Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 27 2023

Today comes the 499th edition of all... In 2013, when the first one appeared, the AfD had just been founded as a party critical of the euro - a certain Mario Draghi started the flood of money with "whatever it takes" and as a result everyone who needed money was better off from day to day, because debt cost almost nothing anymore. The art market then boomed worldwide and globalisation as part of the increasing stabilisation of peace between the peoples of the world was not really questioned by anyone. The annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 was more strange than worrying for many. Then, after 24 February 2022, everyone woke up and rubbed their eyes in amazement that the AfD, which was just moulting into an ultra-nationalist party, sided with Russia. Two years later, it has around 30% of voters in eastern Germany as supporters. No one from the established parties wants to talk to her, and on TV there are discussion rounds with gossip monkeys (people who applaud when instructed to do so) that ultimately seem manipulated. Suggestion: make the discussion rounds also with representatives of the unpopular party - put content and arguments against them but do without mood-making spectators. Perhaps the problem will then solve itself. I always live on the hope that the responsible electorate is not as stupid as they are made out to be by the over-regulating political activists and parts of the fourth estate. (I am curious to see how many will take what is said here the wrong way again).

Sad news from Switzerland - it took a while for this to get here - The Fondation Nestlé pour l'art has been closed after 31 years because the parent company is now run only by dividend-driven managers (truly of all genders) who are only interested in profitability and who did not want to put any more money into the foundation set up in 1991 by art-loving predecessors. They were probably worried that supporting art and culture would be interpreted as misappropriation of company funds. They were probably encouraged by lawyers whose ethos is driven by their fee schedule, because one earns better with misgivings than with courage-enhancing solutions. And courage paired with pleasure in cultural responsibility is probably becoming increasingly rare in the executive suites of corporations. Fortunately, some people still buy privately on the art market. But it is a disgrace that Nestlé, which still has a dubious reputation as a food producer, is withdrawing from the cultural promotion of young and new initiatives from all genres!

Frank-Walter Steinmeier - the German Federal President - restituted to his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro two Kogi masks from the possession of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, which were actually quite legal there, in order to underpin the high German claim to world morality. In 1915, when the masks were bought by Theodor Preuss in Colombia, they were still used as cult objects by the Kogi tribe. This is then used ex post to construct an export ban that justifies the return. It is stupid that the masks were treated with dichlorobenzone in the 1950s to improve their preservation. The substance is considered carcinogenic and not entirely compatible with the lungs. In this respect, they should not be used by the Kogi - and if they do, is the Federal Republic free of any liability?

By the way, there will be no Cologne Art Insurance Talk on the occasion of Art Cologne in 2023. No representative of an insurer was really prepared to talk publicly about the topic: "how far may the exclusion of the risk of war go in insurance conditions? Sanction clauses, territorial exclusions and precisely different war clauses lead to uncertainty also in connection with the insurance of international art exhibitions. - The issue needs to be addressed, we will stay tuned.

A strong week with wonderful art experiences to you all

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