[spectre] A comment to Mr. Politi criticism

[Ludvik Hlavacek]

A comment to Mr. Politi's criticism:

The problems that can arise from curating and managing artistic 
events can be related not only to the selection of artists and works, 
but to the overall attitude of the organizers as well. A manager who 
feels the need to publish the names of institutions and of their 
directors who have not supported their project, comes off as a self 
centered person who is unable to accept the reality that his project 
will, and should be, evaluated in relation to many others, and who 
is under the illusion that his project is the only one and everybody 
who doesn't support it is worthy of condemnation.

Mr. Giancarlo Politi seemed to guilty of this method of dubious 
managment practice when, recently, in an open letter he publically 
denounced Christoph Bertrams, supposedly the director of Goethe 
Institute in Prague, as someone who refused to support the 
participation of German artists in the Prague Biennial.  The Goethe 
Institute in Prague, its staff, its program manager Christoph 
Bertrams and its director Stephan Noobe, as well as their 
predecessors, have many times proven their commitment to the
development and support of the Czech art scene, demonstrating a 
high professional level of understanding of contemporary arts 
development from a local, as well as international, perspective. 
Many important arts events, which have occurred in Prague over 
the last decade, would not have been possible without the support 
of the Goethe Institute, and many others are being planned for the 
future.

I wish the Prague Biennial much success, as Prague would 
undoubtadly benefit from hosting such prestigious international 
cultural events and very much needs an international dimension to 
its cultural and arts development. I am, however, very sorry that 
Mr. Politi chose to express his personal disappointments in Prague 
in the same awkward way as he did in Tirana.

Ludvik Hlavacek
CCA Prague