Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 32 2022

Somehow it has been summer break - chaos reports from airports overshadowed the equally reassuring news from eastern Ukraine. According to Poland, Germany is trying to achieve maximum embarrassment - the ring exchange seems to be lacking and somehow one cannot get rid of the feeling that there is quite a discrepancy between the speeches of the German chancellor and the actions of those following his guidelines. Only the Greens, led by Ms Baerbock and Mr Habeck, let us sense something like moral backbone - combined with an astonishing adaptation to the real existing world around us - one could think they are part of civil society (by the way, a word that is used as stupidly and unreflectedly as the global South since the Dokumenta XV).In contrast to what does civil society actually stand for? To those who are now making it clear that they were not serious about democracy? In representative democracy, one obviously elects people from civil society into a parallel society. - But with what consequences? The disenchantment of some with others, and thus the elimination of the sovereign by the political parallel society. The stupid thing is that this confusion of terms is introduced and steadfastly maintained by the fourth estate, whose task it would be to report independently, freely and critically. But it has become common that reporting and commentary come from the same pen. Unthinkable in times when journalism still had something to do with truth. This year, the Art Insurance Talk will take a break during Art Cologne. On the war in Ukraine, the attitudes are too little suitable for publicity. We would have something else on offer if we managed, with all our combined forces, to get the budget together for an exhibition in Cologne to make it possible to experience the development of contemporary art in Ukraine during the cold season. Worth fighting for - Artists for Ukraine is to show on almost 3,000 m² in a former car workshop not far from the city centre some works that until recently could be seen in Venice at the Biennale, the artist of the Ukrainian pavilion from there and about 30 other key figures of the very lively scene in Kyiv, Odessa, Lviv and other places. We need about 400,000 EUR for transport costs, exhibition architecture, artists' fees for works created especially for the exhibition and energy costs for heating and lighting. We want to try a mixture of many sources: public funds, donations, sponsorship and crowd donating. The latter is particularly difficult. And we need help because our small team primarily takes care of our clients' concerns and has little air for the rest. We have already tried to motivate the art history department of the University of Cologne, but our request came too late for them - they need time to prepare, as do all organisations - but the situation and the opportunity to create something unique and great for Ukraine is now in autumn and not in two years. We want to and must help support Ukraine's struggle for our freedom and make as many people as possible understand that freezing for freedom is worth it. If you have the capacity, time, money, connections and generally good ideas, we would be happy if you helped us to turn the idea into reality. We can use all the support we can get. In this spirit, we wish you a creative and eventful week for the benefit of the arts. Next week you will read reflections from another continent. Yours, Stephan Zilkens and the team of Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker GmbH in Solothurn and Cologne