Kunsthaus 7B Investors Circle - Annual Meeting 2020

 Radu Rodideal "One for me and all for You", 2017, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm

 

The annual meeting of Kunsthaus 7B Investors Circle took place on 29^th of December 2020 online. “A hybrid event is a real chance, that more people are getting aware of our philanthropic philosophy and its combination with return of investment,” explains Thomas Emmerling, co-initiator of Kunsthaus 7B in Cisnadioara, Transylvania and its investors circle. In fact, that the participants of the meeting aiming to protect their privacy, the stream will not be published on facebook, zoom or youtube. “We are not a secret circle caring conspiracy, the “by invitation only” policy should ensure, that we have enough time to discuss the points of our agenda,” Emmerling describes the policy. “Most collectors are coming from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as several from UK, Germany, Switzlerand and Austria.” Indeed, K7BIC reports that almost all members had been present and could discuss the situation of Kunsthaus 7B in times of COVID-pandemic and the plans for the program 2021. Looking back to 2020 Emmerling describes the main challenges “It had been a steadily switch between online and reality events, what ever had been possible, so we prepared ourselves for both”. “Remapping the future” a group-show with works by Slovakian artists Alena Adamikova, Maria Corejova, Kristina Mesaros and Olga Adamikova during the summer month had been the most successful exhibition this year in Cisnadioara.

Aside this Bucharest artist Oana Ionel had been able to celebrate a big success in Vienna during September and October with her personal-exhibition “Secret Stories of Danube River” at Art 9Teen in Vienna’s 19^th District. Oana Ionel and Maria Corejova are represented in K7BIC and recently recommended for investment, by K7BIC management. As a result coming up from the Viennese Ionel exhibition new projects of the artist are discussed in Italy, Germany, France and Switzerland. In February and March 2021 Venice Biennale artist Maria Corejova, who is represented as well in STRABAG Collection, will show drawings, digital works and sculptures inspired by her at Art 9Teen – Vienna’s Private Art Club.

Beginning of January 2021 Kunsthaus 7B will introduce the program for the started year, which will contain exhibitions with works by artists born in Romania and living abroad as well as by international artists. Aside this the list of artists featured by Kunsthaus 7B in 2021 had been published.  Amongst them are shooting stars as Oana Ionel and Radu Rodideal, as well as established artists as Armin Mühsam, Maria Corejova and Birgit Reiner. “We are interested on a long term partnership with our artists! We want that K7BIC activists meet the artists, know them, understand what strives them and last but not least, what to invest in,” Emmerling describes the policy of the initiative. One of the collectors is adding “For me it is interesting to accompany the development of an artist over years, maybe decades, to see how they unfold their talent, train their skills and work hard on steadily improvement”. K7BIC enables that with three or five years partnerships, where they invest in a certain artistic career. For the complete list of recommended artists, please send an email to Kunsthaus7B@gmail.com .

“In building artistic careers, especially for artists from CEE-Countries as Romania or Slovakia, the financial development is asymmetric. That means, at the beginning, the artists need money to invest in material, fairs, travelling, diners and whatever. But nothing is coming in. This you can just endure financially, when you have the money before you start, or you have parallel income, which hopefully does not distract promising talents from painting.” Art-collector and dealer Thomas Emmerling is creating business-plans for every artist he is representing. He is discussing the financing of the plan with the ones, who are ready to invest now, to fill the financial gap of the artist. “Our members want to help the Eastern European artists and the Project Kunsthaus 7B. As a side effect, their investment is getting interested and after running time they can select an artwork from their favorite artist out of a special catalog.” The systematic is very simple, pay now to help buying materials, organizing exhibitions and art-fairs, and benefit later from the increase of the value of the artist’s work. “Of course it might be easier to buy a work now and it’s done. But our regular meeting, the studio visits, the friendship with the artist from the beginning as well as the team spirit amongst us collectors is unique!” The K7BIC spirit is strongly connected with the Transylvanian village Cisnadioara, with the passion for art and the philanthropic idea to help artists and support the Kunsthaus 7B project. For this reason the annual meeting and the summer-fest in Cisnadioara are important occasions to meet.

