Open Letter of S.V.U. Mánes

We learned from the press that the rector of the AAAD in Prague, PhDr. Ing. Pavel Liška, assessed the exhibition activities at the government office as a self-appointed arbitrator in a letter to Prime Minister Topolánek and vulgarized the level of work of Prof. Boris Jirků, who is exhibiting here and is a member of our association.

As proponents of free decision-making and the associated responsibility in all personal, social, and artistic matters, we believe that, just like anyone else, the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic can present whomever it deems appropriate in its building. If it requires expert advice, it will surely take advantage of the opportunity to nominate the relevant experts, but it must be added that today’s relaxed criteria for artistic quality do not guarantee objective evaluation even in such cases.

Basic ethical rules should always apply, and the level of professional artistic criticism should be upheld. It is sad and shocking that these criteria were not met by the new rector of the AAAD, who has significantly abused his position.

We believe that similar outbursts will not go unanswered, as they contribute to the gradual vulgarization of society as a whole and with it the cultural environment.

Prof. Ak. soch. Vladimír Preclík (Chairman of S.V.U. Mánes)
Ing. Tomáš Novotný (Vice-Chairman of S.V.U. Mánes)
Ak. mal. Václav Špale (Secretary of S.V.U. Mánes)

In Prague, on October 8, 2007