Language-discriminating logo at the Bündner Kunstmuseum must go

The lettering had already caused irritation among Graubünden's linguistic minorities before the ceremonial opening of the 28-million-franc building in June 2016. "Bündner Kunst Museum Chur" was prominently displayed - graphically arranged in a rectangle - on the entrance façade of the showpiece building. Correspondences in Romansh or Italian were missing, on the front and on the three other sides as well. At the time, the language associations Lia Rumantscha and Pro Grigioni Italiano said that this was insensitive to language policy. In addition, the monolingual lettering violated the ordinance to the Graubünden language law, according to which signs on cantonal buildings in Chur must be in all three cantonal languages.

No inscription but logo

The lettering of the new building is not a text, but a graphic logo, and the building is not actually inscribed with it, defended the top Graubünden master builder, government councilor Mario Cavigelli (CVP), the linguistic monoculture. But since the logo was not necessarily recognizable as such, it would be improved, he promised. The plan was to add the words "Museum d'art dal Grischun" and "Museo d'arte dei Grigioni" to one side wall of the building each. However, nothing will come of it, as the canton announced on Thursday. Apparently, the logo cannot be designed satisfactorily in Rhaeto-Romanic and Italian. The canton's solution to the graphic-linguistic dilemma is pragmatic: the language-discriminating word-picture mark will be removed from the noble facade. It is unclear whether this is the last stroke in the difficult museum labeling. It is true that the Office of Culture will revise the communicative appearance of the art museum as far as the logo is concerned. The new version should take into account the three official cantonal languages. Whether, how and where the politically correct logo will be emblazoned on the museum, however, remains open. (SDA)

Photo: Chur Art Museum; Ralph Feiner