Over 1,000 Polish cultural figures protest against government dismissal of gallery director

More than 1,000 artists and cultural workers in Poland have signed a letter addressed to the Ministry of Culture, in protest against the dismissal of Hanna Wróblewska, the director of Warsaw’s Zacheta National Gallery of Art.

On 5 July, the gallery was informed that, after 10 years of heading the institution, Wróblewska’s contract would not be extended beyond December 2021. Initiated by the curators and former heads of the gallery, Anda Rottenberg and Agnieszka Morawińska, the letter asks culture minister Piotr Glínski to revise his decision, emphasising that “people with the competences, talents, and personal skills of Hanna Wróblewska are not common,” and that she is “at the peak of her abilities”. Among the other cultural figures signing the letter are director Agnieszka Holland and writer Andrej Stasiuk.

“It seems that after such a long time, a change in a managerial position may positively affect the condition of the institution and its further development,” the Ministry of Culture responded, via Polska Agencja Prasowa.

This dismissal comes after a series of government decisions to interfere in the cultural sphere, replacing heads of cultural institutions, in a move many have criticised to be ideologically-motivated.