Kobel's Art Weekly

Kobel's Art Weekly 46 2025

Georg Imdahl describes the atmosphere of optimism during his visit to Art Cologne for the FAZ: "Suddenly, there is talk of a “Cologne effect”, which, surprisingly, is not depressing, but rather seen as a mood booster for Art Cologne. Cologne has not experienced such a shift towards positive energy in a long time. It is fuelled by all kinds of off-spaces and newer galleries in the city.‘

Michael Kohler assesses the location in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger on 7 November: ’Perhaps Art Basel Paris, which ended two weeks ago, is boosting business for its Cologne competitors, as some observers speculate. Perhaps collectors are simply tired of the endless stream of bad news from the international art market. Unlike the various Art Basel fairs, Art Cologne is an art fair for the poor rich – for the tenacious middle class among collectors. Nevertheless, it is psychologically important for the former market leader that dealers also bring millions worth of art to Cologne. In this respect, Thaddaeus Ropac can always be relied upon.

Julia Stellmann highlights what she sees as the fair's lack of internationality and regional competition in the Tagesspiegel: "However, gallery owners also say that in difficult economic times, they cannot and do not want to afford two neighbouring fairs. In Cologne, it is particularly noticeable that Düsseldorf galleries such as Sies + Höke, Konrad Fischer and, most recently, Lucas Hirsch are missing, as they will be participating in Art Düsseldorf in the spring."

Rüdiger Heinze has hardly a good word to say about the fair in the Augsburger Allgemeine (paywall): "Of course, the drums were beaten and a positive mood was conjured up in the run-up to Art Cologne this year. But if any further proof were needed that the art market is stagnating, it can now be seen at the 2025 edition of Art Cologne, which runs until Sunday. The number of 165 exhibition booths remains considerably reduced; Galleries that would previously have had little chance of securing a place in Cologne are now admitted and are travelling from Eastern Europe, Southern Europe and the Middle East; and a number of B and C galleries from Berlin, Cologne and Munich are replacing the hesitant top dogs of the art trade. Expensive trade fair participation is obviously being calculated with a sharp pencil. If it weren't for the art magazine and publishing stands, plus the presentations of collections (Landesbank Baden-Württemberg) and art institutions such as the Cologne University of Media, and if a little more attention had been paid to quality, the entire fair would have fit into one hall instead of the traditional two in 2025. This perception is somewhat surprising, as the event had hardly any more exhibitors in previous years. I was in Cologne for the Handelsblatt and Artmagazine.

Art Basel is launching a platform for digital art, according to a press release: "Zero 10 represents a decisive, long-term commitment to support and empower a rapidly evolving area of artistic production and collecting. The platform will unite leading and next-generation participants — artists, studios, galleries, and digital innovators — with Art Basel's global framework of curatorial excellence and market access. Featuring 12 international exhibitors, the inaugural edition of Zero 10 will be on view at Art Basel Miami Beach from 5–7 December 2025 (VIP Preview Days 3–4 December), before expanding to select global fairs in 2026, including Art Basel Hong Kong 2026." Daniel Cassady summarised the announcement for Artnews.

Klaus Biesenbach is doing in Berlin what one would expect him to do. The Neue Nationalgalerie Prize has been reoriented and is now taking a back seat in the mainstream instead of promoting the avant-garde as it did before. The press response to the current prize winner is somewhat devastating. Laura Helena Wurth describes the previous practice in the FAZ: "Until now, four artists were nominated for the prize, who then presented their work in a joint “short list” exhibition. Surprising positions were shown and connections were made that would probably never have come about curatorially and were particularly interesting for that very reason. In just one exhibition, you got an overview of everything that was in the process of becoming important. And that's how the prize was understood: as an instrument to draw attention to what was happening at the moment, to depict and shape the present.‘ Beate Scheder writes in the taz: ’Cattelan will have his fans in Berlin, but is that the point? This decision is incomprehensible, especially now. In times of drastic cultural cuts, which make it increasingly difficult for young, not yet established artists in particular to produce and exhibit art, depriving the next generation of another platform, and such a prominent one at that, sends a fatal signal." Berlin will soon have its Lidl of modern art and already has its Florian Silbereisen of curators.

The museum boom in China is ebbing, Lisa Movius has discovered for the Art Newspaper (possibly paywall): ‘The sector has entered a post-boom phase,’ says Li Anqi, a curator and historian who has a research focus on Chinese museums. ‘The initial rapid expansion—at times, a craze—has cooled down, which is a natural development as perpetual growth is unrealistic.’ The museum craze of the 2010s brought China hundreds of new art institutions, many of them vanity projects set up by eager new collectors or attached to property developments in pursuit of traffic and tax breaks.‘

Hili Perlson examined the role of art in the context of the geopolitical ambitions of Asian states for the taz: ’What drives Uzbekistan to invest so heavily in contemporary art? The landlocked country, rich in natural resources, has money and has been a partner in China's multinational infrastructure programme, the Belt and Road Initiative, since 2015. Two of the main routes run through Uzbekistan, as do all four corridors of the gas pipeline between Central Asia and China. In addition, Uzbekistan is opening up to the global market and is becoming increasingly interesting for European companies. According to the World Bank, Uzbekistan's GDP grew by 6.5 per cent in 2024. However, human rights issues remain in the country – although the art world is not exactly known for its integrity in this regard, with the Art Basel art fair now also moving to Qatar without hesitation. According to a recent report by the NGO Freedom House, Uzbekistan is classified as “not free”.

There are new episodes of the Deutschlandfunk podcast Tatort Kunst.

One of the shareholders of Castello Coin (the one with the gold cube) appears to be bankrupt, reports Margaret Carrigan at Artnet: "Now, as Austrian billionaire Klemens Hallmann's financial empire collapses, his 32 per cent stake in the cube is being turned over to creditors, according to debt collection agency Creditreform. It's transforming the work from a symbol of crypto-era speculation into an object lesson in liquidation.‘ A dodgy buyer doesn't necessarily say anything about the legitimacy of a coin, but where there's a pile, the flies will come.

Alexandra Wach watched the film ’Some Like It Fake" about the art forgery industry in China for Monopol: ‘Some Like It Fake’ is a real-life satire on an art market that has long since taken on a life of its own. At the same time, however, the film is also a celebration of analogue craftsmanship in a world that is sinking into digital image production – carried by the director's amused voiceovers and completely foregoing excursions into art theory or profound analysis. Instead, Mucha shows solidarity with the forgers, who lovingly pay homage to their role models and let their children grow up between Klimt's “The Kiss” and Munch's “The Scream”."

According to a press release (PDF), Gilles Neiens has been promoted to the newly created position of Artistic Director at Art Düsseldorf. He was most recently Gallery & Show Manager there.

After ten years, the LambdaLambdaLambda gallery has announced on Instagram that it is closing its doors in Pristina. Co-founder Isabella Ritter plans to continue in Paris in a form that is still unknown.

The Philipp Zollinger Gallery, founded in 2019, is leaving the premises it recently moved into opposite the Kronenhalle in Zurich and will initially adopt a nomadic format while searching for a new location, Zollinger also writes on Instagram.

In London, the Project Native Informant gallery apparently had its last exhibition in the summer, writes Alex Greenberger in Artnews.

Monopol reports the death of former photo gallery owner Jürgen Wilde: ‘Wilde was considered a precise teacher and passionate mediator whose influence extended far beyond museums and galleries. The DGPh honoured him as a personality who “secured photography's place in the art world in Germany”.’