The National Art Museum of Timisoara canceled on Thursday an exhibition the museum was supposed to hold in 2024 due to Austria’s vote against Romania joining the Schengen area.

Philip Petcu, director of the National Art Museum of Timisoara, announced on Thursday evening on his personal Facebook page that the museum was canceling an event targeting Austrian artists because “we have to take a stand” because “after what happened”. today, related to the position of Austria in relation to Romania”.

He also released a screenshot of an email sent to Austrian partners.

“I believe, in the context of Austria’s actions related to Romania’s accession to Schengen, that the cancellation of this exhibition is an alarming signal about the lack of reciprocity in Romanian-Austrian diplomatic relations,” he told Cultura la duba.

When asked which exhibition it was about, he did not reveal either the artist or the subject, but said the following:

“I don’t want to name names, I don’t consider it relevant or constructive, but we are talking about the initiative of an Austrian businessman to organize an exhibition of an Austrian artist in 2024 at the MNArt, an event that would be evaluated as a confirmation in the direction of good Romanian-Austrian cooperation, which also involves a dialogue between the works of the relevant person and the heritage of the museum. This event has a certain diplomatic connection, which I will not talk about.”

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