Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 3 2025

The devastating fires in Los Angeles and California have so far destroyed around 10,000 buildings and paralyzed the cultural sector. The first galleries and private homes of artists were destroyed. Artists' residences such as the Villa Aurora were damaged, the Thomas Mann House was evacuated and museums and galleries are still closed. Fortunately, the Getty Villa was spared, although parts of the garden were burned.

At his press conference, the future US president goes all out. Apparently, he not only wants to heat up California, but the whole world - even the largest island of perpetual ice.

Under its influence, the big social media platforms and their unassailable tech billionaires are clearing the stage for populism and disinformation. It remains to be seen whether the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) will be able to counter this.

Meanwhile, the increasing differentiation of opinions and the loss of respect and tolerance are creating a new, sometimes sobering government constellation in Germany and Austria, which poses new challenges for our common coexistence.

In the spirit of cohesion, we would like to ask you to support the following petition for the preservation of the Cologne Art and Museum Library (KMB).

In June of this year, the KMB will have to leave its main building on Kattenbug due to renovation work. It is not yet clear where the 550,000 volumes will be moved to. The city does not seem to have a concrete idea of how to proceed with the library - a typical way of preserving Cologne's traditions. In order to make those responsible in the city of Cologne aware of the importance of this cultural treasure and storehouse of knowledge, we ask you to sign the petition „Rettet die KMB!“. Thank you for your help and your interest.

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

Letter from the editor

Dear readers of Kobels Kunstwoche,

Petter Börgers and the team have taken over the creation of our news blog while I am traveling through Laos. A country with an area roughly the size of Great Britain or Romania, almost three times larger than Austria and about six times larger than Switzerland. Almost 7 million people from 51 different tribes live here in a socialist People's Republic, which is cheerfully exploited by the Chinese and Vietnamese with a similar form of government. 60% of the population are Buddhists and it seems completely peaceful. What is striking about the huge forests is the lack of birds, supposedly because they are used for food. It may also be linked to the gold mining on the Mekong, which is partly carried out using mercury. The art trade will remain a distant prospect for decades to come. However, anyone who wants to experience the rapidly developing modern era should travel here soon, before the construction of further dams on the Mekong and other rivers has transformed the country into Southeast Asia's regenerative energy reservoir.

The expected effects of the California wildfires on the insurance market are also far away.

Nevertheless, stay tuned.

Yours, Stephan Zilkens