Independent Collectors

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Timo Miettinen

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

Iris and Timo Miettinen

To celebrate another year of Gallery Weekend Berlin we speak to a selection of collectors who have a special bond with Berlin

Focusing on the collecting scene of the city and the personal relationship between city and collector, we find out what makes this capital not just a special place for its artists and visitors, but for the collectors too.

Finnish collector Timo Miettinen talks to IC about the impossibility of ignoring Berlin’s relevance in today’s art world, his own exhibition space Salon Dahlmann and how the city’s western part is gradually reclaiming its former glory.

IC
Tell us about your connection to Berlin. How did it all begin?

TIMO MIETTINEN
I came to Berlin ten years ago with a group of Finnish real estate investors. It was then that I got really interested not only in Berlin’s real estate situation but in the local art scene as well as the city itself.

IC
What is the collecting scene like in Berlin?

TIMO MIETTINEN
Berlin’s collecting scene is very lively, compelling, interesting and international. Especially in comparison to my hometown, Helsinki.

Installation View IN WONDERLAND. A Birthday Exhibition for Timo Miettinen, at Salon Dahlmann, Berlin. Courtesy the artist and Miettinen Collection, Photo: Roman März

IC
Your collection consists of a lot of German and Finnish based artists – why is this important to you?

TIMO MIETTINEN
I am Finnish and I would like to promote Finnish art at my exhibition space in Berlin. I feel Germany has become my second home. My collection however is international and not only based on works by German or Finnish artists. Actually one of my favorite artists is the Spaniard Secundino Hernandez. We first discovered his work here in Berlin back in 2009 and have been collecting his works ever since.

IC
Many international artists are coming to Berlin. Has this influx of artistic talent had an impact on your collection and if so, how?

TIMO MIETTINEN
It definitely has had an impact on my collection. I am very interested in buying art from young artists and promoting their work. For this reason, Berlin is really an important place to be – also for a collector.

IC
Do you normally work directly with artists or do you go through Berlin galleries?

TIMO MIETTINEN
Normally I buy art from galleries but many of the artists I collect are not presented by a gallery, so I also buy art directly from them. I also buy art at auctions or from other collectors.

IC
How have you seen the Berlin art scene change and where do you think it’s headed?

TIMO MIETTINEN
Berlin’s art scene has been growing continuously and will continue to grow and change. I also believe that more collectors will come to the city. One thing I find especially interesting is to witness the change that is happening in West Berlin with Charlottenburg gradually becoming another hotspot for the art scene, reclaiming its former glory. I opened my exhibition space Salon Dahlmann in our house on Marburgerstrasse 3 in 2012 and I am happy to see that others have opened exhibition spaces in locations near by.

IC
Will you be attending Gallery Weekend Berlin this year (2016)? And if yes, do you have any tips for the collectors coming on where they should go?

TIMO MIETTINEN
I will definitely be attending this year’s edition of Gallery Weekend Berlin. Naturally my first recommendation would be our anniversary exhibition „In wonderland“ at Salon Dahlmann, which will be open every day of the weekend from 11am–6pm. Other than that I know that Galerie Michel Haas will be showing works by Leiko Ikemura from the 29th of April onwards. I recently saw an exhibition by Ikemura at Berlin’s Haus am Waldsee which I thought was amazing. She is a great artist.

Miettinen Collection is featured in the BMW ART GUIDE by INDEPENDENT COLLECTORS.

For more information visit Miettinen Collection.

Timo Miettinen

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

Germany (114)

You are the Concept

Private sessions with IC founder and strategist Christian Kaspar Schwarm.

Sammlung Gräfling

The young couple merges private and public spaces by displaying their collection at their home in a prestigious historic apartment.

Mario & Julia von Kelterborn

The von Kelterborn Collection isn’t for the faint of heart—although that’s not to say the works are visually jarring.

Julia Stoschek

Sergej Timofejev in conversation with Julia Stoschek: one of the most active and famous collectors of time-based art.

Boros Bunker #4

This former techno-club has been home to the private collection and residence of Christian and Karen Boros.

