Long live the President! Marion Ackermann takes over the Prussian Foundation with a ceremony
First, the good stuff: We're in the Neues Museum, which was renovated with the utmost sensitivity and grandeur by the architect Chipperfield and also houses the mysterious Nefertiti. A very capable man, President Hermann Parzinger , is being bid farewell after an incredible 17 years. Moreover, and for once everyone agrees on this, a very good successor has been found, whom they will be welcoming this Wednesday afternoon: Marion Ackermann, a Dresden native, a museum manager well-versed in both East and West German issues, the first woman to head Germany's most important art institution: the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation .
Yes, and then we're also attending a "ceremonial act." What kind of good, completely outdated word is that? It sounds like an officially mandated party, which will definitely not be fun. After all, a "change of office is being officially completed" here and now, and as a representative of the public, you're invited to it. And of course you're happy about it. A bit of humility, a bit of grandeur, a bit of straightening your back. Things are looking good here in the stairwell of the Neues Museum, with the select audience of city leaders and past and present sitting to the side, and the press out the back. Everything is lighting up, there's excitement, the band Folkadu is playing some Jewish folk music, and one thing immediately becomes apparent: this brand-new Minister of State for Culture and Media, Wolfram Weimer , is a very tall man. To his right sits the old president, to his left the new president, Weimer towering over them like a chimney. He is both their employer. And he also speaks first.
How can you celebrate farewell and new beginnings at the same time? Two people's lives are certainly having a very big day at the moment of the change of command! And you rarely get such an international high-culture vibe in Berlin, although some guests have to go to the next room: livestream. It's a bit cramped here, but behind them are the enormous columns, and in front of it, the tall Weimer, who has a nice tan because the sun must always shine at Tegernsee, where he lives.
There are farewells, but they aren't really farewells, the new Minister of State begins philosophically. Yes, this is a "coronation." President of the foundation, that would be a "quasi-royal office," and Parzinger has taken it to the fullest. As a listener, one is naturally delighted to see how Mr. Weimer, who, even before his own inauguration two weeks ago, was being seriously questioned by the left-leaning cultural scene he oversees and his predecessor because of his extremely conservative worldview, casually glides into royalty right from the second sentence.
Neither Parzinger nor Ackermann will even begin to define themselves or their mission in this way, as soon becomes clear. Weimer then praises Parzinger's talent as a bridge-builder, saying that he rose from a true Bavarian to become an Upper Prussian, indeed, a "Goethean lion." Accordingly, he leaves behind a foundation as strong as a lion, and thanks to decades of reform, it is poised for great success. Then there's a quote from Heinrich Kleist about Caspar David Friedrich . That's it, and that's it. That's the way to do it.
More speeches follow. Michael Kretschmer speaks freely and intelligently; it's clear that the Saxon Minister-President is thoroughly familiar with the relevant processes. But why doesn't he talk about Ms. Ackermann, whom he knows very well from Saxony? Dr. Markschies, President of the Academy of Sciences, has something wonderful about his nerdy, far too long, and far too meaningful manner—very masculine and very East German. The new Berlin Senator for Culture, Sarah Wedl-Wilson, speaks concisely, soberly, balanced, very femininely, and very well. The architect David Chipperfield is surprised that Parzinger still looks so "boyish"; he can't retire yet, surely.
The image that emerges is of a Parzinger who always led this enormous institution calmly but correctly. The figures alone are impressive: 4.7 million artifacts, an annual budget of over 400 million euros, 2,000 employees in 19 of Germany's most important museums, as well as the State Library, the Secret State Archives, and numerous research institutions. Parzinger, an archaeologist by training, nevertheless remained an intellectual and scholar. This, he says, is precisely what made him, and the institution, strong.
And then, finally, comes the formal presentation of the certificates! One for Parzinger, one for Ackermann. Goodbye and hello. The Federal President and Chancellor have also signed, says Minister of State Weimer. The two honorees look honored. And then they give their own speeches.
Today it is about the return of colonial and Nazi-looted artParzinger also gets political in this regard. He worries about the freedom of art and culture, especially in the US, as well as the right-wing cultural war that is spreading in Germany. He worked in Russia for 30 years and is very attached to the country, but since Putin's war, his affection has increasingly turned into dislike.
On this day, it becomes clear how the business has changed in recent years, how central collecting is now less important than the return of colonial and Nazi-looted art, and how important provenance research is. And how right her successor, Ackermann, is, who, as director of the SKD in Dresden, has rendered outstanding services to precisely these issues. Including enormous trouble with the AfD. Marion Ackermann takes office on June 1st; later, she quotes Fontane and Walter Benjamin, speaking about the wonderful slowness of art and culture. Parzinger and she embrace warmly.
Both speeches convey that a job like this, for such an institution, is all about networking, collaboration, and speaking to one another as equals. It's less about royalty. Two questions remain from the ceremony: Where was the Governing Mayor? And how drunk was Goethe when he wrote these words, quoted by Marion Ackermann: "I can look around as much as I want, but success seems impossible to me except in Berlin."
Berliner-zeitung