At the end of the line, the Kunsthaus 7B Investors Circle wants to support artists and cultural initiatives in Romania and Central and Eastern Europe and form a circle of art-connoisseurs, who share the idea.

Which role plays art really in asset management? Part 2: Scouting through the jungle

Maria Corejova, Bratislava 2014, "Borders, Barriers, Obstacles and other funny things", 

drawing Indian ink on watercolor paper, ca. 50 x 64 cm

 

When collecting art means to commit leadership, as we said in part 1 of this essay, then it needs pathfinders, who are scouting the collector and his financial advisors through the jungle of offers in the art-world.  Bankers and wealth managers are often don’t know quality criteria of artwork as well they don’t learn the key pillars of art-investment at the universities, so from time to time they consider that there aren’t any quality criteria and possibilities to minimize the risk. This makes art suspicious and risky. They let the expertise up to art-historians, who find themselves in a responsibility for art-investments which is not theirs. This miss-understanding excludes potential investors and buyers from the art-sector. Now I am talking about people who have the financial freedom to buy art, which doesn’t mean that they have millions of dollars.  This harms the role of art in asset-management and makes it smaller than necessary.

It is astonishing, because collecting art is one of a few investment possibilities, where the investor can reduce the risk and improve his chances for profit, directly by himself. Provided that he selected an artist to support, with support of an art-advisor for example, he can also take a look on the career-chance of the artist. This is more than a simple speculation. It means analyzes of the artist, artistically as well as the character of the personality. For example committing to the career of young painter from South-Eastern-Europe can be a promising investment. The investment might be in buying three artworks. Now starts the work to minimize the risk. Usually, the collector can discuss with friends, contacts, galleries etc. to organize interesting exhibition or sales possibilities for the artist. This is task of the Gallery representing the painter, but it is in the interest of the collector to enforce this activities. Both have to work here hand in hand.  With some good contacts by the collector it is possible to increase the value.

Let’s say, I discover an artist and follow his work and his development for a certain period. Then I bought three of his works in a total amount of 10.000 Euro. With the knowledge about the artist and his work, with my personal contact to the artist I can commit myself. This means now starts the responsibility of the collector and I start to promote the artist in my professional and private network. Being a Maecenas has a strong philanthropic aspect, but this commitment for the artist can be a typical win-win situation for all sides, the artist and his gallery on one side, me as a collector and my art-advisor on the other side. After a while of some work for all of us, the price might be now for one work at 7.000 - 10.000 Euro. Selling one work will lead to the situation, that me as a collector received two works (almost) for free. Then I can consider to continue the game and sell one more later, or I donate one work of my artist to a meaningful museum, in order to increase the name, reputation and value of my collection. By the way, with every exhibition, the reputation and value of my collection will increase.

Different is the situation investing in Blue Chip artworks. If a collector or a group of investors buys a relevant work by a namely master, the idea is very simple, to buy cheap and sell expensive on an auction. This might be a possibility for artists who are established on the auction markets already. Me personally I find the developing of upcoming and emerging artists more exciting. And this you can start sometimes with astonishing small budgets already, in spite they are highly promising. Simply spoken, the profit rate is higher, while investing in upcoming artists from Central and Eastern Europe.

Of course all these above mentioned possibilities are easier for experienced collectors with contacts who are for several years in the business. But even newcomers can enter into the game. Here as well the scouting of an art-advisor or a wealth manager can be helpful.

The questions bankers are often asking “What to do when you need the liquidity back and have to sell art?” Everyone has in mind to be forced to bring the works to an auction-house, where they are sold by any price, even below. This thinking is coming when the difference between price and value of artworks is not known.  Investing in real estate seems to be easy, because it is about figures and stones. Investing in art means it is about investing in the personality of the artist. The freedom of the artists can scare mathematicians and hold them back from investment-proposals. But investing in art is one of the safest and most transparent real asset investments, especially in times of crisis and post-crisis. The art-market is transparent, just some knowledge about the rules is required, but this know-how you can learn or buy. At the end of the line, every business has its rules. 

