Independent Collectors

Friedrich & Johanna Gräfling

The young collectors with collaboration at the heart of their collection.

We speak to the young collecting couple who have dedicated themselves and their collection to collaboration and supporting the artistic practice

With a collection of over 400 works by some of today’s most exciting contemporary artists, as well as having numerous spaces to encourage public engagement with art, Friderich & Johnna Gräfling are not your average collectors.

The Frankfurt-based collectors are dedicated to collaborating with the artists in their collection and in 2011 converted a former slaughterhouse in Friedrich’s hometown of Aschaffenburg into a 600-square-meter venue which features one new exhibition annually, as well as initiating the independent exhibition space, Salon Kennedy, in a prestigious historic apartment in Frankfurt.

We sat down with the two young collectors to talk about the foundations of their collection, why collaboration is vital, and the importance of sharing works with others.

Friedrich, I once read that at the very beginnings of your collecting journey you had to make the decision between either buying a Playstation and buying your first piece of art. Is this true?

FRIEDRICH GRÄFLING: It wasn’t quite as literal as having a gallery next-door to a Media Markt. I never had any other big expenses during my studies or childhood; it was just that I’d rather spend that money on a little piece of art by a young artist or on an edition than a Playstation, that I knew I’d enjoy only for a brief moment in time.

Do you find that you still need to make these types decisions now when acquiring works for your collection?

F: Of course – it is still always a choice you make. We constantly ponder between what most people might call “necessities”/ “commodities” and art. Hence, instead of spending money on a vacation, a new sofa or even a car – we usually decide to invest it in another piece of art.

Let’s talk about how you first got interested in art and how you decided to start collecting so seriously at such a young age?

F: Colleting is in the genes of someone – either you’re a collector or you’re not. I think you are a “true collector” by nature, someone who does not purely collect one thing such as art, but rather they collect everything. It’s an obsession. It’s not about buying this one object but rather owning or having the collection of something.

I would say that I have always been a collector, but just with a different mindset: even when I was five years old and started to keep and preserve things – just back then it was stones and pebbles that you stumble upon on your way to kindergarten! You collect something, you keep it, you think about it and you start to build up your own relationship to the object and the whole.

My interest in collecting specifically art started through my interest in graffiti. There was a graffiti “crew” of about ten people in my hometown. At some point I got to know them and we started hanging out. It was a very specific time in my life that I wanted to manifest. For me, it was a natural decision to do this by keeping/acquiring some of their works.

These where the first works of art I ever bought and somehow laid the foundation for the entire collection. I still have all of them. From that point on, my interest in street art developed much further, and yet it was only until I moved to London for my studies that my interest in contemporary art was sparked – mainly through my tutors at the Architectural Association.

"Stadt Land Name Titel", 2014 at Schlachthaus with works by ANALIA SABAN & ANNE HARDY (installation view). Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
"Stadt Land Name Titel", 2014 at Schlachthaus with works by ANALIA SABAN & ANNE HARDY (installation view). Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE

I’m interested in what you said about being “born a collector” or not. What characteristics do you think one needs to have this trait?

F: I think it’s a disease, an addiction. A “true collector” does not buy to hang on the wall but rather for an internal cause, an internal desire rather than a social one.

Let’s talk about the slaughterhouse that you converted into a space to exhibit works of contemporary art with annual exhibitions in your hometown of Aschaffenburg. How did it come about?

F: The slaughterhouse started when Johanna and I had already met. We were both still studying in 2010, with the first exhibition-taking place in 2011. The idea actually evolved out of the early “concept” or rather necessity of the collection: We weren´t able to afford especially larger works we admired, yet didn’t just want to buy editions or multiples so we had to find ways around the monetary exchange. Thus, we started to approach the artists to see if they were interested in collaborating in some way, swapping etc. For instance, I worked one painting off in the artists studio by priming canvases or stamping invitation cards. For others we started to organize exhibitions.

After we found the space, which sort of just fell into our laps, we renovated it and started a conversation with the artist Gregor Hildebrandt about creating the first exhibition. Our interest was again to have a collaborative process, a personal exchange of thoughts and ideas between Gregor and the two of us. We decided on him showing parts of our collection and in return we offered him a space that was completely free of the limitations that exhibitions in galleries or institutions so commonly face. This resulted in Gregor experimenting in a new wall technique and framing other works that he later incorporated into many different shows.

