Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 15 2023

Today's news blog is only on Tuesday because we got through Easter reasonably peacefully. However, the world is getting more nervous when you look next to Ukraine towards China, where naval manoeuvres have just been held to simulate the invasion of Taiwan.

Last November, we were able to open the exhibition "Worth fighting for" in Cologne because we had a lot of support, first and foremost from the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Kunststiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Many private donors also supported us. The exhibition ran until 14 December and almost 3,000 people saw it. Unfortunately, the heating did not work, so that at times there were only temperatures of 5 degrees in the rooms. Apart from very minor damage, the art survived well. Some of the works of the Ukrainian artists could also be placed in collections. Now everyone has the opportunity to experience the exhibition again virtually in 360 degree mode with explanations in Ukrainian, English or German. Click here for the corresponding link. It is best to look at it with a normal PC, on mobile phones the display is more cumbersome. We are happy to receive suggestions for improvements.

Picasso died 50 years ago. Many exhibitions will commemorate him. Nevertheless, the works from the Picasso Museum in Antibes will not travel; that is part of the principle of the building in which Picasso had his studio in 1946 and 1947. Necessity is the mother of invention - especially in art, when missing materials are replaced by others and great things are created. For some artists moving in the direction of NFT today, economic or emotional need seems to be less the driving force than the will to attract attention, no matter how, and quality falls by the wayside. It is no coincidence that Picasso is the artist with the most stable results on the art market today.

The magazine "Kunstforum" is also celebrating its 50th anniversary! - Critical companion of current movements in the visual arts scene and an important ground for intellectual resonance. Unfortunately, the editors have decided to gender even in the most stupid places, which makes the articles more unreadable. There is no English version, where this historical mishandling of the German language does not occur. Our readers from English-speaking countries are surprised at our "all gender" because in their language an artist is an artist. And the prefix male or female artist sounds off to their ears - quality is more important than gender, or so one would think.

The German Bundesrat has demanded compulsory insurance for natural hazards from the Bundestag, thus drawing its own conclusions from the flood damage of 2021. Now it is feared that the government, which specialises in charity, will take on this burden instead of leaving it to private mechanisms. The insurance industry is planning to include natural hazards in all new policies, unless customers opt out individually. This is actually an understandable model, and it would not burden public budgets and would leave some of the responsibility to the individual.

Michelangelo's David has a hard time - epitome of Renaissance sculpture for the educated, pure pornography for some Americans. For example, a teacher in Tallahassee (Florida) was forced to resign because she had shown 12 - 13 year old pupils a picture of the David in class, among other things. Parents wanted to be informed 14 days before controversial content was taught so that they could give their consent. The school's headmaster, Barney Bishop, is an ardent supporter of Ron de Santis, a Republican for whom Trump is not yet strident enough. What controversial content is determined by the healthy inability of limited, prejudiced horizons. It is not quite so far from there to the self-censorship of public museums. Against this background, too, it is urgently necessary for Europe to find its own role. However, apart from common economic goals, this will only work if at least two languages are spoken, one of which should be of Latin origin. After all, Romanians, Italians, French, Spaniards, Luxembourgers, Portuguese, Belgians, Monegasques and people in San Marino, with 210 million, make up almost half of all inhabitants living in the EU. The languages of approximately 126 million EU citizens are derived from Germanic word stems, the languages of 67 million are of Slavic origin and the remainder is divided between Greek, Hungarian and English, which can only be considered a native language in Malta and Ireland and is thus spoken by fewer than 10 million. Languages and dialects also convey a deeper understanding of cultural mentalities, which must be combined as long as the idea of a European state cannot be conveyed. In some respects, one has to start all over again with this great idea.

In Kyiv, the Volshyn Gallery has reopened its rooms for a first exhibition. The war is not over but life goes on - a realisation that should slowly reach the reinsurers who are still blocking capacities for normal risks in Ukraine.

And if you don't know what to do this week, you have the following art fairs to choose from: Expo Chicago, Mi Art Milano and the Arte Fusion Stuttgart 2023.

Wishing you a happy start to a somewhat shortened week

The team of Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker GmbH in Cologne and Solothurn