 

Which role plays art really in asset management? Part 1: Collecting art is leadership - More then a historical excurse

 "Clement de Jonghe - The Printseller", etching, 1651, by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 - 1669)

First of all – Art is not made for speculation and short run profit, it is made for passion, but a smart assembled art-collection enables a huge increase of the values of an asset portfolio. Yes, collecting art is still one of the most reliable investment possibilities, like everything made for passion. The estimated profit can be over average by far and the speculation risk is less than in stock exchange or real estate, because collectors have many chances to influence the development of artists and works.  Even, when we take a closer look on art-market, we will discover that, in spite of all other assumptions the art-market is very transparent.  More and more private Banks and Family Offices and their advisors are getting aware of that.

Is the role of art in asset-management the role of the sleeping princess?

Still there is something mystic on collecting art, which in general makes the finance world to turn around. Romanian artist Adrian Ghenie for example developed his quotation on the market in approximately 10 years 16-fold. Works that had been 20.000 Euro a couple of years before are now on the secondary market with more than 300.000 Euro. In 2018 the US auction market increased 18 %, in U.K. 15 % according to the Global Art Report of 2019 by economist Clare McAndrew, published in March 2019 by Art Basel and UBS Bank. Even in Corona-Crisis-Year 2020, leading auction houses as Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonham’s are announcing increasing figures.

In the meantime investors in real estate are satisfied with doubled revenue  in the same period of time. Risks that office-spaces, shops and even apartments can remain empty for a certain period or tenants who cannot pay anymore is all considered in the calculation. But in the same time they consider art-investment as risky. This preference is not based on facts, but on the experience of the most bankers. Last but not least, they have more experience in financing and failing financing of apartment with 180.000 Euro then with artworks of 180.000 Euro. Real estate market is larger, convenient and offers simple concepts, with monthly income. And if you need to unblock the investment, you can sell the apartment. What to do when you have to sell an art-collection? This is where collectors and banks with their art-advisors could jump in and control their risk by themselves.

Before we take a look on the chances collectors have to influence the development of artists, and which responsibility they have, we have to take a look on the deeper character of buying art and on its history. As always in life, if you want to understand the rules of the present, a look in the history can be helpful.

Buying art is not for everyone.  Art Collectors are leaders, ready to create their business surrounding, their lifestyle and ready to create the society they are living in. Most art collectors nowadays – and now let’s look on the upper middle class who buys art until ca. 500.000 Euro, are from families who live in that tradition for many generations.

So, how does an art-collector look like? Mature, experienced, with 60 more energetic than others with 30, enjoying life, travelling, luxury, exceptional places, fine hotels, best food, good whiskey, bespoke cloths, an everlasting version of Zeno Davidoff?  Sitting in heavy leather armchairs and enjoying life and celebrating art? And how we imagine a Count? Aren’t there lots of similarities?

The History of collecting art took different routes in the last 500 centuries. But they have surprising similarities. Dukes and Counts of the 15^th and 16^th Century, mainly influenced by the Italian Rennaissance and the ruling families as Borghese and Medici in Florence and Barbarigo and Loredan in Venice, supported artists and established huge art-collections as a symbol of status and power.

