in Lisbon, a bit more than two years ago. Apart from his intelligence, another thing that made a lasting impression on me was his humbleness. I found the combination of both these qualities also in the book. And I admired his generosity in sharing with all of us the endeavour of creating a museum, starting with a team of two and without a collection: the dreams and ambitions, the values and principles, the misjudgements, the failures, the planned and unplanned successes. And also the underlying vision of “making America better”. As Lonnie Bunch put it, this was not only about “what kind of museum I wanted, but also what kind of America I believed in” (p. 183). All this together gives us one of the most significant manuals on museum/cultural leadership.

Donald’s washing machine

Sophia Linispori and Konstantina Mavropoulou in "The washing machine" by Thanasis Triaridis

Last month I had the opportunity to see Thanasis Triaridis’ theatre play “The washing machine”. Two mothers meet three times at a public laundry. In the first meeting, mother A looks distraught, shocked, deeply sad: the previous day her son was given the “honour” of carrying out the public decapitation of a girl. Mother B looks happy and pleased, congratulates mother A for her son and answers her concern that her son did something noble, obeyed the law and the law takes care of everyone. The law says that girls are not useful, thus they need to be eliminated.

Two presentations on 6 December

 

Double bill on 6 December: in the morning, I was the keynote speaker at the ICOM MPR / ICOM Georgia conference in Tbilisi, Georgia. In the afternoon, I participated remotely in the CoMuseum 2024 conference. Both presentations may be found here and here. 

The age-old paradox of democracy

 

My presentation today at the NEMO conference. Here

Without water, one dies in nine days, yet one can live for five years without human touch. Is the latter a luxury?

Choir of ex-miners at the Mines of Lousal. Coming together to sing was (and is)
important to them. (Photo: Maria Vlachou)

The title is a quote from Justin O´Connor’s book “Culture is not an industry – Reclaiming art and culture for the common good”. Before I get into it, two episodes from my professional life come to mind.

In 2016, Access Culture found out about a working group constituted the year before by the Portuguese government to tackle the refugee crisis. The following sectors where represented in this group: Directorate-General for European Affairs/Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Foreigners and Borders Service, the Social Security Institute, the Institute for Employment and Vocational Training, the Directorate-General for Health, the Directorate-General for Education and the High Commissioner for Migrations. Culture was not invited to be part. Our association wrote to the Ministry of Culture and we were informed that the group was almost completing its task and that the Ministry would pay more attention in the future. More attention to what…? Noone considered that Culture had anything to do with the arrival of refugees to a small country – not even the Ministry of Culture and perhaps also quite a few cultural professionals.

Thanks, but no thanks.

It is not easy to read Ece Temelkuran’s book “How to lose a country: The seven steps from democracy to dictatorship”. The Turkish journalist’s incisive writing becomes frightening at times, her evidence weighs heavily on one’s heart. I had to pause now and then. All our questions, doubts, concerns, frustrations about what is happening around us, are in this book. What some of us are experiencing for the first time has happened before and the tactics were never different. Not only are Erdogan’s rise, the Brexit vote, Trump’s election put under the microscope, Temelkuran has a clear view of how far back we need to go in order to find the origins for both recent and current events and realise that we did/do nothing, although the way they developed is, by now, so predictable. As predictable as seven steps.

And now for something completely different: the populist museum

Back in November 2022, the Italian Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, talked about the need to better protect works of art from the actions of climate activists and stated: “Considering the enormous heritage to be protected, the intervention will represent a considerable cost for the ministry and for the entire nation. Unfortunately, I can only foresee an increase in the cost of the entrance ticket.”

The statement sounded deeply populist (and ridiculous) to me at the time. Perhaps not more populist (or ridiculous), though, than the statement of The National Gallery on 17 October:

“Following recent incidents within the Gallery it is now necessary to introduce increased security measures to ensure the safety of all who visit, National Gallery staff and the nation’s collection of paintings.