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Zilkens‘ News Blog 14 2026

Travel broadens the mind – an old saying with a fair bit of truth to it. So now, Paris! When you haven’t been there for about six years, the sense of wonder at the changes is all the greater. Notre Dame is standing again, thank goodness. Traffic flows above ground – but only for taxis now. A 30 km/h speed limit and extensive cycle lanes help with this. Empty shops in many streets – something is changing. Taxis are benefiting, even without municipal intervention in public transport pricing, as has just happened in Cologne, to protect the mostly grubby and poorly maintained local taxis from competition with the ‘evil’ Uber and Bolt vehicles, which are cleaner. The fact that only taxis use the bus lanes is enough to give them a competitive edge, even if their prices are less competitive. The city council and its market-economy-hostile members of all genders should simply go and travel – eco-friendly, please.

In the late 70s and early 80s, when Cologne was still the centre for contemporary art in Germany, Sotheby’s opened a branch in Cologne. Uschi Niggemann took over the management; for decades, she was the defining face of the London firm in Germany. She made a big difference on St. Apernstrasse. She passed away in Cologne just under two weeks ago, almost unnoticed.

Johann König and Stefan Kobel are discussing something to do with art on the Galerie König podcast this week. It’s always worth a listen.

The war in the Middle East is entering its fifth week. There is no end in sight. The stock markets are wavering, the markets seem unsettled, and yet there are no reports of disaster from the art fairs. Art Basel HKG, Something in Amsterdam, Drawing Now and Salon du Dessin are taking place, and one hears of satisfied gallery owners – perhaps less so at Drawing Now, because the organisers allowed visitors to nearly trample each other to death, it was so crowded. Works on paper, however, require peace and space for the viewer (sure, you know the drill: of all ...). It was breathtakingly crowded – but in that atmosphere, sales are difficult. The Salon du Dessin in the old Paris Stock Exchange is different: the exhibiting galleries are invited and cannot apply. Every stand is roughly the same size. The space is allocated by lottery; there are no ‘privileged’ spots, as we know them from Art Cologne or Art Basel. And each gallery has only about four hours to set up its stand. This heightens the tension for everyone involved, although the period after 2000 the event was represented by just two galleries. The rest were far ahead of that, with a quality that rivals the TEFAF’s paper section.

Insurers are concerned about climate change and global political developments. That does not prevent them from allowing absurd calculations in certain areas. Kusama is currently on display in Cologne. The museum management calls it a sinfully expensive exhibition and is seeking donations. One came from the insurance industry: an insured sum of approximately 180 million for a five-month exhibition, including additional transport costs, amounts to less than 30,000 EUR. That’s perhaps just 0.0165% of the sum insured! Try getting a loan without collateral on those terms. One can only hope that the companies involved aren’t listed on the stock exchange – investors don’t like capital destruction the easy way.

Of course, we are not yet a truly established old company – and we too need customers who are significantly younger than the current management. We use many channels to draw attention to ourselves – though TikTok is not one of them! However, we too are alarmed that this channel is manipulatively targeting those under 30, causing their voting behaviour to turn away from freedom and follow the pied pipers. The antidote: an education in freedom, rather than a coddling, conflict-avoiding laissez-faire attitude. One is still allowed to have dreams.

We wish everyone a powerful start to the Easter week. Stay with us; we’ll be back on Tuesday after Easter.

Stephan Zilkens and the team at Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker in Solothurn and Cologne.