The big seafare nations of 17^th Century as Netherlands and England continued this tradition, where mainly the new upper middle class as merchants and ship owners copied the lifestyle and the leadership of the nobility. The Dutch merchants of 17^th Century financed the Golden Age even in arts, as they financed amongst others artists as Vermeer van Delft and Rembrandt van Rijn, who had been a ship owner and spice trader by himself. The development of enlightenment, first in England, afterwards in France, Germany, Austro-Hungary and more European regions caused that the lower nobility and the new upper middle class came closer together. And again, the upper middle class copied the lifestyle of the nobles, even when they had been “snobs”, which meant “sans noblesse”, without noble titles. The new class had maidens and drivers, silver cutleries and crystal chandeliers, valuable porcelain and finest wines and food. And they bought artworks. In the time of industrialization some of the upper middle class became nobles, and some lower nobles became entrepreneurs. The situation had been perfect for encounters and learning from each other. On that crossroad, the social levels mingled, which became a blessing for art-dealers and artists until the 20^th century.

Following this theory, it might not be surprising that the main hot-spots for art in contemporary Europe are London, Paris, Netherlands, Berlin, Vienna and Venice. All this places have a history of strong determining Imperial and Royal houses or in case of Venice, a tradition of influential families. In this places we have around the former courts many lower nobles and upcoming bourgeois ready to copy a life in nobility.

This contains not only to live in luxury, this means to think and act in long term, to take responsibility for decisions, for investments, for people, for artists and the progress in their careers. “Noblesse oblige” means as well to take care of artists and to support them, as well in benefit of the own collection. Latest now we can see, that collecting art is not just a business, but a noble life-style, which requires more a certain perception of life in dignity, then money, but it enables an increase of the family fortune. It remain, collecting art is a profitable passion.

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Next week in part 2 of this essay, we will take a look on the difference between investment in stock exchange, real estate and art.

Why social media marketing is not enough in visual art and what to do?

 

Thomas Emmerling, Director Kunsthaus 7B, Cisnadioara (Michelsberg), Romania

At beginning of the pandemic we hired a social media expert. We had been convinced that through the restrictions who forbid opening the gallery, it would be a better way to reach publicity. We had been thinking the whole world will be just virtually anymore, this will sustain after the lock-downs, we will reach more people – and it will be much cheaper than the classic way of acquiring new clients. We installed our web-shop, offered skype and zoom events, and collected likes from all over the world. Now after almost 9 months we have to admit, that we did not reach any new client through social media marketing. And we found out, that we cannot pay bills with likes and shares. As well our artists find out, that something is missing, in spite of all the global appreciation of their works, something essential is missing, something they could buy bread with. Our social media specialist gave us a lot of advices, to find the right hashtags, the right time to post, the right colors to post and so on. Photos, films, jokes, some content which is just indirect related to contemporary art from Central Europe. At the end of the line, our expert analyzes that we are not really in the market. Somehow we had the same impression. The chance to find new clients on social media is not determined by the market, but by chance.

My critic on social media should not sound as comments from frustrated guys, who just simply don’t know how to do it in a proper way. My critic should waken up the sector and encourage us to think, what aside social media is necessary for art-sales. Last but not least, social media can be a marketing instrument, but it can be not a sales-tool.

Surviving in world of contemporary fine arts without social media is simply not possible anymore. It is like the virus of the “Emperors new cloth” catched us all.

So what exactly remains to do? First of all, we have to be aware of the difference between marketing and sales. Marketing can only help to increase the awareness in your target group. But awareness in arts, even appreciation, is not leading mandatory to sales, there is another step, that has to follow. The process of sales has its own conditions.

I assume, that in spite of many social changes due to Covid 19, one important factor remains, that trust and confidence are the most important ones in art-sector. Dealers, galleries and artists trust a lot into social media, it seems that collectors are still hesitating and waiting, they don’t trust in the same intensity. Still it is necessary to win the confidence of the clients. If your clients are the persons, trusting you and believing in you, they will help you as well through hard times.

As a logic consequence of what we said until now, and in paradox to the vibe, everything should be online now, I think, personal contacts are getting more important in very near future. People are getting more and more individual and more and more privat nowadays. Art-Industry cannot ignore it. The times are over, when speechless, black-dressed unfriendly and arrogant people are “running” art-galleries, just proudly showing what they have. Even named galleries are suffering on that problem. The task of sales-staff in galleries is to find out the lifestyle of the client and what would fit the best to him and her. They have to remain friendly and behaving like good friends, even when the discussion is ending without deal. And they have to take the leadership in the sales process, not to let it up to the client, if they buy or not.

