The garages where they reported mass statements is created by a free national gallery
The project is preparing the event during the summer.
BRATISLAVA. They announced mass testimonies and dissatisfaction with incompetent leadership.
Do not take culture in the legendary inscription! In the garages behind the headquarters of the Slovak National Gallery (SNG), former employees communicated fundamental decisions. They were banned at the galleries, so they found a refuge on Karol Vaculík Square.
From June 7th, this space will turn into a Creative Happening Center and an artistic protest. It will be called Free National Gallery.
The space will be given to the authors who refused to exhibit in SNG under the new leadership of Juraj Králik or were criticized by Minister of Culture Martina Šimkovičová (nom. SNS).
During Saturday’s opening, the organizers will commemorate the deduction of the SNG, the history of the « traps of the last nine months » – as they report, reveal the first works and talk about what the space is expected of the following months.
The project is behind the art initiative will not be quiet! It consists of a group of visual artists: Peter Barényi, András Cséfalvay, Jaroslav Kyša, Kristián Németh, Rastislav Sedláčik, Ivana Šáteková and Erik Šille.
Authorized permission from the city
The first step of the new director of SNG Juraj Králik after his start to office in April was the withdrawal of the green flags, which were part of the gallery infoSystem and visual identity. Now they will return, but not to the SNG, but to the square.
Their creator Braňo Matis was one of the staff of the gallery who left for collective statements. “In broken garages, he will erect a symbolic, green flag that we will always see when we do activities,” says Ivana Šáteková, a visual artist and a member of the initiative.
Art will not be quiet!
- The initiative was founded by a group of visual artists Peter Barényi, András Cséfalvay, Jaroslav Kyša, Kristián Németh, Rastislav Sedláčik, Ivana Šátaková and Erik Šille in early March in response to events in the Slovak National Gallery.
- They organized a relay protest in front of the SNG, several press conferences, where they also warned together with the heirs of the copyright of Slovak authors to worry about illegal manipulation of collection subjects.
- A few weeks -long protest have supplemented artistic interventions in the form of video, musical installation or performance under bridging or happening around SNG.
- The relay protest ended on the day of the second selection procedure (8. 4. 2025) protest before the Ministry of Culture.
The initiative was given permission from the Bratislava – Old Town district. The Garase wants to reconstruct the Old Town in the second half of this year, until then the space in the area will be used by the Free National Gallery.
Karol Vaculík Square is a space that was created thanks to the reconstruction of the SNG complex. It was named by employees in honor of the first director of the National Gallery. « In difficult times, along with an extremely lighted team, despite the raging socialism around them, he built a new institution as a professional and professional workplace. This ethos is something we want to tell directly, » the artists and artist initiatives say.
The smallest gallery in Europe
The illustrator and graphic artist Matúš Maťátko will also be presented on Saturday, he will be posted on the side wall of the garage. « It will be a critical work reflecting the events in culture. It will show a symbol of Donatell’s bust with his eyes tied in a cage that is the victim of kidnapping. This is what we are afraid of: People from the Ministry of Culture will start to remove works from collections in this way, » says Šáteková.
In one of the garage doors there will be a visor – a fish eye that one can look at and see a small gallery where the initiative will be exhibited. The authors and authors will continue to address. This will be the « smallest gallery in Europe ».
« The spaces for the presentation of artists are lost, so we improvise and try to create a platform where they could present their works, » explains Šáteková.
During the summer, discussions and workshops will also take place in the square, where they will focus on individual sectors of culture that are affected by the culture department and their subsidies or by removing experts from leadership. “We will give space to monuments, theaters or dancers,” adds Šáteková. They want to show that they cannot be erased from the cultural scene and will still be in the eyes.
Ivana Šáteková. (Source: Marko Erd, SME)SNG is so far without a program
The last activity of the initiative was a call for a SNG professional and public boycott, unless its independent, transparent and professional management is provided. The initiative rejects the appointment of Juraj Králik as the Director General of the SNG.
« He is a political nominee who was installed on the basis of a non -transparent and unprofessional selection procedure that seriously threatens the confidence of the public and the professional scene in the functioning of one of our most important cultural institutions, » they said on the initiative.
It is not yet clear what will be exhibited in the SNG. There is no program on its website in the section upcoming exhibitions and exhibitions. In the gallery, one of the last exhibitions of the Fruits of Technology, which was prepared by the original team of the gallery, ended in the gallery.
Králik replaced the temporary director Jaroslav Niňaj. Under his leadership, employees experienced pressure, threats, chaos and the disintegration of the institution.
Its predecessors lasted less than two months – Milos Timko ended after 55 days, Anton Bittner, who was the director of the Slovak National Museum for several months, led a gallery for 54 days. They were all temporarily authorized by the gallery directors. However, none of them has presented any upcoming program.
Last November he announced that he wanted to open the gallery for several artists – it was also supposed to be young artists and artists. He was convinced that the gallery had to worry about those who have not yet had the opportunity to exhibit and became known. However, his plans were not fulfilled.
Králik again planned an exhibition of American photographer Bruce Weber for 285 thousand euros. The exhibition was supposed to be from September 2025 to January 2026, but the concept offered by the production company Milosh Ltd. Milos Harajda, he was already part of the exhibition in Prague. The Czech Gallery of the Main City of Prague (GHMP) therefore criticized the event.
The opinion on its website said that the agreement between the new SNG management and Milosh Ltd. It took place without their knowledge and consent, in addition to using the structure and name of the exhibition in which the GHMP had an ideological and curatorial stake. However, the exhibition will not take place in the gallery. Neither the SNG nor the rabbit did not publicly comment on the situation.
