Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 25 2022

Stefan Kobel's Art Week is particularly detailed this time, so we'll make ours a little shorter:

Germany and France have a massive problem on the right: in Germany, it is almost the entire East where the AfD, with its racist tendencies, is gaining high shares of the vote, and in France, it is no longer just the South where the Front National around Marine Le Pen is able to win seats for parliament. The decreasing voter turnout is alarming throughout - everyone who does not vote indirectly agrees with this development, which brings us to Russia - a pseudo-democracy that is much admired by the right, probably also because of its totalitarian structures - and wonders why no noticeable resistance rises against Putin's Kamarilla. Without free information and a free press, this cannot be expected - and actually, the collective memory in the German East should know what horrors the Stasi was able to inflict, but people like to forget and lick humiliated wounds ...

Art Basel - hurray, and TEFAF next Friday, three months late - but finally Maastricht again. Let's see how many make it from Basel to Maastricht - after all, there's still Corona (no, not the Mexican beer) and the abundance at the opening of the Unlimited and the Art in Basel was like a sardine can, so that a functioning Corona app would actually have to constantly report encounters of the unpleasant kind, if you haven't caught the stupid virus despite vaccination. Since nothing is checked any more and testing has decreased massively, it is to be feared that Maastricht will become somewhat emptier. In any case, our colleagues test themselves twice a week - recommended for those who don't do it.

Basler and Helvetia used the various fairs in Basel to award art prizes. AXA XL had a booth in the collectors lounge area. Unfortunately, almost no one from the German colleagues was there. They probably concentrate on TEFAF (to put it positively: they have avoided the risk of contagion in Basel) although about 70 - 80 % of their turnover is made with works of classical modern and contemporary art. Maastricht is more furniture, old masters and antiques (which are hardly ever traded in Germany). And then, at the beginning of July, Art Karlsruhe awaits visitors.

We wish you a healthy week and the Ukraine the weapons it was promised to defend our freedom.

Yours

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