The future belongs to the art-seller, who is asking and understanding his clients and winning its trust, even when the instagram and facebook accounts are not showing the most likes in town.

Coming back to social media: Instagram & co. are helping artists to achieve a name amongst other artists, their main competitors. An art-gallery in a city with two million inhabitants might have 50, if it is good organized 10 relevant competitors. Being aware that social-media marketing is just entertaining, but not selling, I have to face the truth, that there I have one up to six million competitors. Even when you combine your social media activities with good content, it will be hard to break through. Meanwhile collectors buy a piece of the artist personality. This is transmitted more intensive in unique artworks than in uniform social-media trends.

Most of the big shots of collectors are not represented on facebook, some of them you even can’t find on the internet, because their access is filtered. They will not involve themselves in the unfiltered world of social media. Of course this idea has a big “BUT” button as well. The art-advisors, curators and secretaries around the decision-makers need social-media to inform themselves about the works, artistic CV, indicators for concepts or criteria to buy. In the front office of the collectors instagram and facebook are checked and filtered.

Does my friends, contacts, the people I am following reflect my self-understanding? Does it reflect the context I would like to be in? Who is my target group, whom I am following and who is following me? At the beginning you will be happy to obtain any follower; later on you should have the courage to clean your list from time to time. Of course in social media, masses are counting. But in opposite to TV-Stars, artists are not under the pressure to win everyone. Less is more, and it is more important that you build your marketplace in your target-group.

From our experience there are a lot of advices to give in social-media marketing, and I am sure other art-dealers have to give that as well: Prepare content for some days or weeks ahead, so you have it, when you will need it. Always be aware, that posting by its own is not enough. It is more important, to involve yourself into the community. Like, share, comment, communicate, take care of postings, stories and catch awareness with being there.

In order to have a strong presence, you have to be online permanent. You have to react and be one of the first to comment share like and repost. The permanent presence is not only in posting but as well in involving yourself into the community.

The threat is that small galleries with small capacities on human resources as well as artists marketing themselves will be selected out, if they are not following the rules. The algorithm will not remember them. But when you are just hanging on twitter & co, there is no more time for the real job of an artist, painting, as well as the real job of a gallery – convincing the right people and selling personally.

The Idea of the Danube Region in Contemporary Art

Guest-author Prof. Dr. Adrian Popescu, Sibiu, Romania, publicist  President of Lobbyart Foundation, founding member of German-Romanian University in Sibiu and for many years Vice-President of the the association of visual artists UAP in Sibiu,  about the idea of the Danube Region, the recent Oana Ionel exhibition "Secret Stories of Danube River" in Vienna and the Private Art Club ART 9TEEN in Vienna and its support for Romanian Contemporary Art. The text had been published first time on Prof.Dr. Popescu's facebook-site on 06th October 2020.

A resident of Sibiu supports the strategy of the Danube Region through cultural activities

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Surprisingly or not in times of pandemic, there are still commendable initiatives aimed at economic recovery. Among those who promote such initiatives, we are pleased to nominate the collector and art curator Thomas Emmerling, a cultural lobbyist and more, with an effervescent activity whether we are talking about Europe or America. Thomas Emmerling visited Romania in 2010 and since then he has created a cultural bridge starting from traditional art to the creations of contemporary art. In this framework of cultural exchanges, the exhibitions alternated, being organized in: Sibiu, Cisnădioara, Timișoara, Iași, Cluj, Tg. Mureș, etc. At the same time he held events in Hungary, Germany, Slovakia but also in Austria where since 2018 he has carried out several projects under "ART 9TEEN", as a result of his cooperation with the Viennese art entrepreneur and collector Alexander Varvaressos.