Christine and Andrew Hall

Interview with the collectors behind Hall Art Foundation

The Walther Collection

A collection of photographs, spanning the early days of photography to the contemporary

Philara Collection

Since the mid 1990s, Gil Bronner’s collection has grown to more than 1 400 works

haubrok projects

Lollie Barr meets collector Axel Haubrok in Lichtenberg

Wurlitzer Berlin-Pied-à-Terre Collection

Gudrun and Bernd Wurlitzer have created a space where artworks sit comfortably alongside signs of everyday life

KUNSTSAELE Berlin

Geraldine Michalke provides one of the most dynamic sites for aesthetic exchanges in Berlin

The Feuerle Collection

Désiré Feuerle has turned a site of isolation and paranoia into a place infused with humanity, lightness and sensuality

Ingrid & Thomas Jochheim

The collector couple describes the discovery process, which has led them to around 700 artworks to date, as emotional

ARNDT Collection

Tiffany Wood and Matthias Arndt aim to collect works that create disturbance

Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung

Alexander Tutsek and Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek share a passion for glass

PRIOR Art Space

Oliver Elst and Laura del Arco have built significant collections, both individually and together

Elke and Arno Morenz Collection

A collection about seven postwar avant-garde movements

BRAUNSFELDER Family Collection – Gute Nacht

An exhibition inspired by a song from Franz Schubert’s cycle “Winterreise” (1827)

Museum Brandhorst

Francesca Gavin and Benjamin Jaworskyj explore this dazzling space in Munich.

AT HOME WITH IC x sammlung FIEDE

Video art in times of crises: Selection 12 presents the work of Berlin artist and performer Constantin Hartenstein.

The Essence of Existence at Woods Art Institute

The Woods Art Institute (WAI) is a park destination near Hamburg for the experience, teaching & creation of art located in nature, as part of the Sachsenwald Forest.

Collection Night

A new twilight initiative takes places in Berlin to bring private collections together in a special programme.

Wege Zur Welt / Connections To The World

The Hildebrand Collection showcases its thirteenth temporary exhibition at its Leipzig home, the G2 Kunsthalle.

Alexander Tutsek Stiftung – About Us

See inside the exhibition, About Us, intended as a contribution to the discourse on contemporary photography in China.

You Are Here

"You are here" presents works from the Peters-Messer Collection, exhibited at the Werkschauhalle in Leipzig's former cotton spinning mill.

Warhol and Works on Paper

Editions and works on paper from The Dirk Lehr Collection.

Art is a Window – Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Una Meistere in conversation in Berlin with IC founder Christian Kaspar Schwarm.

Young Desire and Cuperior

A young collector pushing young artists to be seen and heard.

Kunstwerk – Sammlung Klein

Alison and Peter W. Klein are two collectors who do not follow art-market trends but instead only buy what they love.

The Peters-Messer Collection at the Weserburg

Bremen’s river museum, the Weserburg, hosted works of the Peters-Messer Collection, provoking an investigation of present day qualms and the function of art alongside these.

Friedrich & Johanna Gräfling

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

ALLES NOTWENDIGE (Everthing Necessary)

We newly introduce Braunsfelder – the private initiative of a Cologne family, who in their current exhibition (which can be visited) present the urgency for art, especially in difficult times.

Dirk Lehr Collection

A look inside the Berlin-based collection that refuses to follow trends.

The Art of Recollecting

A selection of artworks from the Hildebrand Collection that explore individual and collective memories.

Max & Corina Krawinkel

What might have initially begun as two collectors with two very different tastes has now resulted in one of Germany’s most important collections of contemporary art by West German artists.

Generation Loss

With fifteen exhibitions under its belt and over 100 000 visitors through its doors, the Julia Stoschek Collection is officially celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Recent Histories

Uniting the perspectives of contemporary artists of African descent who investigate social identity.

Yvonne Roeb

Inside the studio of the artist with the unusual collection.

Christian Kaspar Schwarm “Young Collections”