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Intrigues to succeed the president at the Zurich Kunsthaus: In Zurich, money and mind are in the same bed
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Walter Kielholz has a long shadow: And the art of raising capital is blooming at the Zurich Kunsthaus. The reasons lie in the enormous financial requirements of the museum due to the magnificent building by David Chipperfield.
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In the new Chipperfield building in Zurich, the mind has room to breathe. But without money, the immensely wide and high rooms remain empty.
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It’s an earthquake. The extension of the Zürcher Kunsthaus on Heimplatz, which will open in autumn and which will almost double the museum’s exhibition space, is to become the new epicenter of art. Art that stands for power. And power means money. It is the money that will be needed to fill the extension building with content in the future.
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Livestream recording of the handover of the keys to the Kunsthaus extension by David Chipperfield.
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Where did it come from? In times of public austerity it has to be obtained from private donors, companies and foundations: money and spirit are mutually dependent as opposing forces. They are incompatible principles only in the bourgeois conception of a romantic artist ideal that lives on applause and good words.
With the opening of the Chipperfield icon in Zurich, private fundraising, keyword fundraising, is at least as urgent as it was as a patronage in Switzerland until the 19th century.
The Zurich economic freedom is the Zurich art freedom
This service must primarily be provided by the private association that strategically directs the Zürcher Kunsthaus and directly brought it to life – the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft. But this spring, its President Walter Kielholz, a puller of the Zurich economic freedom, plans to resign. We are looking for a successor by the end of May.
–Walter Kielholz
Resigning President of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft
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Kielholz leaves an association with considerable tradition and influence. The previous organization was set up in Zurich as early as 1787 as a circle of friends “painters and painter dilettantes”. It became public for the first time in 1799 and organized the first «Helvetic» art exhibition in Switzerland.
In 1910, the same circle opened the Kunsthaus – and since then, as an association, in the presence of the city and canton, the relevant businesses on Heimplatz have been determined. The art society is responsible for the acquisitions, the collection policy – and the election of the museum director. This has been Christoph Becker for 20 years, and a successor is being sought for him too. Better still and due to the hour, a successor.
The controversial Emil Bührle collection has a very special weight on the board
Franz Albers is considered to be the most influential board member of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft who influenced this election. He is the man behind the development of Zurich-West and the owner of Albers & Co, a family business in the field of high-priced real estate. Albers, Lukas Gloor, director of the Bührle collection located at the Kunsthaus, and Ben (Hans Peter) Weinberg, third generation Zurich textile entrepreneur and art collector, are the trio that cannot be ignored internally.
With the upcoming election of the museum director and the resignation of Kielholz, the influence of the art society reached its climax. And the surprise is big, even for Zurich insiders: A dispute has broken out over Kielholz’s succession plan. The power that is released is obviously seductive.
For the election of the presidium – which was already sealed with the art expert from the interior of Zurich’s freedom of art, Anne Keller Dubach, 64 – a demolition candidate came forward from the off: It is the Bern art attorney Schmidt-Gabain, 39 from the Nobel law firm & Hug. He promises a generation change, a “breath of fresh air” and thinks a lot of “event culture”. His boss is Peter Nobel, business lawyer, lawyer for Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and he also collects art.
The dependency grows, the concentration of power increases
It was a correct resignation with announcement. And yet, in the person of Walter Kielholz, the double face of money and spirit is evident – and the related dependencies. Kielholz was not only long-standing President, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Credit Suisse from 2003 to 2009 and President of the world’s second largest reinsurer, Swiss Re, from 2009 to April of this year. In the past, Swiss Re and CS were the private financial supporters of the Kunsthaus and made important exhibitions and acquisitions possible.
The 2816 association members now have to decide by the end of May: Either for the native of Zurich from the old Abegg and Bodmer families, Anne Keller Dubach, who Kielholz already built up as a successor last year and brought to the board, or for the candidate from Bern, Schmidt-Gabain.
If another miracle doesn’t happen, the choice has already been made: Anne Keller Dubach will prevail. It may be the guarantee that CS and Swiss Re will continue to be favored by the Kunsthaus. The art historian, who is taking early retirement this spring, has built up and has been responsible for Swiss Re’s commitment to art and culture around the world over the past 20 years. Her great-grandfather, who was considered the richest man in Switzerland at the time, was a pillar of both Swiss Re and CS.
For Keller Dubach’s support on the board speaks: The candidate is said to have been asked personally by the mayor Corine Mauch, who sits on the board of the art society for the city. For Florian Schmidt-Gabain, however, no board member has made a loud voice so far. He receives support from artists such as Thomas Julier and Walter Pfeiffer. Incidentally, its supporters are made up of professional colleagues, asset managers and entrepreneurs. The colorful dog in the Schmid-Gabain support committee and a member of the art society is the Zurich music manager Freddy Burger.
In Zurich, money and mind will probably also be in the same bed in the future. In the name of art, of course. Because, who knows, maybe the alchemical act of making art is even related to the art of increasing money.
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