– Six months after his arrival, the director of Mudac is thanked
In full flight, the Lausanne arts district is shaken by the decision communicated on Tuesday. Her probationary period ended, Beatrice Leanza is no longer at the head of the design museum.
Beatrice Leanza, then director of Mudac, in February, during the press presentation of the year’s exhibitions on the Platform 10 site.
PATRICK MARTIN
Impressive, his CV did not allow Beatrice Leanza to go beyond his probationary period. The director of Mudac (cantonal museum of design and contemporary applied arts) took office on 1er January 2023. The management of the Platform 10 Foundation, embodied by patrick gyger and who, on behalf of the Canton, oversees the three museum institutions, has made the decision “not to continue its collaboration.”
In a press release of a few lines released at the end of the afternoon, this Tuesday, July 4, the direction of the Lausanne arts district invokes “divergences of a strategic nature noted by the Platform 10 Foundation which did not make it possible to confirm the commitment of Mr.me Leanza.” And she sticks to this press release, not wishing to say more. Except that the interim is provided by the current deputy director, Marco Costantini, long tipped for the post.
Even if, today, the phones remain off and the tongues do not want to loosen up, including that of Beatrice Leanza, her “strong personality” had marked the site from the outset. As well as, in cultural circles and in the public, his lack of practice and interest in the French language. Within the teams on the Platform 10 site and behind the scenes, some spoke more and more loudly of “humanly difficult relationships”.
Chosen unanimously
Last arrival in the current ruling trio – after the retirements of Bernard Fibicher (MCBA), Chantal Prod’Hom (Mudac) and the flight towards other intentions of Tatyana Franck (Photo Elysée) – the Milanese Art historian was driven by an international career and reputation. She directed between 2019 and 2021 the MAAT (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology) in Lisbon after leading Beijing Design Week, the main design platform in China, between 2013 and 2016. During her seventeen years in China, the graduate of the University of Venice also led the China Art Archives and Warehouse, a gallery founded by the visual artist Ai Weiwei.
In February of this year, the directors of the three museums and the Platform 10 Foundation (from left to right: Nathalie Herschdorfer, Juri Steiner, Beatrice Leanza and Patrick Gyger) presented the program for Lausanne’s new arts district.
PATRICK MARTIN/24HOURS
When her appointment was announced in Lausanne on July 12, 2022, after a procedure that had taken time and a round with several candidates by invitation (according to the Portuguese press), the Platform 10 press release specified that Beatrice Leanza had convinced the selection jury unanimously for “his professional profile combining an acute creative sense with an internationally recognized know-how, from Asia to Europe, in the development of innovative strategies for cultural companies”.
As for Patrick Gyger, he specified that of the three candidates in the final phase for the replacement of Chantal Prod’Hom, Beatrice Leanza had made the difference “thanks to her very broad views on design, a promise of renewal, and to a very rich background, an international network and experience as a museum director, with undeniable assets in the management of cultural projects”.
Now, in the press release of the day and immediately after the announcement of its decision, the management of Platform 10 “wishes the best for the rest of his professional career” to Beatrice Leanza.
Florence Millioud joined the cultural section in 2011 out of a passion for people of culture, after having covered local politics and the economy since 1994. An art historian, she collaborates in the writing of exhibition catalogs and monographic works on artists.More informations
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