Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 5 2025

One natural disaster followed the next. Storm Éowyn swept across Ireland in particular with wind speeds of up to 183 km/h, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. The damage is immense and the duration of the clean-up work remains unpredictable. Insurers must be prepared for billions in losses.

On Tuesday, the power of the wind was illustrated at the American embassy in Berlin by an allusion to the weather resistance of the President's hairstyle. The aim of the protest was to criticize the USA's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement.

A day earlier, climate activists in the UK had taken less humorous and more destructive measures. They paralyzed the internet connections of several insurers by cutting fiber optic cables. Among those affected were Lloyd's of London and the Walkie-Talkie building, where many insurers are based. The activists are calling for an end to insuring new fossil fuel projects and demanding mandatory transition plans for all fossil fuel clients.

The presidents of six German art academies appealed against the consequences of drastic cuts in the cultural sector. They emphasize that culture must remain independent of sponsors and political or national interests. The background to this is the massive cost-cutting plans affecting many cultural institutions - in Berlin alone, the cultural budget is around 130 million euros short this year.

A panel discussion was also held at the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne to debate the strained budget situation in the cultural sector as well as “art museums and their current and future challenges”. The location of the meeting seems rather ironic, as the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud will be closed for a year and a half in September 2026 due to a planned general refurbishment and extension. A sensible interim solution for some of the paintings has not been found, which is why they are being withheld from the public. A visit this year is therefore still a good idea, especially if you take into account the timeliness of the city's construction projects to date.

Although the number of visitors to the Louvre in Paris is not comparable to that of the Cologne museums, the historic palace is not in good condition either. In a leaked letter to the French Ministry of Culture, the president of the museum warns that water ingress, high temperatures and outdated technology are acutely endangering the works of art.

Despite these alarming conditions, the French government is under strong pressure to drastically cut public spending. At the moment, France is already busy with extensive renovation projects, including the Pompidou Center, which will be closed to the public this summer and cannot reopen for at least five years. However, Notre-Dame Cathedral, which reopened in record time, shows that with sufficient financial resources and political will, faster progress is possible. However, it remains an indictment that the timely maintenance and renovation of art and cultural institutions can often only be realized through private donations.

At this point, I would like to highlight the free admission to French museums for EU citizens between the ages of 18 and 25. This state-funded subsidy is truly remarkable and has often been used by the author of this text.

Letter from the editor dated January 26, 2026

Dear readers of Kobels Kunstwoche and our news blog,

It is not only in Germany that polarizing times prevail in which attempts to look beyond the mainstream are met with violent reactions and even shitstorms. Pete Seger once sang about the "little boxes made of ticky tacky", whose aim is to make all boxes the same. In the 60s of the last century, there were still discussions - and they were heated and not at all balanced. Today, it's just a matter of labeling - allegedly by public opinion, whose creators of all genders sit in the editorial offices of the public radio and television broadcasters and the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND), dubbed the Reichsnachrichtendienst by some. I'm sitting on the shore of the South China Sea in an area where 50 years ago there was still heavy bombing and I'm wondering whether I should put certain thoughts on paper and risk being thoroughly misunderstood, especially as they have little to do with art and more to do with fire insurance.
It's about the fire safety of buildings and the function of firewalls, which have of course also made it into DIN standards. (DIN 4102-3) This specifies exactly what properties a firewall should have, what materials it may be made of and how it should be constructed. For example, how high do I have to let it rise above a warehouse so that the next fire compartment is not affected by the fire during normal fires? There are also resistance times for fire walls - 60, 90, 120 minutes - at certain temperatures - but no fire wall will last forever if the external load becomes too great. Sometimes you even have to tear them down in order to prevent the flames from spreading through targeted extinguishing. If this is not done, even more parts of the building are at risk of going up in flames. Interestingly, nobody complains about physical fires when walls are torn down or aisles are cut to protect other structures. As a rule, the insurance industry even pays for it.
In the run-up to the federal elections in Germany, there are now signs that the inefficient hiccup of the parties with incompatibility resolutions, firewalls and exclusions is annoying the sovereign to a large extent. For more than 20% of the population, the dirty children seem more of a solution. In Absudistan, this means that sensible solutions are no longer an option because the muckrakers might see it that way too. In technical terms, this means doing nothing and putting the substance at even greater risk. And all of this is done with the pretense that it is a just cause. Ideology is harmful in the long term, as the countries on the South China Sea have learned after wars and deprivation - formally still socialist people's republics, they give their citizens freedom and get involved. The result is great contrasts but also an overall better situation for the population.
It is to be hoped that pragmatism will take precedence over ideological narrow-mindedness for the good of all.
With this in mind, I wish you a pragmatic start to the week.

Yours
Stephan Zilkens