Committees

In my years in cultural journalism, I have learned that the greatest persuasive people can be found in the sphere of visual arts. Because people who are once addicted to art, from then on think, breathe it, include it in everything and in everything. Because they have found something that fulfills them, disturbs them, excites them, irritates them and makes them happy, at any time. Because art is a life compass and at the same time an analogy to life itself.

It is a great privilege to be one of these believers and to be able to pass on these experiences. I would also like to do this for the Association of Friends of the National Gallery with pleasure.

As an Argentinian who grew up between Germany and Latin America, the question of mediation between different cultures, traditions, expressions and approaches to the world is very important to me. In my journalistic work, as a filmmaker and co-festival director of a small film festival just outside Berlin, I have long been particularly interested in art's ability to take on other perspectives, intensify perception, and question and re-articulate models of explaining the world. In my work for ARCOmadrid in Spain, I also try to convey to Europe the enrichment that cultural production in non-European countries and exchanges with Latin America, Africa and Asia mean.

Architecturally and programmatically, the National Gallery is an exceptional, inviting place where a wide variety of cultures and social groups can come together. In times of increasing segregation, it is even more important to make the museum a truly open space for everyone and, especially through art, to awaken curiosity and understanding for other perspectives. I would like to contribute to maintaining and further developing the museum as a place of wonder, conversation and aesthetic joy, where a society can “constantly reformulate itself”.

What do art museums and cathedrals have in common? That they are spaces for the search for the absolute. That people can go on a pilgrimage and be inspired, touched, moved there - sometimes even so profoundly that they are no longer the same when they leave the building. In this sense, the National Gallery, with its world-class collections, truly has a mission.

As part of this mission, the Friends of the National Gallery have repeatedly provided groundbreaking impulses and moved a lot in the past - more than almost any other group of museum friends, including internationally. I would like to strive to continue and further develop this legacy.

When I came to Berlin from London in 1991 after studying, I immersed myself in a lively, unconventional art scene that really inspired me. In the mid-90s I became a member of the circle of friends on the recommendation of Erich Marx. After the untimely death of Männe Stober, Peter Raue felt it was a matter close to his heart to found a circle for young members. I had the great pleasure of running this on a voluntary basis until I moved to Düsseldorf.

From 2001, I worked as a manager in sponsoring and fundraising for the NRW Art Collection for 10 years. Inspired by the Berlin model, I became actively involved in founding a young support group. I have been advising cultural institutions and companies for over 18 years and creating long-term collaborations. I am grateful to be able to get actively involved again after 20 years.

Visual art has enriched my life since my early youth. Here I find balance with my job and my senses are directed in other directions. Among other things, I use my connections to industry to find economic supporters for our ambitious exhibition projects and to promote the important function of this extraordinary association.

Promoting art and culture has been important to me for many years. As a business man, I stand for the combination of entrepreneurship and the promotion of open access to art and cultural diversity. Art trains empathy, broadens horizons, promotes diversity and shapes attitudes. For me, art and culture are of outstanding importance for society. They reflect social debates, they offer areas of friction for dealing with reality and point beyond everyday events.

I firmly believe in the mission of the Friends of the National Gallery to make art and culture accessible to as many people as possible and  to enable participation, perspectives and opportunities. With my commitment, I would like to contribute to making the different perspectives and social trends in art and the cultural diversity in Berlin's civil society even more visible. In addition, I would like to use my network from business, the start-up scene and culture to promote the Berlin art scene and promote the importance of Berlin as an exhibition metropolis. There is no better place for these concerns than the Association of Friends of the National Gallery. I would like to commit myself wholeheartedly to these goals.

My life is shaped by an industrial environment. Dealing with art, especially fine art, gives me the necessary balance: here the economic world with its deterministic processes, there the world of art with its images.

This gives me inner space, and engaging with artists and their works sharpens awareness and stimulates creativity. This can be addictive. And where could there be a better place for this than with the Friends of the National Gallery? Hence my commitment.

How could you not be a friend of the National Gallery? Just because of the architecture! It is not for nothing that Mies van der Rohe's Temple of Modernism remains the Friends' flagship and is without question Berlin's most beautiful building of the 20th century.

Even 60 years after its opening, the house has lost none of its casual grandeur. Contrary to what the name suggests, the National Gallery is not a state-supporting institution, but rather a cosmopolitan and lively exhibition space in the present. This should continue to be the case. That's what we stand for.

After nine eventful years as chairwoman of the association, I would like to continue to accompany FRIENDS from the board of trustees, because this association is something very special and a matter close to my heart!

I am fascinated by the history of the association: founded in 1929, re-established in 1977 - both times to make extraordinary art experiences possible that would otherwise have been denied to many people. Translating this attitude, which is unconventional in the best and most beautiful sense, into the near and distant future... I would like to work on that.

Art should connect people, provoke contradiction and show new perspectives. Promoting this in the spirit of friendship and cohesion and experiencing it together are the driving forces behind our association. I would like to contribute to this with my work on the board of trustees.

The Nationalgalerie and Berlin have always stood for avant-garde. In times like these, progressive and contemporary art as a social compass is more important than ever. That's why I would like to contribute my experience and knowledge to this field so that the National Gallery can continue to fulfill this role in the future.