Kobel's Art Weekly

Kobel's Art Weekly 40 2025

It's happening again: Art Cologne is making a second attempt in Mallorca. Following my initial report in Monopol and later in Artmagazine, Eileen Kinsella also reports for Artnet: "News of the expansion comes as something of a surprise, but a bright spot nonetheless, as numerous other major art fairs have been consolidating ownership and, in some cases, cutting back on planned events. The new event, officially titled Art Cologne Palma Mallorca, will be held at the Palau de Congresses hotel and convention centre in Palma Bay.‘ In the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (paywall), Michael Kohler predicts: ’Art Cologne Palma Mallorca is not a sure-fire success. More and more gallery owners are complaining about high costs and are limiting the number of fairs they participate in rather than expanding. [Fair director] Daniel Hug has recently emphasised that the future of the international art market lies in fairs with a strong regional focus – a German fair in Mallorca does not seem to fit in with this philosophy." But it does. The fair goes where it expects collectors to be, with an exhibitor portfolio tailored to regional conditions. However, this does not mean that it is a sure-fire success.

ArtBo in Bogota, which used to be popular with galleries from German-speaking countries, wants to become more international again under its new director Jaime Martínez. Laurie Rojas is cautiously optimistic in the Art Newspaper (possibly paywall): "The synergy with the new Bogotá Biennial and the fair's strong regional focus translated into immediate action during Wednesday's VIP preview. [...] The domestic market, however, remains cautious and, in many aspects, limited in the number of collectors and their acquisition budgets. ‘Artbo is not a big market like Mexico or Miami, but given that their programme focuses on the global south, it's a really interesting complementary way to connect with Latin American collectors,’ says Cesar Levy of Paris's 193 Gallery, which is participating in the fair for the second time this year. For Ocula, Sarah Moroz spoke with exhibitors about this, among other things: "When asked whether the fair has become more local than international, Instituto de Visión's Ana Balaguera remarks: ‘It’s become a little bit like that, but I also think it’s a trend around the world, not just in Colombia. Because the gallery is also in New York and we have noticed this at Armory and other fairs—that the public is becoming less diverse. It has to do with political currents.”

Payal Uttam paints a positive picture of Contemporary Istanbul in The Art Newspaper (paywall may apply): "Collectors from across Europe, the US and Turkey converged at the opulent Tersane Istanbul complex—a restored Ottoman shipyard overlooking the Golden Horn—for the opening of Contemporary Istanbul (CI, until 28 September) on Tuesday. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the fair brought together 51 galleries from 16 countries. This year's edition coincided with the Istanbul Biennial, which drew a larger crowd of collectors and museum groups compared to the previous year. The fair showed stronger quality than its early iterations, with works by leading Turkish artists such as Nil Yalter, Güneş Terkol and Azade Köker on view." The fair owner holds the licence for the Turkish edition of the publication. This is also mentioned in the article. Rachel Kubrick points out the conditions under which CI takes place at Ocula: "Although the opening day of the fair was buzzing with sales and an uplifting atmosphere among gallerists, the political backdrop of rising authoritarianism, both in Turkey and increasingly abroad, was ever palpable. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, infamous for his autocratic policies and intolerance for dissent, has tightened his grip since becoming president in 2014, arresting political rival and mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu earlier this year."

Jeff Magid, the American collector who recently claimed that journalists were writing off the art market because they felt excluded, is now allowed to present his views on the art market in detail at Artnews. After opening with a straw man argument and his own rebuttal, he pointedly repeats a series of interesting thoughts that have formed the basis of analyses by colleagues who have reported in a differentiated manner in recent years. However, the collector's perspective that Magid conveys is particularly exciting: "When I started collecting around 2012, I was an outsider. I was in my 20s with no wealth, no inheritance, no mentor, and no connections. I got into collecting partly because I met artists who welcomed me. Then I was stubborn enough that it didn't faze me when many in the gallery world treated me with varying degrees of dismissal and disdain: not important enough, not a real collector. When I'd walk into a gallery and ask the person at the desk for information, they'd often glance up at me then look away silently. When I finally got up the nerve to ask to buy at an art fair, everything was sold to a major collection, reserved for someone important. I didn't know the right people, wasn't from a known collecting lineage, couldn't claim membership on a board or list masterpieces in my family collection. At first, I didn't understand how few of us total outsiders there were, and by the time I did, I was too curious and obsessed to let it stop me."

