Aleš Vaupotič resigned as director of the Modern Gallery. Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Culture started the procedure for his early dismissal, as there were many warnings about the poor management of this public institution.
They appointed the acting director of the Modern Gallery Martin Vovk, doctor of science, art historian and literary comparativist and curator at the Modern Gallery. According to the ministry, the new acting director will prioritize the normalization of work processes and the preparation and implementation of the exhibition program. “The key is the establishment of the social and professional dialogue that has been broken in recent years in our only national institution for modern and contemporary art, which was evident in the execution and quality of the exhibition program and the performance of the museum’s service,” they emphasized.
They added that Martina Vovk is planning to renovate the work processes of professional and support services and that she will pay a lot of attention to the exhibition program for this year, both in the main building of the Modern Gallery on Cankarjeva cesta and in the Museum of Contemporary Art on Metelkova.
“Inconsistency, Errors and Deficiencies”
Aleš Vaupotič was appointed to the position of director in April 2021, during the time of the Minister of Culture Vaska Simoniti. For a long time, the employees and authorities of the institute have been pointing out his poor management, and they have also called for his dismissal. Also in this mandate, according to their statements, the Ministry of Culture received several warnings about individual problems in cooperation with artists and the realization of the program, as well as about poor relations between management and employees.
The expert council and the board of the institute once again warned about bad management. In the official letters they sent to the Ministry of Culture, they assessed the leadership of Director Vaupotic as “professionally incompetent, inefficient and non-transparent, which is also reflected in the non-implementation of the planned program, inappropriate attitude towards employees was also highlighted“.
The professional council and the council of the public institute because of “inconsistencies, errors and omissions” they did not approve the annual report of the Modern Gallery for 2022, nor did they approve the work program and financial plan for 2023, “as it is not harmonized with the decision of the ministry”. Therefore, in accordance with the regulations of the law on the implementation of the budget, from April 2023, the Moderna galerija will be temporarily financed at only 80 percent, the ministry wrote.
This is also why the Ministry of Culture started the procedure for early dismissal. Now Vaupotič resigned himself.
Source: Rtvslo