This is something that we are absolutely interested in –being able to allow experimentation through collaboration.

J: We realized that we offered not only an exhibition platform but rather a testing ground that had a long-term impact on the way Gregor produces artworks and approaches exhibitions. For us it was especially exciting to see that we somehow planted something that developed beyond the limitations of the space and timeframe of the exhibition.

Was it ever important for you to live with these artworks, or was it more of a space where you could present art?

F: We’ve never lived in the space of the slaughterhouse, that was never the plan. The idea initially was to create a space for us to hang or exhibit more art then we were able to in our home That changed very quickly as it turned into collaborative project space, where we were both working with the collection but also always inviting artists to come and react and use it as a space for production.

We never just wanted to showcase the collection but rather use it as a medium to create experimentation.

J: The projects at the slaughter house laid out the foundation for Salon Kennedy, which is where we live now. I think we needed this experience and sort of experiments to open the next, more permanent space.

I guess for us, collecting art is really not just about hanging something on the wall but to immerse in it as a whole.

JOHANNA GRÄFLING

WOLFGANG TILLMANS, After Party (A), 2002. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
WOLFGANG TILLMANS, After Party (A), 2002. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
First collection exhibition "ein weißes Feld" curated by Gregor Hildebrandt at Schlachthaus with works by HAYDEN KAYS, MICHAEL SAILSTORFER, ALICJA KWADE, ANDREAS GURSKY & OLIVER JONES on Gregor Hildebrandts wall installation "Andrei Tarkowski, Opfer". Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
First collection exhibition "ein weißes Feld" curated by Gregor Hildebrandt at Schlachthaus with works by HAYDEN KAYS, MICHAEL SAILSTORFER, ALICJA KWADE, ANDREAS GURSKY & OLIVER JONES on Gregor Hildebrandts wall installation "Andrei Tarkowski, Opfer". Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE

What did you want to achieve with Salon Kennedy? Was the main goal there to make privately owned publicly accessible?

F: Yes and no. I think it was always about making art accessible, but not privately owned works. It was more important for us to be involved in the production process as well.

J: Exactly. It’s not only interesting for us to just own artworks from the artist we exhibit but instead we really ask the artists to produce an exhibition in the space. We really believe in this idea and concept of the Salon. We thus invite artists as well as bringing people together through dinners and other events. Thereby by we find a common ground within the realm of art and make it accessible.

F: It’s also about sharing a passion. We’ve been collecting now for over ten years and we are only just turning thirty. We obviously started really young and maybe it’s not a typical way to buy art, but this is why we started the Salon: to invite people our own age who haven’t had that many encounters with art so far and for whom we triggered an excitement about the subject.

J: Furthermore, it is at the same time important to accompany the artists further and support their careers beyond the single exhibition at our space. As we are not a gallery, we usually only do one show with the artist at the Salon. Yet, we use common networks within the art world to give the artists further opportunities to showcase their work. One exhibition with the Danish artist Benedikte Bjerre took on different forms and layers in London, Italian Alps, Cologne and New York for instance.

Another aspect that still remained from the experience of the slaughterhouse and the idea to offer a platform to artists, is supporting their entire production process: For Michael Sailstorfer´s work Tränen, we offered the house that he later destroyed, organized the logistics etc. Again, what started off as one new work (Tränen, 2015) three years ago, has now developed even further into an entire body of work.

MICHAEL SAILSTORFER, Tränen, 2015. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
MICHAEL SAILSTORFER, Tränen, 2015. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE

What is it like to live with the artworks?

F: Well it never gets boring! Whether you’re on the sofa, in the kitchen, or in the shower, it doesn’t matter – you’re constantly surrounded by objects or elements that trigger something in you, be that visually or emotionally. There is always a relationship to the works.

J: We never randomly purchase a piece – there’s always a certain memory or history behind it whether that’s a trip or an encounter with the artist or a connection to the space where we first saw it in. Being surrounded by these works constantly brings you back to these specific, and personal, memories.

Has there ever been an artwork in your home that you found challenging to live with?

J: Of course! There is always a downside and you always need to be careful. We have difficult works in terms of maintenance but also challenging looking at and experiencing. There are also always more difficult works due to size or medium.

For example we had one sculpture by Tomas Saraceno installed at our place, which was demanding but not necessarily challenging. Only when a friend slept in the room at some point he woke up every hour, as the balloon re-pumped itself.

