Brief Enrico Lunghi

1. Enrico Lunghi to Cimam board and members 1/3
Enrico Lunghi
Luxembourg
To CIMAM
Dear Bartomeu Mari, President,
Dear membres,
Dear collegues,
Dear friends,
Herewith I have the regret to inform you that I cancel my participation at the Congress in
Barcelona and that I withdraw my candidature from the upcoming board elections.
The reason for this is that I will quit the direction of Mudam by the end of the year : I sent
my resignation letter a few days ago to the President of the Mudam board.
I explain briefly why I came to that decision :
In the evening of Monday October 3rd, RTL Lëtzebuerg (national TV station) broadcasted a
show called « De Nol op de Kapp » in which I was accused to have « hurted » a journalist,
Mrs Sophie Schram, during the interview she did with me on September 13th. In that show,
the lawyer of RTL, Mr Pol Urbany, announced that Mrs Schram would take me to court for
« assault and battery ». It has to be noted that two weeks before, on Tuesday September
20th, the interview was broadcasted on the same channel without mentioning this
« incident ».
This « incident » became the big theme in the media in Luxembourg on Tuesday October
4th : it was aboundandly commented that I « agressed » a journalist who filed a complaint
against me (actually it appeared a few days later that the complaint has never been filed).
In the morning of that day, the President of the Luxembourg Journalist Association (ALJ), Mr
Roger Infalt, declared that « the scene is frightening » and that the ALJ would back Mrs
Sophie Schram with juridical support (it came out a few days later that actually she has no
press card and is not member of ALJ).
A few hours later, Mr Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and Minister of
Communication and Media, declared to the media that he was « shocked » by the images he
saw on TV and that he would carry out a disciplinary procedure against me as my attitude
was « unacceptable » and « undignified ». I have to say that neither he, nor anyone at the
the Ministry, never asked me about my version of the facts.

2. Enrico Lunghi to Cimam board and members 2/3
On Wednesday October 5th in the afternoon, after some hesitations, I apologized in a public
letter to Mrs Sophie Schram, regretting my « outburst (emportement) » : after that, RTL
immediately declared that the complaint against me would be withdrawn (actually, it was
not even filed) and that the affair was « closed » from their point of view.
On Thursday October 6, the Mudam board came together in an extraordinary session to
debate on my case (I was partly present in the meeting and could present my version of the
facts) : in the afternoon, the Mudam board published a press release in which it announced
that it would « deeply regret my inappopriate attitude (attitude déplacée) and disapprove
my outburst (emportement) » but on the basis of my excuses and explanations it would
« renew its confidence » in me.
The Ministry of Culture than announced that nevertheless, the disciplinary procedure
against me would not be interrupted and this is still in process at the present day.
It is needless to say that I did not hurt in any way Mrs Schram. It’s true that during that
interview I got nervous for a few seconds and that I pushed down her microphone because I
wanted to talk to her « off the record » before continuing to answer her questions, as the
way the interview was held was not bearable. But this little sequence (a dozen of seconds in
a total of 20 minutes of recording - in fact, we continued the interview after that
« outburst » and I answered to all following questions of Mrs Schram) was mounted and
falsified (a section of the sound track was cut out and put on other images) in a way that I
seem to have overreacted heavyly, wich was than underlined in the TV show with grotesque
images of Sophie Schram’s arm being bandaged and with doubious medical certificates
(according to the TV show of October 3rd, she has seen the doctor on September 24th, that
means more than 10 days after we did the interview and 4 days after the broadcasting of the
interview on September 20th).
The « incident » nevertheless provoqued a big buzz in the social networks and in the media
(not only in Luxembourg : in F.A.Z. of October 7th it was written that « Mudam Director
Enrico Lunghi twisted - sic ! - the arm of a journalist and tried to tear off - sic ! - her
microphone. Unluckyly for him, the camera was recording »).
It is important to mention that many friends, personalities and an significative part of the
cultural scene (as well as many journalists) in Luxembourg immediately expressed a massive
and sympathetic support to me, as well in newspapers than on social networks : this was a
great help to me during those awful days which than, as I was suffering from insomnia,
vertigo and nausea, caused me a 2 weeks sick leave (for the first time in my professional
life).
Now : I had the chance and honor to run a contemporary art institution for over 20 years in
Luxembourg, first Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain, than Mudam.
I did this with professionalism, honesty and sincerity, even though I was often criticized and
had to face lots of pressures.

3. Enrico Lunghi to Cimam board and members 3/3
But since the TV show of October 3rd, I cannot go on doing what I have to do with the same
commitment and freedom of thought, especially as the Mudam board did not express a real
support to me.
I know I can resist to all professional critics because of the quality of my work, but I cannot
accept the vile and dishonest violation of my honor and reputation.
I will sue the authors of this defamation.
I also asked to reintegrate the public service (I was in unpaid leave since I left Casino to be
employed by Mudam), preferably in the domain of research or teaching of modern and
contemporary art.
I had fantastic time in running first Casino, than Mudam, and thanks to the wonderful,
competent and stimulating teams in both institutions, we could realize during the last 20
years an outstanding and very exciting artistic program : I’m am very happy and proud of it !
This also allowed me to meet great artists, collegues and friends abroad, to make fantastic
collaborations with institutions all over Europe and beyond, and to be part of IKT and
CIMAM, which I deeply enjoyed.
I want to thank all of you for each shared moment and exchange, and hope to see you again
in the future in whatever constellation life will offer.
I wish you a friendly and successful Congress and remain close to you in heart and thoughts.
Enrico Lunghi
Luxembourg, November 6th, 2016.
I send this letter also to Julia Draganovic, President of IKT.
p.s.
I recommand to everybody to read (or read again) « Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum »
by Heinrich Böll : first published in 1974, this book is still extremely topical.