The_Art_Newspaper_-_November_2016

THE ART NEWSPAPER Number 284, November 2016 59

Museums are

the diplomats of

the 21st century

Why a show in Berlin of Tehran’s superb collection of Modern art

is a crucial part of Germany’s foreign policy

COMMENT

& ANALYSIS

STEINMEIER: BERND VON JUTRCZENKA. GOERGEN: © AXL JANSEN

ANDREAS

GÖRGEN

Director-general

for culture and

communication,

Federal Foreign

Oce, Berlin

T

he Modern art collec-

tion founded in Iran

under the auspices

of the last empress

Farah Pahlavi before

the 1979 revolution is

travelling abroad. The

collection, which is

housed in the Tehran Museum of Contem-

porary Art, includes paintings by Picasso,

Rothko, Kandinsky, Pollock, Warhol and

Bacon as well as many Iranian artists. It

is to be shown at the Gemäldegalerie in

Berlin from 4 December (until 5 March

2017) before travelling to Rome.

The Tehran Museum of Contemporary

Arts, the Stiftung Preussischer Kul-

turbesitz [Prussian Cultural Heritage

Foundation] in Berlin and Rome’s

MaXXI museum are planning a large

exhibition showing contemporary

Western and Persian art, which opens

in Berlin in December, and then will

move on to Rome in April 2017.

This is the first time the Tehran

collection will be exhibited outside

Iran; showing such important pieces

will certainly raise awareness, both in

Europe and Iran, of the history these

masterpieces share. The German Gov-

ernment’s commissioner for culture,

Monika Gruetters, has welcomed this

project as a “strong signal of cultural

policies” and the German Ministry

of Foreign Afairs is happy to provide

actual day-to-day support because we

see in it a tremendous foreign policy

opportunity. We believe that art has

to be protected as an open, free space

where diferent views can be expressed

to counterbalance the simplifica-

tions of ideology and through which

dialogue can be held with all partners,

even those who do not share our values

and world view.

SHARED HERITAGE

The reflective power of cultural

policies stands for “shaping through

understanding”—it is a strong plat-

form upon which we can begin to

build policy. As Germany’s interna-

tional role has become more promi-

nent, so has the push for a better delin-

eated cultural strategy. The German

Foreign Ministry, along with Parlia-

ment, is rising to the challenge with

additional funding, new partnerships

and enhanced global co-operation.

Of course, cultural and educational

work do not translate automatically

into a peace dividend. And yet, in a

conflict-driven world in search of a

new order, these kinds of initiatives

are indispensable as they provide real

opportunities for better understanding

between all the people involved.

Museums are at the vanguard of cul-

tural work—they are the diplomats of

the 21st century—particularly because

exhibitions are more than just about

the art on show. They can be used as

a platform for dialogue and exchange,

especially when working with challeng-

ing partners. Where Iran is concerned,

there are some who may question if

the time is right to move forward with

this type of co-operation, and some

may even take an open stand against

these projects. Those opinions are

important. We know this project may

spark criticism, but that makes the

attempt at conversation all the more

necessary. Many of the paintings on

loan from Tehran are part of Europe’s

cultural heritage as well as Iran’s. By

showing them in Berlin and Rome,

we are sending a message of a shared

cultural heritage to Iran and support-

ing the attempts at finding common

ground we can build upon.

More generally, we believe it is

important for countries to interact

not only on the policy and trade level,

but to create—and then support and

protect—open spaces for culture,

where civil society can participate in

dialogue. Alongside our partners in

Germany, such as the Goethe Institut

and the German Academic Exchange

Service, and in the US, including

the Smithsonian Institution, we are

working to connect societies through

cultural and educational actions.

This is all about protecting those

spaces outside the realm of politics in

order to give people a way of under-

standing mindsets and models of

perceptions prevalent within a society.

This is why we foster projects with

the Eastern partnership in countries

such as Ukraine, engage in cultural

and linguistic work in Saudi Arabia or

negotiate an agreement on cultural

co-operation with Cuba.

CRISIS REGIONS

Cultural and educational work has a

crucial role to play, as does co-operation

with civil society in other countries,

especially in crisis regions. An example

of our eforts is the Leadership for Syria

programme, which provides educa-

tional scholarships for Syrian refugees

in Germany. Another important

example: in 2015, 20 organisations,

including the German-Jordanian Uni-

versity, the Oice of the United Nations

High Commissioner for Refugees and

the German Archaeological Institute,

joined forces on the “Stunde Null”

(New Start) project, which is preparing

for reconstruction in Syria once the

security situation allows for it. Even if

this appears to be a distant prospect at

the moment, it is important to work

towards it by welcoming academics

and students whose careers in Syria are

interrupted by the war, or by working

through the Goethe Institut Damascus

in exile, which is now in Berlin.

Cultural relations and education

policy are an indispensable part of

foreign policy, particularly in diicult

times and when collaborating with

diicult partners.

We foster projects in

countries such as Cuba,

Ukraine and Saudi Arabia

The German foreign minister Franz-Walter Steinmeier (second from right) looks at a painting by Jackson Pollock in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, during his visit to the Iranian capital in 2015