F: We have found that you also treat artworks differently depending what room they are in; for example, put in the bathroom compared to the bedroom.

On the other hand, when talking about living with art there is also the other element that at some point size and fragility become such an issue that you cannot buy new works anymore; we have many works that are really hard to store but we could never actually live with because we would need to build a specific space for them. It’s definitely a challenge.

Do the pieces in storage always stay in storage or are you happy for them to tour to exhibitions?

J: Some of them are stored away and some of them are lucky enough to get to travel around the world to museums and institutions – especially the rather “difficult” works as institutions have the capacity to pick them up.

Your personal relationship to the artists is something that is vital not only to the collection but also to the both of you on a personal level. Why?

F: I think that it’s all about giving a certain trust to these artists. Of course it would be easier for us to just go to a fair, pick a work and then buy it. I think for the artists too this idea of the unknown is quite challenging.

For sure you don’t know what is going to come out of a project but that is part of the appeal. There are artists whose work we follow quite closely and also collect in depth, It’s incredibly important for Johanna and me to also be a part of the development of the artist, their works, the discussions around it and its process.

J: This is really something that has become a crucial characteristic of the way we collect as well. Combining our passion for art and the interest in collaborating with artists, we somehow naturally try to manifest important aspects of our lives through artworks. This has developed into quite active involvements with some of the artists that we have known for years. Friedrich asked Alicja to do my engagement ring and we even got Tattoos by Malte Zenses to preserve this special moment in our lives (which we of course see as a work itself).

For one event we hosted our guests inside a room installation by Yves Scherer, Michael Sailstorfer equipped the dancefloor and Christian Jankowski produced a video work. All these works obviously became very personally and entered the collection one way or the other. I guess for us, collecting art is really not just about hanging something on the wall but to immerse in it as a whole.

MALTE ZENSES, j&f, 2017. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
MALTE ZENSES, j&f, 2017. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
YVES SCHERER, Fridge, 2015. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
YVES SCHERER, Fridge, 2015. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
YVES SCHERER, Room Installation. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
YVES SCHERER, Room Installation. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE

Is there a theme running throughout your collection that you are aware of?

J: I don’t think there is a theme specifically, it rather reflects a certain period in our lives and thereby changes naturally throughout the years. Naturally, we are interested with a current Zeitgeist and as a result collect artist from our generation.

F: This is probably something that external people can perhaps depict. For sure there is always a theme because there’s always a certain mindset that the collector has and the taste they have, but we don’t have a theme where we say, “we only buy photography and video” for example. From the inside, we would say that there is no thread running throughout the collection. It would be an interesting experiment one day to have an external analysis made of our taste.

And I would imagine that collecting artists from your generation means that it is often easier to form these connections and personal relationships with?

F: A connection is one thing but it also links back to what I mentioned earlier about it being an unconscious documentation of a specific time in your life, as well as it being a nice way to follow and grow with an artist over an extended period of time. Additionally the majority of the artists in the collection reflect our stance to our style of living and life in general; for example we don’t yet have any African or Asian artists featured. This doesn’t mean that we do not have any interest in these artists, but we just have not yet had any direct contact to them.

As a couple, how do the two of you collect together?

F: If Johanna wasn’t here I would be bankrupt!

J: More or less we share the same taste but in the end it needs to be a “yes” from both sides and both of us are very good at convincing the other! This also sometimes means really investigating, especially if the other is not as keen in the beginning. It can therefore however, take up quite some time until we make our final decision.

F: For example the New York based painter Grace Weaver – Johanna found her several years ago, but it took until two years ago for Johanna to convince me that we need her in the collection.

ANALIA SABAN, Study for Gravestone Writing (1980 - ) 2013. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
ANALIA SABAN, Study for Gravestone Writing (1980 - ) 2013. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
BENEDIKTE BJERRE, Prime, 2015. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
BENEDIKTE BJERRE, Prime, 2015. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE

Travel is also something that is very important to the both of you, with you very frequently travelling around the world for exhibitions, fairs, or art events.

J: Absolutely. It’s often a big trigger as to why we travel to places.

F: Especially to the hidden or to more unknown places.. It is not always necessary to travel to the major cities – sometimes the more exciting discoveries can be found in a small village in the countryside.