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"ART 9TEEN" is a new concept, much more than an art gallery - a private art club, where business and culture coexist perfectly. Art collector and art dealer Thomas Emmerling, who also resides in Romania, the initiator and director of "Michelsberger Kunsthaus 7B in Transylvania", based on an older project -related to the countries bordering the Danube- became the supporter of the Danube Region strategy through cultural activities . It is a welcome initiative that brings a new foundation of unity within the EU. The statement is supported by several arguments. The first would be the historical one and here, using archival documents, we invoke Nicolae Bălcescu who, on June 16, 1850, in the letter addressed to Alexandru Zane, referring to the "new continental order" launched a shocking proposal in that moment ... namely "Giovine Europa", formed on the basis of a "pact" ... a structure meant to unite the Greeks, Spaniards, Swiss, Romanians and the Slavs of southern Europe, "a Danube confederation to which Napoleon himself I visa ”. This option regarding the “federal plan” is also presented in the letter he sent to Ion Ghica, on April 6, 1850, in which he proposed that this federal form be called the “United States of the Danube”, for which he proposed that the governing act to be implemented by a "Federal Central Assembly". The second argument concerns the EU itself. Following the example of the “EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region”, the first such macro-regional approach, the EU Strategy for the Danube Region was recently relaunched, based on the efforts of stakeholders in the region to create a habitat in which all 115 million inhabitants to enjoy security, prosperity but also equal opportunities by connecting the Danube region to a network of transport, energy, culture and tourism.

 

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"Secret Stories Of Danube River"

This last aspect is highlighted in the exhibition "Secret Stories Of Danube River", in the creations of Oana Ionel, works exhibited by the curator Thomas Emmerling in the gallery in Vienna. The artist is known for her original concepts, which transcend political boundaries. Oana Ionel appeals to the memory of the river-symbol of Europe - the Danube, to tell a story about diversity, tolerance and respect for life. In a lyrical-abstract style, the painter describes the Danube as a cohabitation space that allows multiculturalism, from the Black Forest mountains to the Black Sea. "Rivers are alive and have a memory. Memories older than the peoples living on their shores are imprinted in their memory. Rivers do not care about the boundaries set by people ", explains the painter. One of the leitmotifs of Oana Ionel's paintings is the island of Ada Kaleh, which was swallowed by the waters of the Danube in 1971, following the construction of the Iron Gates dam. In Oana Ionel's painting, the island of Ada Kaleh is a constant presence and a symbol of diversity and respect for life. Congratulations to the Austrian curator living in Sibiu but also to the exhibitor who draws the attention of the decision makers that quick solutions must be found to overcome the pandemic crisis

 

The Story of Kunsthaus 7B - Contemporary Arts in the Carpathian Mountains

 Photo: Cristian Draghici

 

In the years before COVID 19 the cultural tourism to Transylvania increased steadily. Main destinations had been the Church Fortresses and cities of Transylvanian Saxons as Brasov, Sighisoara and of course Sibiu, who had been European Cultural Capital 2007. Aside the public museums and their offers Kunsthaus 7B in Cisnadioara near Sibiu developed as a center for international contemporary art. It became an important factor in the cultural tourism to Transylvaina with increasing numbers of international exhibitions and visitors. Together with the Evanghelical Church Congregation of the German speaking minority in Transylvania, we transformed the old abandoned School House into an art-space. Surprisingly, the project did not start in one of the big cities with their urban culture, but in a village where values and traditions from the 13^th Century are sustaining unbroken.

How does it came to this project and why seems it to be necessary for Transylvania, Romania and Central-Europe?

My ancestors came from Transylvania, from the German speaking minority in the country between the Carpathian Mountains. I had been born in Germany, grew up in Germany and lived most of my life in Germany, not being so much aware of my roots on the Northern Balkan Peninsula.

