Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 50 2022

When Faith Moves Mountains was the title of the exhibition at the Pinchuk Art Centre in Kyiv, which is also largely integrated into "Worth Fighting For" in Cologne. FRIEZE magazine has now named it one of the 10 most important exhibitions in Europe in 2022. Russian War Crimes has also been on show internationally in Davos, New York and more recently in London. Both exhibitions can be seen in Cologne until next Wednesday. Then it's finissage. The Museum für hedendaagse Konst in Antwerp expects its works back before Christmas.

The year is slowly coming to an end - there is great uncertainty among insurers, not only because of the war in Ukraine - but also because risks are constantly changing and scenarios are being circulated that urgently require a massive restriction of insurance cover - at least that's what one is told by those affected. Take cyber, for example - first touted as a great sector of the future that will generate new growth - the whole thing turns out to be very risky. Similar to terror decades ago, attempts are being made to exclude the risk from the classic covers, only to include it again on a different basis for a multiple of the previous price. However, the separation of operations and claims imposed by politicians is now having a negative impact. The product providers do not want to provide exact definitions of what exactly they exclude and include again and the claims people of pretty much all genders refuse support for lack of actual claims. The stupid one is the client in between and, in case of doubt, the broker who has difficulties delivering the right concept. Example: Marine insurers unanimously exclude losses due to cyber risks from their policies. For reinclusion, they provide EUR 1 million in coverage per claim. So far so good - but so clear? What if a fire alarm system is hacked and sprinkler systems are triggered across the board? Does that fall under the cyber limit? Are million-dollar values in warehouses then only covered up to 1 million? Will entire department stores' chains then go bankrupt because they do not have the replacement capital from the insurers that they could normally have expected from the water damage cover module? Do banks now also check these small gaps when granting loans? As a rule, they could only be satisfied with proof of fire insurance. Interesting that pure art insurers want to look at the loss event differently. It remains exciting next year.

At the Pinchuk Art Centre, despite the ongoing threat of Russian drones, the exhibition of the 18 nominees for the Pinchuk Art Centre Prize 2022 opened last Tuesday in Kyiv. It will be interesting to see who the jury chooses.

When art is too realistic, it can sometimes lead to mistakes - as happened in London at the end of November when two police officers broke into a gallery to rescue a supposedly collapsed female person. It was merely a realistic representation of a woman collapsed at a table. Mark Jenkins will be pleased - this way he and his art will become better known. But only the exegetes will know what distinguishes this sculpture from Duane Hanson.

Opinions can be bought - as the ancient Romans already knew and used a system consisting of dependencies (also called amicitia), bread and games that was often used in elections to and in the Senate. Now - and according to the opinion of many members of the fourth pillar, who do not care about the principle in dubio pro reo - a group in the European Parliament from the circles of the social democratic group is said to have accepted money from Qatar in order to - yes, what? As if 5 men and at the top of the hierarchy a woman could decisively influence the opinion of the 750 MEPs. It also seems illogical that Qatar spends money to be perceived as a human rights progressive country. They have had their World Cup for a long time and the positive images from the stadiums are, thanks to Morocco, enjoyed by the whole Arab world. The agitated are now demanding even more transparency - for what and how, actually? The rule of law works: there is a suspicion, there is an investigation, and in the course of the investigation there are arrests. And when the investigations are completed, there are court proceedings and guilt or innocence is determined there. Scandals are made beforehand - cash is suspicious in times when parliaments demand that sales of more than 10,000 euros only be processed via bank accounts.

In Abu Dhabi, there will be a gala concert with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra on 20 December - Mahler and Mozart will be played - music as ambassador ...

Two weeks to go until Christmas - now it's time to choose the right artworks to put under the Christmas tree - the galleries are open ...

Have a contemplative 3rd week of Advent with good ideas

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