As young collectors, how has being so active in the collecting scene impacted your collection? Would you say it’s had any benefits to be so young?

J: It’s hard to say right now but I’m sure it is something we will see in the future.

F: I don’t think the age has any impact at all. Through the art we make friends that are our parents age and we met people that are much younger. I think it’s irrelevant. What is relevant however is how one sees things and each stage in your life has its own relevance.

Over the last couple of years we have seen a change in how collectors present themselves and their collections, with more and more being open to show what they have on various social media platforms. We’ve also noticed that collectors are becoming celebrities, sometimes even more famous than the artists that they collect. What do you think about this change?

F: Generally I would say that a collector’s aim is to acquire more, and I believe that it would be more interesting if there would be no market or no career advancement at all for collectors. One thing that has happened in recent years, and is maybe slowing down a bit now, is the explosion of prices – so if you want to follow an artist for a long time that proves to be quite challenging now. The market is moving faster than what the majority of collectors can react to.

J: If the collectors become as famous as the artwork or artist they then become a part of the system that triggers this rise in prices. On one hand it’s great that collectors are opening their collections to the public, which of course is positive, but it also contains negatives particularly when looking at the state of publicly funded institutions right now. Also, this social media madness is triggering the fame of collectors and the lifestyle that comes with it which can look intriguing to outsiders. I think we need to see how long this lasts.

It seems to have just happened very fast. It went from something that was a very personal, private, interest to now being a very public activity.

J: As you nowadays don’t really differentiate between what is private/intimate and public anymore, it only seems natural, that people want to show what they own. Collecting art is part of a lifestyle. Yet, at the same time it is something very personal and from a collectors’ perspective it gets a bit dull as it doesn’t really matter what you have in your collection or even if you have an interesting collection.

F: It makes it more difficult to differentiate between the true and passionate collectors because everyone just wants to show their “best bits”.

Michael Sailstorfer's Mückenhaus permanently installed above Wiesen, Bayern. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
Michael Sailstorfer's Mückenhaus permanently installed above Wiesen, Bayern. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
TARYN SIMON, Black Square XX, Haringey Ballot Count, European Union membership referendum, The Great Hall, Alexandra Palace ("The People's Palace), London, United Kingdom, June 24, 2016, 2:30 AM GMT, 2016. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
TARYN SIMON, Black Square XX, Haringey Ballot Count, European Union membership referendum, The Great Hall, Alexandra Palace ("The People's Palace), London, United Kingdom, June 24, 2016, 2:30 AM GMT, 2016. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE

Do you use social platforms to help build your collection or use as a tool for research?

F: We are on social media but I wouldn’t say actively. For me, Instagram is no tool at all for the collection but rather a tool to kill time if you have to. It’s certainly no tool for research or inspiration. Instead we do this through galleries, artist studios, museums, art fairs, talking to other collectors, and through artists directly.

Which is in keeping with your enjoyment of collaborating with artists and working closely with them.

J: Considering this, it almost seems old- school, especially at our age, but it is exactly this contact that we really enjoy and need.

"YES / NO", Salon Kennedy with works by MICHAEL SAILSTORFER and CHRISTIAN JANKOWSKI (installation view). Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
"YES / NO", Salon Kennedy with works by MICHAEL SAILSTORFER and CHRISTIAN JANKOWSKI (installation view). Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
Works by WOLFGANG TILLMANS & JORINDE VOIGT at "YES / NO", Salon Kennedy (installation view). Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
Works by WOLFGANG TILLMANS & JORINDE VOIGT at "YES / NO", Salon Kennedy (installation view). Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
During re-decoration at Kennedyallee with works by DANIEL LERGON, JORINDE VOIGT, MICHAEL SAILSTORFER, TOMAS SARACENO, SARAH MAPLE & MAXIMILIAN ARNOLD. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE
During re-decoration at Kennedyallee with works by DANIEL LERGON, JORINDE VOIGT, MICHAEL SAILSTORFER, TOMAS SARACENO, SARAH MAPLE & MAXIMILIAN ARNOLD. Courtesy Johanna & Friedrich Gräfling, sammlung FIEDE

Sammlung Fiede is featured in the Art Guide.