In summer 1999 I had been first time in Romania. For me this journey had been very intensive, now I started to understand a lot about the structures and behaviors in our family and even in myself. Aside finding my roots, the trip caused new questions. The breath-taking landscape, the warmhearted politeness of the people, the awesome tasting food, all this had been a surprise for me. And then I asked myself, why people (now from Germany) go for holiday to North of Italy, in autumn for “Törgelen” to taste the new grape-juice and young wine? Why they are not coming to Transylvania?

After some years of travelling through Romania I remarked something particular: It seems to me that Romanian people don’t take culture for serious. They don’t take their own culture for serious. It seems to me, that the reason for that lack of believing in the own cultural productivity lies deeper in history, then in the years of communism. Of course, in times when intellectuals landed up in the Danube-Black Sea Channel, shoveling soil without any protection walls, then it is better no one is aware of the interest in sciences and culture. And on the other side, the officially declared intellectuals of Ceaucescu-Regime appeared helpless - they simply didn’t know how to be intellectual.

The countries along the river Danube are regions with enormous outstanding cultural skills as talents in music, literature, theater and visual arts. There is a long tradition of appreciating this. The Danube Area is one of the most creative areas in the world, evoking genius talents on almost all fields of cultural activities.

I decided to support contemporary-artists especially from Romania. I felt responsible for the people of my country and still I am convinced, that art from Central Europe should be placed again, where it belongs to, into the Center of Europe. Aside taking historical sites as castles and church-fortresses for serious, it is highest time that the Romanians taking their contemporary culture for serious. Art is transporting values and the culture of a land always describes the codes how people are behaving. Who is not caring about the contemporary culture of a country is not taking care, how its people are behaving.

Especially in Romania I found enormous skilled young artists, who preserved the values of the “homo europaeus” as Prof. Victor Neumann called him. The “homo europaeus”  is well educated, world-open, travelling, studying abroad, caring friendships all over the world, speaking several languages, empathic and blessed by a natural courtesy, understanding art in the meaning of enlightenment as something higher focusing the human being and the human reason.

This new generation of Romanian artists stayed abroad.  They know how life could be. They are free of suffering from communist or post-communist trauma, and they are free of the urge in coping western experimentalism. They believe in enlightenment and responsibility and creating a new, more refined time-less and space-less art. I think it is worth to support this artistic movement.

In 2017 I decided together with the Evanghelical Church Congregation of the German speaking minority to transform the old German speaking schoolhouse of the Transylvanian Saxons into an art-space, in order to create an exhibition space for Romanian and international artists. The idea is, that in Kunsthaus 7B as we called it, (the title of the project is a short version of the German word for Transylvania “Siebenbürgen”), artists from the Danube area and other regions of Europe are meeting with cultural interested people from all over the world, collectors, curators, journalists or just tourists appreciating art. With our global network of contacts in the art-world, that had been created through my activities as a collector, Kunsthaus 7B wants to be a stepping stone for artists from the Danube region to international careers. This project would not be possible without the support by the people from the village and the members of the Evanghelical Church Congregation in Cisnadioara.

The project is financially sustained by earnings from art-sales, contributions by the Church Congregation and me. Of course, the Corona caused travelling restrictions in 2020 creates a horrible financial situation for our artists and us. At this moment we are depending more and more on the philanthropic support of families, who support the idea of Kunsthaus 7B and who understand, that it is important for Transylvania, Romania and Central Europe that private cultural projects sustain this period. They are giving us hope and motivation to continue.

Oana Ionel Exhibition in Vienna - Something is going on in the East - Portrait about the artist

 

Photo Credit: Josefina Danzinger

The Oana Ionel exhibition “The Secret Stories of Danube River” in Vienna's Private Art Club “ART 9TEEN” is already one of the surprising and remarkable exhibitions in Austria's capital city this year.

