Download Press Release 19th of September 2012 - Viennafair 2012

Local art collectors as partners of VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary
“We all have different approaches to art and art collecting. Nevertheless, what we share is the
interest in a strong domestic gallery scene and an internationally attractive marketplace for
contemporary art in Vienna. For us, the involvement in this partnership has less to do with the
classic notion of the shareholder; rather it is the opportunity to offer idealistic support and to
set an example for Vienna as a city of art,” says Franz Wojda, shareholder of VF Beteiligungs
KG, on the motivations of the group of local collectors to become involved in VIENNAFAIR
The New Contemporary.
VF Beteiligungs KG was founded by an Austrian group of art collectors under the aegis of
Edelbert Köb (university professor and curator, director of the mumok museum moderner
kunst stiftung ludwig wien 2001–2011) and owns 30% of the VF Betriebsgesellschaft mbH.
Other founding members include: Bernhard Hainz (lawyer and art collector), Martin Lenikus
(entrepreneur, art collector and sponsor), Eduard Pomeranz (entrepreneur and art collector),
Martha Schreieck (architect), Andra Spallart (art collector) and Franz Wojda (university
professor, art collector, founder of KPMG Management Consulting Österreich, board
chairman at the University of Applied Arts Vienna 2002–2008, and deputy chairman of the
board of trustees at mumok museum moderner kunst stiftung ludwig wien 2002–2011).
The Art Vectors Investment Partnership and its board members
The new Art Vectors Investment Partnership initiated by Sergey Skaterschikov will launch at
VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary 2012. The idea emerged from the shared interest of art
collectors to not only buy artwork for their own collections but to also give interested investors
the opportunity to participate in the establishment of a sophisticated art collection from an
economic perspective. An international board composed by Edelbert Köb, consisting of
Joseph Backstein, director, Institute of Contemporary Art Moscow, Levent Çalıkoğlu, chief
curator, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Nicolaus Schafhausen, designated artistic director of
KUNSTHALLE wien, and Rainald Schumacher, freelance curator and author, Office for Art,
Berlin, will make a selection of artworks at VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary to be
purchased for the collection. In the coming five years, a minimum of one million Euros will be
available annually for purchases by the Art Vectors Investment Partnership at VIENNAFAIR
The New Contemporary. The finance market specialist Friedrich Kiradi, who will assume the
role of economic director of the Art Vectors Investment Partnership, sees not only financial
advantages but, above all, cultural advantages in this partnership. “In addition to the annual
purchases at VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary it is also important to us to enter into
long-term cooperations with museums, exhibition houses, and galleries. Time and again, we
want to make artwork accessible to the public in exhibitions and to provide our partners with
firsthand information about the art scene from artists, curators, and galleries. We are pleased
that we can make a contribution to the success of VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary with
the Art Vectors Investment Partnership,” says Friedrich Kiradi about the plans of the Art
Vectors Investment Partnership in the coming years.
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