Zilkens' News Blog Archive

BRAFA 2026 – Contemporary meets Breughel – Photo Stephan Zilkens

Zilkens' News Blog 5 2026

If you haven't yet had the opportunity to hear Stefan Kobel speak rather than just read his work, now is your chance: WDR 3 broadcast a discussion programme entitled ‘Moon prices and millions in losses: the art market in crisis’, moderated by Peter Grabowski and featuring Kobel, Nadine Oberste-Hetbleck from ZADIK, Isabel Apiarius-Hanstein from Kunsthaus Lempertz and Rupert Pfab from ... read more

Donald I. King of the world - Collage ChatGPT

Zilkens' News Blog 4 2026

If you rule long enough, you can achieve quite a lot in the 17th and early 18th centuries. For Louis XIV, this included disempowering the nobility and pursuing an expansive foreign policy. The game of disempowerment played out through the various perfectly normal things that a living being has to do every day, such as getting up, getting dressed, working, eating and sleeping. The king ... read more

Viennese tradition – a Kleiner Brauner at the Hawelka – Photo Stephan Zilkens

Zilkens' News Blog 3 2026

Ukraine continues to be attacked on a daily basis – it is clear that international law is being violated on a constant basis and that this is also being acknowledged in the West. Now Trump and his administration are violating international law, and some want to hear verbal condemnation from European leaders, because Russia and China are rightly pointing out the violation (in order to ... read more

The Team welcomes the new year - Ungers Bibliotheque; Photo: Mike Christian

Zilkens' News Blog 2 2026

That's it for a peaceful start to the New Year – the American president has thrown a spanner in the works and pushed Russia's atrocities into the background for the time being. Maduro rigged the elections to stay in power (Trump is redrawing electoral districts), the Venezuelan state confiscated and nationalised the assets of American oil companies decades ago (the same thing is currently happening ... read more

William Kentridge, Dear Diary, Seen at Flokwang Museum, Foto: Stephan Zilkens

Zilkens' News Blog 1 2026

Now there are only three days left of the old year, and this week a new year begins. It is time to look back a little, also in an attempt to understand why so many things are currently moving in directions that are initially confusing. To do this, I need more lines than our readers are normally expected to read – but perhaps this time ... read more

St. Ludgeri Münster; Photo Stephan Zilkens

Zilkens' News Blog 52 2025

The fourth Sunday of Advent is over, and Christmas Eve is just three days away. The world around us has not become a better place this year. Putin continues to twist the truth when he claims that Ukraine started the war, drones continue to fly towards civilian targets, and people are freezing in the ruins that Russian henchmen have left them to live in. Negotiations ... read more