Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 34 2023

It is now already 506 weeks that Kobel's Art Week appears every Monday with an annotated review of art market publications. For some time now, we have also been publishing this on Linkedin, Instagram and Facebook. With Facebook, however, we ask ourselves whether this really still makes sense. We don't use the services, which only require a few digits, no matter who owns them or who wants to make a St Andrew's cross out of a twittering bird. Under the pretext of freedom, this becomes more of a martyrdom of the same.

Dietmar Telschow, whom some still know from his time at Mannheimer or Schweizer National, later Helvetia and then Axa Art, has a new task: the underwriting agency DUAL, which belongs to the Howden Group, wants to enter the art business throughout Europe. In Italy, where, as it makes the impression, you still get money as a government policyholder if you take out an art insurance policy, they have already started. Telschow is now supposed to do it in Germany and Austria. Capacities are available from England from the usual suspects. It will be interesting to see how this develops and how they keep the accumulations under control in case of capacity risks.

At the end of this week in Grimma (and not in Cologne, where this was originally to take place on the occasion of the now cancelled Exponatec) the Riegel will be awarded, an award for organisations that are particularly committed to the preservation of art and culture. This year, the "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kulturgutschutz e.V." (German Society for the Protection of Cultural Property) receives the award because for 30 years it has been trying to set standards for disaster control with regard to the preservation of cultural property.

Do you know the sculptor Fritz During? or the European University in Flensburg? It seems that you can also study art for the teaching profession there. They are dedicated to training future teachers and also hope to help the next generation of managers get on their feet. Their mission statement: "We want to open horizons. We are a living and learning university in continuous development. We work, teach and research transcending borders: for justice, sustainability and diversity in education, school and the world of work, economy and society, culture and the environment." There is no longer any question of opening horizons, nor of diversity - but rather of narrow-minded small-mindedness and simplicity, and sometimes it looks stupid on your CV if you try to get an interesting position in life as a graduate of such an empty institution. Birgit Schmid from the NZZ may forgive me if I quote from her article of 25 July without being asked - but I can't get to the point any clearer than that: "Apparently, so much sensuality cannot be tolerated in a place where research, study, in short: intellectual work is done. The sculpture "Primavera" stood in the foyer of the European University in Flensburg for 67 years, created by the sculptor Fritz During. The bronze figure shows a naked woman with a wide pelvis, one leg pushed slightly forward, arms folded above her head. Recently, the 1-metre-20 work of art was removed from its pedestal and replaced by a question mark in rainbow colours. Female students and academics felt uncomfortable at the sight of the naked woman. However, the dethronement was not a cloak-and-dagger operation: one and a half years ago, the critics filed a complaint with the university's Equality and Diversity Committee. The committee discussed the expressions of emotion and finally took action. ... The sculpture stands for an outdated image of femininity and reduces women to their fertility and ability to give birth, the decision is justified. The woman is equated with nature, child-rearing and care, whereas the man embodies spirit and intellect." There is no male figure in the vicinity of During's work from which this conclusion could be drawn." Schmid continues: "If there is talk of intellect: where this remains in the complaint is questionable. Once again, personal feelings are used as an argument to ban unwelcome art from public space. The students and scientists feel "uncomfortable" at the sight of a sculpture. Yet it is their own interpretation that triggers the discomfort; it is they who think of childbearing at the sight of a wide pelvis. They conclude from the anatomy that a woman is meant to be. If the term were not used inflationarily by these same circles, one could call their view sexist. ... Instead, they proceed according to a well-known method of queer feminism: the woman is made to disappear and all other genders are gathered under the rainbow so that no one is excluded. ... The action at the University of Flensburg is another example of the illiberal errors and confusions at universities. In 2018, a love poem by Eugen Gomringer was painted over at the Alice Salomon School in Berlin. Female students had objected that it degraded women to the object of male admirers." It is to be feared that these freedom-restricting short thinkers will make it to the classes as educators, regardless of gender, and will be allowed to convey their knowledge, borne of the pallor of thought, as seemingly true. One is almost inclined to say: No wonder that so little progress is being made in this country - but we already had that with the Women's Football World Cup - Congratulations go to the Spanish team.

You ask yourself, what does the limited world view of students have to do with the insurance industry? A lot: as future managers, they prevent entrepreneurial development, and as customers, they produce an economic and cultural life whose narrowness benefits no one.

A good start to the week to all of you, and those of you who are not going to Grimma can head off to Copenhagen, where an art fair awaits you at the end of the week.

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