The young Bucharest artist shows the Viennese audience that it is time to talk about our understanding of borders. "In times when we prefer to build walls rather than bridges, it becomes clear that we have to re-discuss our understanding of borders." One of the key concepts in Ionel's work is to understand borders as an invitation, to linger, to meet and communicate, to negotiate and trade and for mutual understanding. “The Danube ignores man-made boundaries, makes them permeable and metaphorical,” Ionel describes her point of view. This is hardly surprising, as her Central European homeland was for centuries the border between East and West, between the ancient Roman Empire and Byzantium, between the Enlightenment and Orthodoxy. This border goes through regions, landscapes, villages, streets, families and sometimes through individual people. But the doctorate artist and psychologist is interested in something else, namely to find out from our own limitations of fear, which guides us more than usual in politics and society today, from the limitation of analytical thinking, of “either or” towards infinitely creative "as well as".

Oana Ionel is fascinated by water, by the constant incessant process of becoming new, of coming and going, of washing up new territory and the invisible land, but becoming new again and again. For her, water is a living being with a memory spanning millions of years, older than that of the people on the river. Water always has the tendency to find its way back. The water of the Danube remembers Ada Kaleh, the Danube Island that sank in 1971. The island, which belongs to Romania, was evacuated in 1968 in a "night-and-fog operation". The Turkish originated population was promptly asked to leave the island. Then it remained empty for several years until it sank into the catchment basin of the Danube in 1971 when the Iron Gate 1 dam was built. Ada Kaleh with his fate became a symbol of diversity, living space and respect. "Above all, a lack of respect for life" adds Ionel. From the perspective of the young artist Ada Kaleh, the massive pressure with which the island was depopulated by the rulers of the time and then left empty for years makes a further example of the failure of a patriarchal society. “Men who are distant from life want to force others to have their own pathological reality”. You can tell that Ionel belongs to a generation that has lived abroad and knows what life can be like in a democracy and in a constitutional state. And this is also a generation that no longer puts up with everything.

The Bucharest artist Oana Ionel is socially committed herself. She organizes conferences or acts as a speaker when it comes to the coexistence of ethnic groups in the Danube countries. She is ready to take responsibility for her country and for Europe. Oana Ionel can't stand people doing nothing, like watching hypnotized situations and sleeping with their eyes open. “I always thought that it only exists here in Eastern Europe, that it has something to do with communism.” Now she has to realize that she was wrong. What scares her today is that she is observing doing nothing and watching or looking away more and more often in the West, in France, Germany, Austria, in many countries. “You see democracy as a consumer good that you like or not, that you zap or spit out at will. One does not realize that democracy is something that can be shaped, a process that one can get involved in. People are no longer aware of what they have achieved in democracy, in personal prosperity, in personal freedom. You risk too much and sacrifice it to populism that is alien to life ”.

Ionel used the lockdown in spring 2020 to reconsider. "I notice that I need another larger look, that I need larger formats in my work that deal with the really important things of our time, not to lose sight of the whole."

In her lockdown work “Stillness”, Oana Ionel portrayed the silence that captures us when we see a beach from above. In excerpts, but realizing that there is a greater whole. "The lockdown has thrown us back on ourselves, on our own insignificance but also on the confrontation with ourselves"

How can one express timeless meta-political social criticism other than in strong, timeless abstractions? Ionel has no answer to this, stays calm, abstraction is a universal language for her that everyone understands. You can feel the energy in her expressive work. It is a timeless, always there energy that charismatically embraces and ensnares the viewer, but leaves him the freedom of his own interpretation. In doing so, she manages the rare balance between her powerful, expressive brushstrokes and the strong colors, which lively, lively emulate the vortex of the river, but also symbolize the hustle and bustle in the cities along the Danube. At the same time, the work by no means seems light-footed and banal, but rather profound and serious. One stands in front of her works in different shades of blue and turquoise with the same emotion as one stands in front of the Danube itself. She repeatedly uses wax as a special element, which is mysteriously associated with the gold dust of Byzantine painting.

There is not much symbolism required in Oana Ionel's work, and it is not necessary to chase after artistic trends to attract attention. Oana Ionel leads the way. She is already a role model for many young women and artists, not only in Eastern Europe.