International News Digest
ARTISTS OCCUPY HAMBURG BUILDINGS
Close to two hundred artists occupied a dozen empty houses in Hamburg’s inner city over the weekend. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung and DPA report, the painter Daniel Richter was among the crowds who broke into the buildings, which have been barricaded for years, to transform them into galleries and ateliers. “They wanted to bring attention to the shortage of space for artists, as well as save the historic buildings from deterioration and demolition,” notes the report.
A spokesperson for the group, Darko Caramello, said that the houses would remain occupied until the squatters are removed or until the city talks with them. “It can’t be that everything here will be demolished,” Caramello told the press. In an open letter to the city senate, the artists called for a “new, accessible-to-the-public, and financially independent art and cultural center in the heart of the city.” Hundreds of people visited the area—located in Hamburg’s historical Gängeviertel—to see artworks, listen to DJs, and linger at makeshift bars. The current owner of the houses—the Dutch investor Hanzevest—bought the entire site from the city to build houses and offices. Around 80 percent of the historic buildings are slated for demolition by the development plan.
According to a DPA report in the Hamburger Abendblatt, the occupation came to an early end on Monday. Employees of the building company SAGA made their way into the buildings to barricade them up once again. According to the squatters, the workers had been instructed to execute their job without any discussions. The squatters cooperated to avoid an escalation in the situation. “However, this intervention doesn’t change anything about the fact that we’re here and will remain here and will remain open for talks with those responsible,” said a spokesperson for the artists. “We’re sticking to our principles and invite everyone to visit us once again today, too.”
INTERPOL PUTS DATABASE OF STOLEN ART ONLINE
Interpol has dealt a blow to the market for stolen artworks. As Agence France-Presse reports, the agency will be offering “authorized users” access to its database tracking stolen art, via a secured site. The Interpol list includes information on approximately thirty-four thousand works that have been stolen around the world. The data, including descriptions and photographs of the missing works, will be available to institutions (government ministries, museums, foundations), auction houses, and commercial art galleries, as well as individual collectors and researchers.
INVESTIGATING ART FAKES
Interpol might just consider expanding its online service to include a list of artworks endangered by fakes. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports, German police uncovered a secret storage space near Mainz filled with one thousand fake copies of bronzes by the late Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti. A fifty-nine-year-old man, who allegedly offered the fakes for prices reaching the millions, was taken into custody for questioning. A sixty-one-year-old art dealer and his wife were questioned in relation to the find. Charges include fraud and copyright infringement.
It seems that Giacometti is not the only artist to suffer fakes. Citing a report in The Independent, the Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Catrin Lorch explores the mysteriously expanding oeuvre of the Russian avant-garde. Some experts believe that there are more fakes than originals on the market. According to the auctioneer William MacDougall, who specializes in Russian art, “more than half” of the works offered to the house are fakes. Markus Eisenbeis from the Cologne auctioneers Van Ham goes even higher, estimating that 80 percent of the works offered to the house are fakes. Works by the second avant-garde wave of artists—including Punin, Exter, Popova—are particularly vulnerable.
One problem lies in the lack of experts in the West with knowledge and experience of the original masterpieces of the movement. But whomever the artist, Germany offers something of a haven for the market in fake copies of original artworks. In contrast to France, as Lorch notes, German auction houses and experts are not held liable for thirty years—three decades—for their appraisals.
ART COMPETITION OR HISTORICAL REVISION?
It’s not exactly the Turner Prize, but an art competition for schoolchildren in Wrocław, Poland, has managed to stir up some controversy in the press. Eurotopics cites an article by Nasz Dziennik’s Zenon Baranowski, who reports on the competition at Wrocław’s municipal museum, where officials awarded the prize to a six-year-old competitor. The problem is not the age of the winner but the appearance of the winning entry: a small statue of King Frederick II of Prussia. “Historians never stop telling us that competitions such as this are meant to broaden people’s knowledge,” writes Baranowski. “But in this case, the truth is being blurred and played down. The museum’s representatives don’t see any problem in stressing that there are no clear-cut figures in history. The Lower Silesian board of trustees [the regional education authorities], however, have pointed out that teachers should make clear to pupils what a negative role this Prussian king played in the history of Poland.” There seems to be more room for amateurs of art than amateurs of history.