Kobel's
Art Weekly

Kobel's Art Weekly 13 2026

After much hesitation, Art Dubai has decided not to cancel its upcoming April edition, but to hold it in a modified format in mid-May, according to its website: “We are planning to move forward with Art Dubai 2026 in an adapted format at Madinat Jumeirah, taking place 14–17 May 2026. This edition will take the form of a more focused and flexible format, bringing together galleries, artists and institutions through a combination of presentations, collaborations and public programming.” Furthermore, the fair is breaking new ground with its pricing model, reports Melissa Gronlund in the Art Newspaper (possibly behind a paywall): “The funding model is also being adapted. According to the email, participating dealers will not have to pay stand fees for this edition, but will instead pay a percentage of their turnover, which is, however, capped at the equivalent of the stand fee. Stand prices for Art Dubai 2026 are US$739 per square metre (plus VAT) – ranging from around US$15,000 for a small stand to around US$60,000 for a large stand. Gallerists who do not wish to participate in the 2026 edition must nevertheless pay a stand fee in advance, which will be credited towards the 2027 edition."

Silvia Anna Barrilà reported on an increasingly reputable MIA Photo Fair BNP Paribas for Il Sole 24 Ore: “111 exhibitors took part, including 76 galleries (in line with last year), 27 international and 24 participating for the first time. The event attracted a large number of visitors both at the vernissage, on Wednesday 18 March, with 2,500 visitors, and on the opening days. Like last year, the quality of the event has risen, although it remains uneven and sometimes not sufficiently showcased in small stands. The city is also increasingly involved, with an off-circuit of exhibitions and photography projects that also take place in venues not usually used for art“. Sabine B. Vogel was in Milan for the Viennese Presse (paywall), whilst I was there for Artmagazine.

Martin Moeller-Pisani touches on the waning of US market dominance in certain niches in an interview with Ursula Scheer for the FAZ on 21 March, ahead of the Salon du Dessin in Paris: “Since I took part in the Salon, I haven’t exhibited in New York because the most important American museum representatives and collectors come to Paris in March. Last year I met over twenty curators from German print rooms alone. The audience at the Salon du Dessin is international, but the great enthusiasm of the French visitors for the subject of hand drawings makes this fair incomparable.”

Nate Freeman reveals the grand plans of the Murdochs – MCH major shareholder James and his wife Kathryn – in Vanity Fair: “‘BASEL PROJECT’ was a code name for what I can reveal is called the Futurific Institute. Sources I spoke to, who are close to the project, did not hide the ambition behind it. Set to launch in 2028, the festival will take place in Basel, Switzerland, a few months after the art fair, making the most of the Rhineland’s summer weather, to immediately compete with thought-leader gatherings in posh mountain towns: the Davos Festival, the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, etc. [...] It’ll be a completely separate enterprise, with a different mission, from Art Basel, but the city’s art infrastructure will very much play a part. And it’s the only ideas festival that insiders have compared to the Venice Biennale. I mentioned the peace talks. It was emphasised to me that Basel has long been a place where world leaders feel comfortable working out ways to collaborate, perhaps over sumptuous servings of raclette.”

Ursula Scheer discusses the possible implications of Banksy’s alleged unmasking for his standing in the art market in the FAZ (paywall): “Banksy, or Cunningham, or Jones, was able to operate within the system whilst remaining anonymous, seemingly without becoming part of it, evading legal liability, institutional control and celebrity culture. A Banksy who is no longer anonymous could assert copyright claims, but could also be prosecuted for defamation or vandalism. How the authorities in Venice would proceed if he were to spray-paint a historic building again would likely depend on whether he can retain his aura as an artist. Will the love for him fade away like the heart-shaped balloon in ‘Love is in the Bin’, if instead of a phantom, a white, middle-aged average Englishman leaves images behind somewhere? Banksy is too famous for that and has already been unmasked as the suspected Cunningham for too long.” In any case, he can now assert his copyright (and resale rights).

From his parallel universe, Ulf Poschardt reports in the WeLT (paywall) with a whimsical explanation of why Wolfram Weimer failed: “Not because of a lack of political conviction or drive, but simply and plainly because the bourgeoisie lacks the correct analysis – and likewise the cultural and aesthetic tools that would be urgently required to find one’s way in a structure, constructed in a unique manner by left-wing predecessors, that is virtually feudal.” It has not even escaped this man’s notice that, over the last 20 years, the post of Minister of State for Culture was held by CDU members for 16 years. Yet they were, he claims, virtually subservient to the Left. If CDU membership is now considered left-wing, we are already much further down the road than feared. His supposedly bourgeois fever dream ends with the radical demand: “Bourgeois politics has no chance unless it withdraws state funding from the established cultural sector, public service broadcasters and NGOs.” What a shame for the Richard Wagner Festival, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Pergamon Museum and the Central Council of Jews.

Ulrich Seidler attempts to shed light on the tightly woven web of Berlin CDU corruption in the Berliner Zeitung (paywall): “There are thousands of pages documenting, on the one hand, the administration’s beautiful, abbreviation-laden boilerplate language, but on the other hand also the vigorous exercise of power and, according to an internal anti-corruption report available to the Berliner Zeitung, evidence of rule violations amounting to gross negligence. If this were the case and it resulted in damage to the state, Senator for Culture Sarah Wedl-Wilson could be held personally liable. The Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office refuses to confirm that an initial suspicion is already being investigated, as the Tagesspiegel reported without citing sources.” Although the independent Wedl-Wilson merely inherited this Augean stable and is said to have been pressured by some of its occupants. Beyond the current issue, however, the article also illustrates how administrative processes work, which in turn explains why many things in Germany run the way they do – or indeed why they do not. Incidentally, the AfD exploits these administrative structures by throwing a spanner in the works wherever it can, so that it can subsequently point the finger at “the established parties” for their alleged inaction.

The U.S. HEAR Act on restitution could have serious consequences in Germany as well, including for the loan of cultural property, reports Simon Emmerlich on BR24: "In fact, the U.S. now interprets the scope for lawsuits—including those filed by foreign nationals—very broadly. The only requirement is that the cultural institution being sued engages in commercial activities in the US. In many cases, this is likely to be the case, for example, through loan agreements between museums. In addition, there is the fact that—on the other hand...

The spectacular collapse of the Munich porcelain shop Röbbig is worth a whole page in the Sächsische Zeitung, on which Ulrich Wolf, Jakob Hammerschmidt and Oliver Reinhard lay out the results of their research: “Insolvency administrator Dino Straub justifies the insolvency application filed in June 2025 with ‘long-standing financial difficulties on the part of the owner’.” Turnover has reportedly fallen sharply since 2022. Furthermore, there are ‘additional tax claims running into the millions’. He put the debts owed to the 39 creditors registered so far at 17 million euros, of which he has so far accepted 2.8 million euros.” However, it is not clear how they make the connection to the financial difficulties of today’s Meissen porcelain manufactory.

Yves Bouvier is in court once again, reports Vincent Noce in the Art Newspaper (possibly behind a paywall). The case still concerns missing Picassos.

Gesine Borcherdt pays tribute to the late collector Egidio Marzona in the WeLT of 21 March: “Yet the opening of the Archive of the Avant-gardes in May 2024 was overshadowed by tragedy: Marzona’s son, the gallery owner and art historian Daniel Marzona, had died unexpectedly just ten days earlier. A blow from which the father never recovered. Egidio Marzona died on 15 March. With him we lose not only a unique collector, but one whose intellect and intuition unerringly guided him through the fine print of art history. His style, his instinct and his quiet sense of humour will be sorely missed.”