Germany (114)

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BRAUNSFELDER Family Collection – Gute Nacht

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AT HOME WITH IC x sammlung FIEDE

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Collection Night

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You Are Here

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Art is a Window – Christian Kaspar Schwarm

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Young Desire and Cuperior

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ALLES NOTWENDIGE (Everthing Necessary)

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The Art of Recollecting

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Generation Loss

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Recent Histories

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Yvonne Roeb

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Boros Bunker #3

A look inside the belly of Berlin's most known World War II Bunker.

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Colors of Descents

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Why Am I Actually German?

The exhibition from Kiel's Haus N Collection and Sammlung FIEDE were on display at the Kunstverein Wiesen.

Geometric Abstraction

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Dreamaholic

An exhibition on display at Weserburg’s Museum of Modern Art, featuring works from the Miettinen Collection in Berlin and Helsinki, that presents insights into the contemporary art scene in Finland.

Anti Social Distancing

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Gudrun & Bernd Wurlitzer 2017

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Schloss Kummerow Collection

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me Collectors Room – Picha/Pictures

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Deichtorhallen Hamburg

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Gill Bronner

Interview with the collector behind the Philara Collection.

Goetz Collection

An internationally significant collection of contemporary art located in Munich.

The Order Of Things

Exploring how the organization of photographs into systematic sequences or typologies has affected modern visual culture.

How to Be Unique

An exploration of the interlacing of textual, structural, and lingual elements and painting with a special emphasis on their material manifestations.

Grässlin Collection

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New Acquisitions

In their second IC Online Exhibition, Leipzig’s G2 Kunsthalle celebrates its second anniversary of the foundation with a selection of new acquisitions from the Hildebrand Collection.

Lines of Quiet Beauty

Located in a former residential and commercial property from the 1960‘s, the Swiss architect Hans Rohr transformed into a home for contemporary art with over 2 700 square metres of exhibition space.

Kuhn Collection

Offering a bright perspective of young contemporary art.

Archivio Conz x KW

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Through A Glass, Clearly

Exhibition at the G2 Kunsthalle showcases new works on paper from artists Sebastian Burger and Stefan Guggisberg.

Kuhn Collection I

This exhibition is the first in a series in which Michael Kuhn and Alexandra Rockelmann share works from the Kuhn Collection on IC.

Recording Memories

Mimi Kolaneci shares parts of his collection

Haus N Collection & Wemhöner Collection

ach, die sind ja heute so unpolitisch

Blinky Palermo Printed Matter

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RealitätsCheck (Reality Check)

“Reality Check” presents works from the the ‘Art’Us Collectors’ Collective’, a combined effort of four private collections in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Munich and Stuttgart.

Primary Gestures

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Dominic & Cordula Sohst-Brennenstuhl

Talk about being part of the “Young Collections” series at Weserburg.

Oliver Osborne: Der Kleine Angsthase

We’ve all experienced fear this year. The exhibition DER KLEINE ANGSTHASE at Braunsfelder, curated by Nils Emmerichs, presents works by Oliver Osborne, as well as a conversation with Nicolaus Schafhausen.

STUDIO BERLIN – Boros Foundation x Berghain

We are here with insight into the seductive new Berlin happening, STUDIO BERLIN, with an interview with Karen Boros and Juliet Kothe, Artistic Directors of the project.

Philara Collection 2016

Gil Bronner’s Stiftung Philara is on the move.

Jan Peter Kern

Death is Beautiful

me Collectors Room Berlin/Stiftung Olbricht

My Abstract World

Haupt Collection

Dreissig Silberlinge

Wemhöner Collection

»The art I encounter and surround myself with improves my quality of life. It gives me strength and inspires me,«

Désiré Feuerle

Publicly accessible private collection in an old bunker.

Lapo Simeoni

Collectors who have a special bond with Berlin.

Timo Miettinen

Finnish collector talks about the impossibility of ignoring Berlin’s relevance in today’s art world.

Debunking the myths

IC Director Nina Raftopoulo helps new collectors develop confidence.

From Sponsorship to Authorship

Creative workshops for brands who want to become great story-tellers.

Kai Bender

Collectors who have a special bond with Berlin.

Olaf Schirm

Collectors who have a special bond with Berlin.

Nils Grossien

100 Years of DADA with the last living DADAIST of Germany: PRINZ

Manfred Herrmann

The Berlin based tax consultant Manfred Herrmann and his wife art historian Burglind-Christin Schulze-Herrmann have been collecting contemporary art for the last 30 years.

me Collectors Room – Private Exposure

For the fifth time, the Olbricht Foundation has invited London Metropolitan University students from the ‘Curating the Contemporary’ Master’s program in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery, to curate and develop an exhibition with works from the extensive art collection of Thomas Olbricht.

