Kobel's Art Weekly

Kobel's Art Weekly 22 2025

Art Basel is launching a new fair in Qatar, it announced in a press release. In an interview with SRF, Monopol editor-in-chief Elke Buhr explains why she believes the expansion is necessary: "It's about maintaining and stabilising the overall business. Art Basel is an international company that competes with other art fairs – for example, the Frieze Art Fair in London. This fair has also continued to expand. If Art Basel wants to maintain its position as the world's most important contemporary art fair, it must therefore consider expanding." Scott Reyburn offers his assessment in the New York Times: "The government's efforts to increase its international relevance are partly motivated by Qatar's vulnerabilities, experts say. In 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar, which they accused of supporting terrorism and meddling in their internal affairs. Qatar denied the accusations but was effectively isolated in the region until relations were gradually repaired, beginning in 2021." Rhea Nayyar expresses criticism at Hyperallergic: ‘In response to Hyperallergic's inquiries about the potential impact of Qatari laws on freedom of expression, a spokesperson said, “Art Basel Qatar, like Art Basel's other fairs, will be curatorially and operationally independent.”’ [...] Not everyone is optimistic about the fair's pledge to remain autonomous in a country plagued by human rights abuses, among them Volker-Johannes Trieb, a German sculptor, performance artist, and activist who is urging artists to boycott the event. ‘A country that adorns itself with the glitz and glamour of football, art, and culture systematically conceals the exploitation, disenfranchisement, and disregard for human rights — especially towards migrant workers, whose living and working conditions remain catastrophic,’ Trieb told Hyperallergic in a statement. Ursula Scheer takes a sober view of the announcement in the FAZ: "This outlines the contours of a contemporary art fair for Islamic countries and beyond, in a region where neither democracy nor human rights – as Western export goods in crisis anyway – are market leaders. In return, it has enormous financial power, is developing dynamically and is home to a large clientele with a growing appetite for luxury and cultural goods. There are still growth opportunities here for the art trade, which has been weakening internationally in the top segment for years, and new groups of collectors can be addressed." I comment on the coup for Monopol.

In hardly any of the 15 cities where it is held, an Affordable Art Fair is likely to be mentioned in the trade press. Except in Vienna. Here, Die Presse, ORF (audio), Falter, Artmagazine and Parnass about the event. As if there weren't enough art fairs in the city already. For context: Ikea is a partner of the Vienna event.

The exciting fairs on the periphery, on the other hand, receive hardly any attention. While two German-language media representatives made their way to Stockholm, I was the only foreign journalist at the opening of the RAD Art Fair in Bucharest (here are my reports for the Handelsblatt and Artmagazine). Only Rafael Pic, editor-in-chief of the Quotidien de l'Art, arrived over the weekend. And according to reports, no one was in Warsaw. Yet the art scene there is booming. The rush of visitors to the second NADA Villa Warsaw, whose current edition ended on Sunday, surprised even experienced Western gallery owners who took part.

In an interview with Elke Buhr for Monopol (paywall), the new director of the Liste, Nikola Dietrich, sees the economic downturn as an opportunity: "In uncertain times, people don't buy art for speculative reasons, but because they want to acquire unique, accessible originals. This is good news for our young artists. Where there is a lot going on, as there is here, there is also a lot of energy. Of the approximately 100 galleries, 40 are new this year. I see a spirit of optimism and I am optimistic."

The old master auction at Sotheby's, accompanied by strong PR, disappoints Karen K. Ho at Artnews: "Experts said the low sell-through rate for the evening sale was due to a combination of overly high estimates, changing tastes among buyers of Old Master works, the auction's timing, and the large number of guarantees. ‘Buyers don't respond well to guarantees, whether they're in-house or third-party guarantees,’ art dealer Nicholas Hall, the former head of Christie's Old Masters department, told ARTnews. ‘I think buyers prefer to make up their own minds as to how they value a picture. A guarantee can actually be, in some ways, a deterrent to potential buyers.’ Carlie Porterfield attempts to find a silver lining in the disaster in The Art Newspaper (paywall may apply): ‘Many of the lots in the Saunders sale were guaranteed in-house, meaning Sotheby's will absorb the costs of the 16 lots that did not sell. Still, there were bright spots: while the sale fell below expectations, many of the highest-value paintings sold, and the house set seven new artist records at auction, Chris Apostle, Sotheby's international head of the Old Masters division, said after the sale.’

