Stephan Zilkens
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Zilkens' News Blog 44 2025
We are already living in difficult times. Someone may express something in a somewhat clumsy and undifferentiated way that reflects the feelings of the vast majority of the population, but this does not bother the assembled public press, which nevertheless focuses its reporting primarily on the opinions of perhaps 20% of the population, including their deliberate misinterpretations. Backing down with the flow seems to take a lot of energy.
Frieze and Art Basel are over – Kobel reports in detail. The Art Salon in Zurich also ended on a fairly successful note. 40% more visitors than last year, lots of sales and satisfied galleries. We had the honour of awarding the prize for the best booth – and the winner is: Galerie Voss from Düsseldorf – Stephanie Oeing presented the award.
The Riegel was also awarded last week: The conference ‘Shaping Access! More Responsibility for Cultural Heritage’ is an annual international conference that has been held since 2011 to discuss the opportunities and challenges of digitisation for cultural institutions. At this year's event in Leipzig, it was presented by Berthold Schmitt, the inventor and publisher of ‘KULTURBETRIEB’. We were able to contribute to the prize money.
Cultural heritage and its preservation were also the focus of IFASIC in Athens. Risk management in the insurance industry could provide an invaluable transfer of know-how in terms of cultural preservation. It is not only wars and fanatical religions that threaten cultural heritage. Bush fires and floods also have destructive power.
It's a real cross to bear: 40 years ago, companies were looking for people who consciously challenged established structures, products, distribution channels and production processes in order to prevent stagnation. They were reverently called lateral thinkers and were welcomed when they presented well-founded alternatives. Today, you can't even mention the term without running the risk of being labelled as a muddled thinker whose ideas are based on emotion rather than objective analysis. How did we allow terms that once had positive connotations to be hijacked by idiots to such an extent that we now have to change the way we use language? Or were the reporters secretly wearing aluminium hats? Probably a pure German discussion
In Paris, two suspects have been taken into police custody. They may have been involved in the theft of jewels from the Louvre. The items were not insured and there will be no ransom from the state. Let's see in which waste bin the hot goods turn up – if they turn up at all.
This week, the art market is taking a breather before continuing with Art Cologne in the middle of next week. There is something new: Neu Cöln – with every chance of becoming something like the social club of Art Cologne. The opening is on 5 November, almost simultaneously with the opening of Jim Harris at Villa Minima – both events are a 10-minute walk apart. Do one thing without neglecting the other.
With this in mind, we wish you a good start to the week.
The team at Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker GmbH in Solothurn and Cologne
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