orffenbach ⋅ It’s a success story, no doubt about it. Even if the interest of the companies involved has slightly waned after the years of the pandemic and this year the concept changes. This does not detract from the public response to “Art Private!”. As has often been the case since 2005, when banks, companies and law firms at the initiative of the Hessian Ministry of Economy invited people from all over Hesse to present their art collections to the public, numerous guided tours have been full for weeks. . The lawyers and notaries of the Knolle Societät in Offenbach have been present from the very beginning. We asked Olaf Meister, one of the shareholders, about his experiences.
Mr. Meister, you were involved in “Art Private!” for 17 years. What is the attraction for a large law firm like yours? You are probably less interested in the acquisition.
In 2005 the Hessian Ministry of Economy asked us if we wanted to participate and we have been doing so ever since. We live in the office and in our respective homes with artwork. Art is indispensable for us. Our art collection also says something about us and the values we stand for, and therefore also has an acquisition component.
“It is the job of art today”, says the website kunstknolle.de, created especially for the company collection, “to bring order to chaos.” To what extent does your collection, the roughly 50 works in your office, fulfill Theodor Adorno’s saying?
A dialectical question requires a dialectical answer: the world is full of contradictions. Our art collection helps us understand that these contradictions can make sense.
And who feels challenged by it? Who comes to “Kunst Knolle” at “Kunst privat!”?
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