Marc Spiegler explains why the art trade is so difficult on the internet at Business Of Fashion (paywall): "Recognising that the market's relatively small size demands high audience engagement to succeed, [Basic Space founder Jesse] Lee — who also bought the Design Miami fair franchise in 2023 — will go heavily hybrid on the promotional front. ‘We're going to over-index on events, because we see that online activity jumps and more sales happen whenever we do things IRL,’ Lee says. ‘We need to create compelling experiences with art, so we can bring new kids into the club. But we also need galleries to adapt. To a smart, cool 25-year-old with money to spend, a sales platform with prices missing just seems crazy.’ Here’s the bottom line: NFTs are dead. E-commerce is hard. E-commerce for art is even harder. Legacy players should stay out of the start-up game. Digital will never rule the art market’s upper tier. But there’s still scope for selling art merch, multiples and five-figure emerging artists online.”

Elisa Carollo asks in The Observer whether flirting with related industries could be a lifeline for art. After reviewing the most notable collaborations in the top segment, she concludes with the crucial consideration: "As surveys and collector profiles have shown, many Gen Z and Millennial buyers who are gradually transitioning into art collecting often begin with other categories of collectibles—sneakers, limited-edition clothing and similar objects. This underscores the potential for the art industry to learn from and adopt some of the business models and storytelling strategies of other high-end, symbolic-value and experience-centred sectors to build and cultivate new, younger audiences. Overlooking these opportunities increasingly looks less like prudence than shortsightedness." The article does not convey any groundbreaking insights, but the challenges of the digital art trade obviously cannot be pointed out often enough.

Naomi Rhea writes about the opening of a new branch of the Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery in Milan on Artnet: "I'm led to wonder whether Ropac's motivation for Milan might not have been the promise of a thriving contemporary market, but rather closer access to its established secondary market players. Italy is home to leagues of seasoned collectors, some based in Milan and many with their own private foundations, and their tastes more often tack towards post-war Italian art and homegrown movements like Arte Povera. Italy also abounds in artist foundations and estates.‘ The reasons for the opening in Milan are explained by the local Ropac director Elena Bonanno di Linguaglossa (previously Levy Gorvy Dayan and Blain I Southern, among others) in an interview with Julia Stellmann for the FAZ: ’At the beginning of July, the VAT rate on art sales in Italy was reduced from 22 to five percent. This was accompanied by a reduction in the tax rate for imports from outside the EU from ten to five percent. This makes the Italian art market currently the most competitive in the entire European Union. Even the VAT rate of 5.5 percent in France can make a big difference for high-priced works. Generous tax breaks for foreigners who move their residence to Italy have also attracted new wealth to Milan in recent years.

Joe Piotrowski, an art logistics specialist based in Florida, as can be seen from his shirt in the author photo, explains in the Observer what the art world can learn from Miami in dealing with natural disasters: "Miami has long lived with the spectre of hurricanes. But in recent years, the storms that make landfall are not only more frequent; they are more severe, often bringing Category 4 or 5 winds and devastating storm surges. For private collectors, museums and other institutions, this raises urgent questions. How do you protect a Picasso or a site-specific installation against a natural disaster? How do you secure works that were never intended to withstand 150-mile-per-hour winds or days without power? The answer begins with recognising that preparedness isn't about reacting when a storm appears on the radar. It's about embedding resilience into every layer of planning, from infrastructure to people."

The judges of the arbitration tribunal replacing the dysfunctional Advisory Commission have been appointed, reports Marcus Woeller in the WeLT: ‘At the top are former Austrian constitutional judge Elisabeth Steiner and former Saarland Prime Minister and long-time judge at the Federal Constitutional Court Peter Müller. What is new is that victims and their descendants can initiate restitution proceedings independently of the owners of the objects in question. Access is easier and the decisions are binding. A new assessment framework also provides for easier evidence requirements in order to resolve open cases appropriately.’

Collector Ronald Perelman will not receive $400 million from his insurance companies because the paintings in his estate allegedly lost their aura in a fire, reports Colin Moynihan in the New York Times (paywall may apply): "On Friday, a judge in New York who had presided over a bench trial rejected Mr. Perelman's view, saying he saw nothing to prevent “the artworks from being enjoyed as they were before.” 'I find that there was no visible damage to the five paintings,“ Justice Joel M. Cohen of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan said, adding: 'Nothing traceable to the fire.” You can always try.

Former gallery owner Mary Boone, convicted of tax evasion, is allowed to curate a celebrated exhibition at Lévy Gorvy Dayan in New York after serving her prison sentence, as reported by Carrie Battan at Vulture (possibly paywall) and Max Lakin in the New York Times (possibly paywall). Fortunately, Boone only defrauded the state and not her colleagues and clients.

Maximilíano Durón reports at Artnews on the closure of the New York gallery Tilton, which opened in 1982, eight years after the death of its founder Jack Tilton.