Daniel J. Schreiber seems euphoric. This Thursday, February 1st, he will start as the new director of the municipal museums in Landshut. “I’m very happy,” says the 58-year-old art historian. “This is a great opportunity.” And it helps to cope with the fact that last August he was completely unexpectedly terminated without notice after ten years as the successful head of the Buchheim Museum. “I received so much encouragement in Landshut, it was good for me,” he says and immediately begins to rave about the wonderful historical cityscape and the enormous development potential that lies in all the museums.
In the future, he will be responsible for several exhibition venues: The most famous is the Koenig Museum, which is dedicated to the Landshut sculptor Fritz Koenig (1924‒2017) and his collections and has its own director, Alexandra von Arnim. Almost next door is the old Franciscan monastery, which houses the Kasimir Children’s Museum and the Landshut Museum, a house for city and regional history with valuable objects and numerous temporary exhibitions. The city began renovating the monastery years ago; the first construction phase was completed at the end of 2016. Completed plans are available for the next renovation step.
As a passionate exhibition organizer, Schreiber is particularly enthusiastic about the rooms in the Heiliggeist Hospital Church in the Lower Old Town. Schreiber thinks they are ideal for installations. Katharina Grosse would work well here, but so would Olafur Eliasson. But of course, these are all just pipe dreams so far. The first thing now is to make all the existing treasures even more visible.
To begin with, he decided to talk to everyone. “That’s my main job.” And talks about all the nice, friendly people he has had coffee with or talked to. “The culture of conversation here is great. You can see the determined will to advance culture,” says the new museum director. And what about the Ganslberg, Koenig’s home and workplace, whose future use has been discussed for years? “This is not a municipal museum,” replies Schreiber. But of course, there is no patent solution for this.
He had already considered Landshut as a workplace in 2020 when the management position at the Koenig Museum was advertised. At that time he backed out at the last moment; the city council had already decided in favor of him. He explained this decision in a conversation at the time that he wasn’t finished with the Buchheim Museum yet. “I wasn’t either,” he says now. And adds that he still had ideas for the house on Lake Starnberg until he retired.
Schreiber continues to stand by his lawsuit against the dismissal without notice. Ultimately, he had to defend himself against the unjustified accusations that the Buchheim Foundation was making against him. “The false allegations against me that are now being made will not be made any more correct by the new job,” he says. “I want to be fully rehabilitated.” Incidentally, he explained exactly what had happened to his new employer, but also to the city council. “They positively evaluated my transparency and supported me.” And luckily he didn’t blame him for his previous rejection.
The date of the hearing before the labor court has not yet been set; the conciliation hearing last October failed. Walter Schön, CEO of the Buchheim Foundation, believes that Schreiber will probably no longer sue for reinstatement. He says he is happy that Schreiber has a new job. “We wish him that he can build on his successes at the Buchheim Museum!”