New museum directors: comments and interviews

Following the appointment of the new directors of state museums, there have been many comments from the world of cultural heritage: we have decided to collect here all the voices that are occurring in these hours (including the first interviews with the new directors), hoping to do a welcome service to our readers. To read the comments and interviews just click on the name of the headline next to the person’s name (a new page will open). For the news (with the names of all the directors) please follow our press review.

Seven of the 20 new museum directors. From left, clockwise: Eike Schmidt, James Bradburne, Marco Pierini, Serena Bertolucci, Eva Degl’Innocenti, Sylvain Bellenger, Flaminia Gennari Santori

Comments from the world of cultural heritage

• Let’s start with one from our own Federico Giannini, on Windows on Art: “Do many of the new directors know the complexity of the institutions they will be heading, and will they have the experience to know how to manage it?”
• Antonio Natali, former director of the Uffizi, on GoNews: “A country that says it wants change could not afford to say the old director stays.”
• Angelo Tartuferi, former director of the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, on Repubblica: “It is the admission of a defeat of our country.”
• Tomaso Montanari, art historian, university lecturer and blogger, in Repubblica: “A formal declaration of the fact that there is no one in our body of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage worthy to direct the most important Italian museums.”
• Again Tomaso Montanari on his blog Articolo 9: “With a certain provincialism, not being Italian or being Italian working abroad was considered decisive.”
• Philippe Daverio, art critic, popularizer and university lecturer, on theHuffington Post: “a Ghibelline choice: since we Italians can’t make it, then we ask the empire for help.”
• Cristina Acidini, former superintendent of the Polo Museale Fiorentino, on GoNews: “I think that with these appointments, art historians working in state museums, professionals of international prestige, have been greatly underestimated.”
• Achille Bonito Oliva, art critic, onHuffington Post: “the appointments of Anna Coliva and Cristiana Collu are a sign of a desire for renewal.”
• Vittorio Sgarbi, art critic, toANSA: “Franceschini mortifies his army, he does not defend the troops he has.”
• Andrea Carandini, president of FAI, on Rai News: “In the future, all those who will work in the Ministry of Cultural Heritage will have to pay attention to things in order to protect them, but they will have to pay just as much attention to people.”
• Marco Enrico Giacomelli and Massimiliano Tonelli, deputy director and director of Artribune: “Very different stories and paths, but for all of them a common destiny: to prove that really Dario Franceschini’s reform works and turns.”
• Dagospia’s comment: “the contest of the politically correct.”
• Gian Antonio Stella, journalist, in Corriere della Sera: “At this point the promised turnaround must really be seen. And already in a few months we will have a way of knowing whether it was worth the gamble.”
• Cristina Degl’Innocenti, journalist, in Firenze Post: “Schmidt and Hollberg do like the Lorraines.”
• Salvatore Settis, archaeologist and art historian, in Repubblica: “New directors (average age 50) should in principle be given credit. Of course, though, a large museum is not the same as a small one, nor will someone who has been a curator necessarily be a good director.”

Interviews with new directors

• Eike Schmidt (Uffizi) to ADN Kronos
• Eike Schmidt (Uffizi) atHuffington Post
• Serena Bertolucci (Royal Palace of Genoa) to Secolo XIX
• Serena Bertolucci (Royal Palace of Genoa) at Libreriamo
• Sylvain Bellenger (National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples) at Repubblica
• James Bradburne (Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan) at La Stampa
• Flaminia Gennari Santori (National Gallery of Ancient Art, Rome) at Repubblica
• Marco Pierini (National Gallery of Umbria, Perugia) to Umbria 24
• Marco Pierini (National Gallery of Umbria, Perugia) to agenziaimpress.it
• Eva Degl’Innocenti (National Museum of Taranto) to La Nazione
• Paola Marini (Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice) to L’Arena
• Gabriel Zuchtriegel (Archaeological Park of Paestum) to Il Mattino
• Gabriel Zuchtriegel (Archaeological Park of Paestum) to La Repubblica

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.