Eike Schmidt, Director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, gives the keynote speech at the opening of the Italy Forum of the Rhine-Main Universities in Mainz. The museum has preserved art for 500 years. Against the background of Italy’s new government, this long tradition of the Uffizi is a “great strength”, but there is also a “huge need for reform”, says Schmidt on SWR2.
No extreme innovations in cultural policy to be expected
Even if the Uffizi Gallery has always been state-run, Schmidt does not expect any extreme innovations in cultural policy from the new Georgia Melonis government.
The Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano explained that he was concerned with continuity and that things that had already been started should be continued. However, Schmidt sees a need for reforms:
“The time of the reforms was relatively short, that was from 2014 to 2015. There is certainly further need for reform, even quite enormous – both in the museum area and in the area of music, theater and dance.”
Cooperation between cultural institutions as a diplomatic strategy
The fact that Italian cultural institutions like the Uffizi work together with other countries is also part of a diplomatic strategy, Schmidt continued.
The museum is currently working with the Museum Pfalzgalerie in Kaiserslautern on an exhibition on the painter Rudolf Levy in autumn 2023, and the Uffizi Gallery is also lending the current exhibition on Guido Reni to the Städel Museum in Frankfurt.
“These are projects that will definitely be continued and are also part of the program of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” says Eike Schmidt.
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