Even Die Welt is sceptical when the new Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer, rejoices: ‘German painters have been consistently world class for the last 40 years’ – and that allegedly ‘without state subsidies’. Hans-Joachim Müller comments: "The market in particular needs institutional certification of its offerings. It would therefore be disastrous if Wolfram Weimer's findings on the allegedly subsidy-free career of 40-year-old German art were to be interpreted as a recommendation that the theatre, music and literature industries should follow the commendable example of artists instead of lamenting austerity measures. It is the highly efficient cooperation between the public and private sectors that has allowed this art industry to grow so impressively. One cannot separate the one from the other without losing substance. And it would be worth another keynote speech by the new Minister of State for Culture, in which he praises the 40 years of absolute world-class interaction between state reliability and private ambition." Elke Buhr attempts to contextualise the criticism of Weimer in Monopol (paywall): "Merz apparently didn't want anyone in his cabinet who would truly represent the interests of culture – with the desired conservative shift in cultural policy, too much expertise would probably be more of a hindrance. Instead, the publicist and regular talk show guest Weimer is primarily an expert in one thing: provocative, controversial theories that attract attention and clicks – the hardest currency in the media world and platform capitalism. The drivel about nation, blood and European expansion found in Weimer's books, which he dismisses as a misunderstanding in interviews following his appointment, can also be pigeonholed in this category: empty rhetoric whose implications he does not even think through. Nevertheless, it is dangerous." Meanwhile, the minister is apparently planning an economic stimulus programme for the construction industry, according to dpa: "The new Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer, is planning a “cultural buildings offensive”. “The cultural infrastructure needs to be strengthened,” Weimer explained during a visit to the Architecture Biennale in Venice. “That is why we are promoting and accelerating numerous construction projects in the cultural sector.”" While the promised commitment is commendable, the question arises as to whether it would not be more urgent in the case of culture to invest in minds rather than bricks.

In mid-March, Hungarian art historian Péter Molnos became aware of Gustav Klimt's portrait of Prince William Nii Nortey through an article by Olga Kronsteiner. He researched the matter and posted on his blog that the painting had been in Hungary until shortly before. Kronsteiner, in turn, referred in Der Standard to the suspicion of smuggling expressed by Péter Hamvay in the Hungarian magazine hvg360 by Péter Hamvay, which in turn was obviously read by Alex Greenberger of Artnews.

The German government is planning to ease some restrictions in the Cultural Property Protection Act, reports Alexander Weinlein in Das Parlament, the weekly newspaper of the Bundestag: "Specifically, the amendment provides that export licences for national cultural property for museums in international loan transactions – for example, for exhibition, research and restoration projects – can in future be granted for ten years instead of five. It will also be possible to extend export licences retrospectively. However, this flexibility will not apply to cultural assets that are listed in a register of nationally valuable cultural assets. Trade in cultural assets is also to be made easier. For example, dealers will only have to comply with additional due diligence obligations regarding documentation of lawful acquisition or import and export for items worth 5,000 euros or more. Previously, the threshold was 2,500 euros. For archaeological cultural goods, however, the stricter rules will continue to apply with regard to due diligence obligations.

Daniel Cassady reports on the new business venture of a former Sotheby's employee at Artnews: "Mari-Claudia Jiménez, a prominent figure in the international art market, has joined global law firm Withers to launch a new kind of legal–art advisory hybrid. Based in New York, the new practice—Withers Art and Advisory—will provide collectors, estates, and institutions with market advice and legal counsel as it relates to acquiring and holding art. The new role matches Jiménez's career path in both the art and legal worlds. Before spending nearly a decade at Sotheby's—most recently as chairman, president of the Americas, and head of global business development—she was a respected art lawyer."