Harald Falckenberg

The Parallel World of Harald Falckenberg – Daiga Rudzāte spoke with German art collector Harald Falckenberg in Hamburg about art as a historical document and the relationship between freedom and collecting.

The Mechanics of Minimalism

Sometimes someone’s own profession and artistic interests go hand in hand. At least thematically.

Safn

From a very early age, Pétur Arason enjoyed visiting artists in their studios with his father. Today, Arason has built up his own collection spanning more than 1 200 works.

Wilhelm Schürmann

Together with collector and photographer Wilhelm Schürmann we have started the new On-Site category “Inside Sailing”, which brings you fresh photographs from the art world on a regular basis

Aus Ihrer Mitte Entspringt Die Kraft

The Reinking Collection is a place where man and art come together in order to evolve as one.

Behind Your Eyes

Tobias Gombert is an art collector who just loves to learn.

Kunststiftung Meier-Linnert

German collector, Gerd Meier-Linnert, is someone who sees the beauty in simple shapes.

The Secret Garden

Originally founded in 2001 and opened up to the public five years later, the Gerisch Collection hosts an extensive collection in the surroundings of its very own sculpture park, where art can be found down winding paths, in hidden corners and on ponds among blossoming water lilies.

Ingvild Goetz

Margarita Zieda talks to Ingvild Goetz about the talent involved in differentiating a good piece of work from a lucky one hit wonder.

Cindy Sherman – Works from the Olbricht Collection

Arguably one of the most important photographers of the late 20th Century, Cindy Sherman is not just a master of disguise but also a master at captivating her audiences.

Gute Kunst? Wollen!

Born into a family of textile merchants that spans over four generations and a long tradition of passionate art collecting Thomas Rusche’s passion for collecting art started early, with his first purchase at the age of 14. Over the years that followed, his passion for collecting has grown into a vast accumulation of 17th century Old Masters, contemporary painting, and sculptures.

Part Two

What happens when the private interacts with the public, and when personal decisions become a public matter?

Frisch Collection

The Berlin based couple, Harald and Kornelia Frisch, have been collecting idiosyncratic painterly and sculptural positions from different artistic generations free from market-based aesthetics since the 1960s.

Haus N – Part One

What happens when the private communicates with the public and when personal decisions become a public matter?

Le Souffleur

Wilhelm Schürmann presents his collection with works from the Ludwig Collection in “Le Souffleur.”

Slavs and Tatars: Friendship of Nations

An exhibition from the Berlin-based collector Christian Kaspar Schwarm, featuring work from the art collective, Slavs and Tatars.

Queensize

Female Artists from the Olbricht Collection at me Collectors Room, Berlin.

Barbara Klemm: Photographs

A new exhibition from the Berlin collector Werner Driller.

Karsten Schmitz

Art collector, art philanthropist, social entrepreneur and the developer of one of Germany’s largest contemporary art spaces, the internationally renowned Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, Karsten Schmitz shares his vision of how artistic, architectural, as well as the social metamorphosis of art spaces can transform the lives of artists, the public, even entire cities.

I Have Nothing Against Women But…

A look inside the exhibition “I Have Nothing Against Women but Can’t You Ring at Another Person’s Door”

Collection Regard

En Passant

To the patrons of tomorrow

Laurie Rojas on the future of art patronage and how to nurture enthusiasm for good art, worldly sensibility, curiosity, and connoisseurship.

The Rediscovery of Wonder

»Good art is rarely simple, but it is hardly ever incomprehensible, « says Christian Kaspar Schwarm, IC founder and avid collector who has never lost his excitement for complexity.

Mario von Kelterborn – Weserburg

As part of the "Young Collections" series at the Weserburg, Mario von Kelterborn presented works from Collection von Kelterborn in the exhibition "Young Collections 02".

Matthias Arndt

„In the beginning and in the end, you have to love your artworks for their inherent value, the beauty but also the artistic vision they represent“

MUSEUM INSEL HOMBROICH

A unique cultural space of international significance

A Change of Scenery

Artists' wallpapers from the Sammlung Goetz

Issa Masé

Emerging Collectors - The Ori House