Interview with Dr. Gabriele Knapstein

November, 2018

Interview with Dr. Gabriele Knapstein Interview Director of Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin.

1) Before asking questions regarding your area of specialization, I would like to have your overall idea about global museology in 2018? What were the profound changes of this year regarding museum management?

From an european perspective, one of the major shifts within the field of museum management worldwide is the growth of privately funded museums and the reduction of public funds for museums. Among the private museums are many ambitious and generous projects with the intention to make art accessible to a broad public. But to secure a long term perspective for a collecting institution based on scholarly expertise and an educational purpose public funding of art institutions seems to be essential. These funds should be independent from changing governments and should allow museums to provide a space for experience and thought that brings a society in contact with its past as well as with contemporary productions and questions such as „Where do we go from here?“

2) You have a long history with Hamburger Bahnhof since you started there as a curatorial research assistant and now you are the director. How could you describe the institutional experiences you are involved there throughout the years?

The Hamburger Bahnhof was opened in 1996 as the third large premise of the Nationalgalerie (National Gallery) in Berlin – besides the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Neue Nationalgalerie – to hold the collection of contemporary art of the institution as well as the collection of Erich Marx. The most important question throughout the years was to find a balance between an attractive exhibition program and a lively , self-reflective and critical approach in working with the collections. This is an ongoing challenge.

3) Hamburger Bahnhof has three main private collections on display. The Friedrich Christian Flick Collection, Sammlung Marx and Sammlung Marzona. What are the significance of these collections for the contemporary art scene of Berlin?

The three private collections that we work with besides the holdings of the Nationalgalerie which are continously complemented through acquisitions have all different focuses: the Sammlung Marx focuses on a few important artists from the second half of the 20th century such as Robert

Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Donald Judd, Joseph Beuys, Anselm Kiefer or Gerhard Merz. The works from the collection of Egidio Marzona that were partly acquired and partly donated to the Nationalgalerie can be ascribed to Minimal Art, Concept Art, Arte Povera and Land Art. The Friedrich Christian Flick Collection has its focus on international (western) art from the 1980s onwards. All three collections together complement the holdings of the Nationalgalerie with its focus on large scale installations, wall works, films and videos as well as paintings, sculptures and photographic works by international artists in an ideal way.

4) The Friedrich Christian Flick Collection is a leading example of a permanent loan to the museums. In what ways these gifts contribute to the museum?

The long term loan of a large number of major art works from the Fridedrich Christian Flick Collections allows the museum to curate thematic as well as monographic shows based to a large extent on the collections in the museum with only a small number of additional loans. With his donation of more than 250 works to the collection of the Nationalgalerie Mr. Flick is one of the most generous patrons of the museum.

5) With Sammlung Marx (Marx Collection) in mind, how kind of a professional network support does a museum need to make institutional advancement?

Public museums need the support from private patrons and supporters to build up significant collections over decades and centuries. They also need a passionate and open minded public to form lively institutions which offer relevant contributions to a collective memory as well as to a contemporary art experience and discourse.

This text first appeared in the November 2018 issue of Artam Global Art.