Will the NRW soon acquire a new code of ethics for handling state-owned art?

The capacity to learn from mistakes is among the more admirable human qualities. And it was a palpable mistake – and a black mark for the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia in the realm of cultural politics – when the casino operator Westspiel, daughter firm of the state-owned NRW Bank, recently auctioned major works by Andy Warhol in the US to bolster its revenues. But will North Rhine-Westphalia soon be adopting a code of ethics that more strictly regulates the handling of works of art held by publicly-owned enterprises?  

A corresponding set of voluntary obligations has emerged from a roundtable discussion – which set the stage as well for the transfer of works of art from the West-LB successor Portigon to the Foundation, and hence into public ownership. Christina Kampmann, the Minister of Culture for NRW, together with Marion Ackermann, the Director of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, explained this new code of ethics to the Cultural Committee of the Landtag (State Parliament) in Düsseldorf.

For #32, Gerd Korinthenberg observed this well-nigh historic meeting: assuming that Parliament and the state government sign off on the paper, this cultural code of ethics could serve as a model for the rest of the German Republic, thereby playing, in the words of Minister Kampmann, "a pioneering role for the other Federal States."

Listed in the draft of this paper are altogether six points, all of which will undoubtedly elicit divergent but vigorous responses in the ensuing discussions of cultural policy. The code, designed to regulate the behavior of state-owned enterprises, makes it perfectly explicit that proceeds from potential sales of artworks are to be used exclusively for the sponsorship and advancement of culture. All such sales are to be preceded by consultation with "experts in the appropriate cultural fields." A general principle will be a "form of transparency" (Ackermann) that ensures that with any such disposal of artworks, their ultimate destinations and subsequent uses must be discussed beforehand with a broad professional public. One priority is that cultural assets that are ultimately sold off must remain in museums or cultural institutions within the Federal Republic.

An additional "transparency provision" consists in the obligation on the part of state-owned enterprises to inventorize, investigate, and document all works of art they acquire. The code of ethics calls for heightened sensitivity when it comes to the protection and preservation of both material as well as intellectual heritage: this applies as well to structural alterations affecting works of art in the "Kunst und Bau" (art for architecture) category. Moreover, state-owned enterprises are to make their works of art generally accessible – whether this means providing access for research purposes or for the sake of public exhibitions.

Finally, the responsible parties at the firms should seek the counsel of experts when assembling collections, as well as when presenting them, but also when it comes to inventorizing and conserving or restoring them. The destruction of a no longer functional light work by Heinz Mack, which ended up in the trash in Aachen several years ago, could surely have been prevented had a knowledgeable conservator been consulted, as Kunstsammlung Director Ackermann explains. Under the aegis of these clearly formulated statutes, state-owned enterprises must also attain clarity concerning their intentions in acquiring works of art: Are such purchases designed to enhance corporate identity? To serve representative functions? To support individual artists? Or to foster encounters between employees and works of art?

There is little doubt clear that clear explanations of an enterprise's motives for collecting would show that "the actions of many individual firms are exemplary. But these basic precepts should be in force for all," Ackermann insists.