Klaus Albrecht Schröder stands in the entrance hall of the Albertina and answers questions from an ORF team.

One would like to know from the director of the Vienna Art Museum what he thinks of the actions of the climate-moving "last generation".

Schröder doesn't mince his words, "at the risk of killing myself in front of the camera".

Although the activists claimed they wanted no harm, they were doing significant harm simply by requiring a venue like the Albertina to devote resources to extra checks and to tax the patience of its visitors.

And Schröder doesn't think much of actions like the Tyrolean State Museum, which provides activists with a space to spill tomato soup or mashed potatoes.

Stephen Lowenstein

Political correspondent based in Vienna.

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Not one who wants to take consideration for a possible contract extension speaks like that.

Schröder's appointment as general director of the Albertina expires at the end of 2024.

Then it should be over for him after 26 years, he says in an interview with this newspaper.

He decided that himself.

"I didn't want people to ask themselves: do we have to take it out?" Under Schröder, the house, which was previously based primarily on his collection of classic prints, was modernized and expanded, both in terms of space and content.

A significant impetus came from the integration of the Batliner Collection with many works of classical modernism - a time that, in the words of Schröder, historically passed the "imperial collections" of Austria.

Even if this means a long lead time,

The position will be advertised in the coming weeks.

"In the first quarter", is confirmed in the house of the responsible Austrian Secretary of State for Culture, Andrea Mayer (nominated by the Greens).

One stands with it "in absolute agreement", is assured on both sides.

The White Men's Canon

If that is the case, then Schröder's word should also have weight in the succession plan.

On the one hand, he speaks of the hope for lively European participation in the call for entries, but also of a "qualified personality" from within the company and means Angela Stief, the chief curator of contemporary art and director of the Albertina Modern.

"She runs this house very well and is at home in the classic modern style." Of course: "The decision lies with politicians."

Stief, born in Augsburg but has been working in Vienna for two and a half decades, took up the position at the newly formed modern branch of the Albertina in the summer of 2020.

The left-liberal "Standard" described her as a "scratchy luminary" and with the keywords "feminist, diverse and young".

The “Diversity in Sex, Race and Gender” exhibition planned for the coming fall will serve as an ID card.

According to the announcement, the image that previous exhibitions and collections had given the Albertina was deeply one-sided, shaped by white men from Michelangelo to Warhol.

"The 21st century has shattered that canon."

Asked if diversity isn't a buzzword, he replies: "Sure, but if you want to use a buzzword to insinuate that it's insubstantial and maybe has no justification, then I would disagree." He is not an uncritical admirer of movements like " Woke or MeToo, diversity, gender or whatever, because they build barriers more than they break them down.”

But their justification is undeniable.

“What movement, born of a deep grievance, does not overshoot?

Does that make the movement obsolete?

No."

Schröder refers to Basquiat's recently completed exhibition.

This attracted an audience that had previously hardly been noticed in the Albertina, many people with black skin.

“Why did it take so long for me to do a program that you feel is relevant and up to date for you as well?

Why didn't we do this earlier without throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

Has Michelangelo become less important as a result?

No speech!

But we have to reflect social diversity.

A museum changes with social development.”