The National Art Museum in Timisoara announced on Thursday, a few hours after Austria’s vote against Romania in Schengen, that it is canceling the exhibition of an Austrian artist. The event was to take place in 2024, and the decision was announced on social networks by the manager of the institution. “We should take a stand!” says Filip Petcu.
In his post on Facebook, Filip Petcu also attached a photo with the electronic notification message by which the National Art Museum in Timișoara informs its Austrian collaborator that it has decided to cancel the exhibition scheduled for 2024. The photo is also accompanied by a text: “Following to what happened today (n.r. Thursday), in relation to Austria’s position towards Romania, we should take a stand”.
The manager of the National Art Museum in Timișoara says that the exhibition was to be organized at the initiative of a businessman from Austria. “I don’t want to name names, I don’t think it’s relevant or constructive, but it’s about the initiative of an Austrian businessman to organize the exhibition of an Austrian artist in 2024 at the National Art Museum in Timisoara, an event that would be scored as a confirmation in the direction of a good Romanian-Austrian collaboration, also involving a dialogue relationship between the respective person’s works and the museum’s heritage,” Filip Petcu told pressalert.ro.
Through this gesture, the management of the museum wants to sound the alarm regarding Romanian-Austrian relations. “The event has some diplomatic connections that I will not detail. I believe – in the context of Austria’s action related to the inclusion of Romania in Schengen – that the cancellation of this exhibition represents an alarm signal regarding the lack of reciprocity in Romanian-Austrian diplomatic relations,” added the director of the National Art Museum in Timișoara.