Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 25 2025

This is the 599th Art Week of all. Looking back on 2014, we remember that insurance companies suddenly declared that they would no longer provide coverage for certain regions: Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk. And this went unchallenged. After all, it was so far away – and the paramilitaries, who were actually Russian soldiers, were simply accepted – only Putin was disinvited from the G8, leaving only seven members. The fact that the phantom pains of this gentleman and his leadership team have escalated into massive war crimes is one thing; the fact that a lot of SPD politicians are now calling for negotiations with someone who is wanted by the International Court of Justice and fail to recognise the tragedy of their call is another. How can you negotiate with someone who constantly uses violence and breaks agreements? And now there is the escalation of the conflict between Iran and Israel. Flight routes to Asia are becoming more complicated and longer because more and more regions cannot be flown over due to the threat of attack. This also makes goods more expensive.

It will be exciting to see how potential buyers react at Art Basel this week. Will the Americans come? And if so, will they buy? Will the hotels and restaurants be full? In the run-up to the event, we have the feeling that hotel rooms are still available at reasonable prices. A few representatives of insurance companies who are usually always there are not attending, and some galleries have decided not to participate this year and have been replaced by other aspirants. In any case, the VIP days will be full – if one draws the appropriate conclusions from the lack of available tickets. In the background, a wind is blowing from Paris, the new location of Art Basel. And the city is more attractive to Americans – even if the English spoken there is hardly understandable.

In Munich, the art trade seems to be languishing, even though the auction houses there – above all Ketterer – are doing good business. Franke, Bernheimer, Thomas and now Röbbig are history. The Bernd Klüser gallery will soon close after a beautiful Scully exhibition. In Cologne, Knut Osper has decided to close his gallery because he has not found a successor. He will continue as a private dealer.

The Social Democratic Minister of Construction in Germany has a brilliant idea – she wants to make building houses 50% cheaper. However, she is not thinking about reducing excessive fire safety regulations and other bureaucratic rules that shift responsibility, but rather about the machine production of house walls. Wow, great! Never seen the inside of a prefabricated building? Let alone lived in one? I can still remember very well a night in a guest house at an industrial plant in Chemnitz in 1991. The all-too-human noises mingled with the humming of the water pipes to create a grand concert. Anyone who knew anything else would not have wanted to live there. And anyway, machine production, which is done at best by industrial robots, is a declaration of war on craftsmanship. And who, dear Minister, is supposed to vote for your party then?

The Journal des Arts in Paris still preserves the tradition of caricature. A fine example caricatures the Perelmann case, which is currently being heard in New York and is our picture of the day.

In Verona, a place normally reserved for Romeo and Juliet, two rotund older gentlemen smashed a work of art during a selfie session at the Palazzo Maffei. Their intrusive and rule-breaking actions destroyed the artwork. A chair reminiscent of van Gogh, covered with Swarovski stones, collapsed under the weight of the vain tourists. And then the perpetrators ran off! In some museums, security measures still leave room for improvement.

It is set to be a sunny week across much of Europe – try to let the positive rays shine in.

Wishing you all the best, Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker in Cologne and Solothurn