The Integrated Art Collection

De toekomstige rol van de kunstcollectie in het communicatieve beleid
Symposiumverslag

Erik Hermida
Directeur Stichting Onderneming & Kunst, Amsterdam

Erik Hermida is sinds de oprichting in 1987 directeur van Stichting Onderneming & Kunst. Onderneming & Kunst is een organisatie- en adviesbureau op het gebied van beeldende kunst. Erik Hermida realiseerde diverse grote tentoonstellingen over de relatie tussen kunst en het bedrijfsleven. Daarnaast organiseert hij sinds 1992 de jaarlijkse KunstRAI in Amsterdam.

We are celebrating the tenth anniversary of Stichting Onderneming & unst and I am standing here in the PR Room of ING Bank at the same spot where I was standing ten years ago to promote the exhibition 'Kunstzaken' (Art Affairs). This was the first project of Onderneming & Kunst. It was also almost the first time that Dutch companies were exhibiting their collections to a larger audience. Before 'KunstZaken' there had been only one exhibition on this subject which was held in Zevenaar at the Turmac Factory. At this exhibition eleven companies were invited to show their collections to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Peter Stuyvesant Foundation. But, as said, this exhibition took place in Zevenaar at the factory, so it was fairly far away from where most people live. We picked up that initiative of the Peter Stuyvesant Foundation and we organised a second and much larger exhibition in the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam, which was called 'Kunstzaken'.

To organise this exhibition I contacted almost every company in The Netherlands which was in possession of an art collection or which had undertaken any activity with modern art. I encountered a lot of restraint with these companies concerning their art collection. Some were very receptive, saying 'this is a great idea and it will be fun to show our collection in the Beurs van Berlage'. But also there were many companies which were undecided whether it was such a good idea to tell the public that they were collecting art on a large scale. I remember for instance the Gasunie telling me 'We don't want to tell too many people about our art collection, because as soon as we do that all our employees get criticism of their neighbours who will ask them 'why don't you lower the gasprice with 10 cents instead of wasting our money on art'. These companies were still very careful and reluctant to show their art. 'Kunstzaken' was in fact the first time that they showed their collections on a large scale. Mostly these were large collections. Already there were a few companies like Bührmann-Ubbens and Volvo, that were not showing a collection, but that were showing a project. Bührmann-Ubbens was showing the Bührmann-Ubbens Papier Prijs, at that time won by Jurriaan Schrofer, which was recreated especially at the Beurs van Berlage. Volvo was showing the 1.000.000th Volvo decorated by Marthe Röling.

We have come a long way since then. We are now almost 10 years further and by now to be involved in art is a very normal thing for a company. No one is appalled by hearing that a company has a collection which they show somewhere. But we have encountered a new development which is still controversial. A number of companies, four in fact, approached our organisation to write a so called art policy plan. They supplied us with a bunch of papers, like their mission statement, their communication policy and their corporate communication plan, saying: 'Read this and give us an advice of how to start collecting and what to collect'. When you look through these mission statements and talk with the board members and the directors, you get the impression that they treat their company as a living being: a company grows, it goes through phases, it can have a mother, it can have daughters as well. It can have battles with other companies, it can win or loose, so it is like a real living thing. Obviously a living thing also has a character. If you read about this character in mission statements it is described in terms as humane, inspiring, open, enthusiastic and enterprising. All companies seem to have very good characters and all these mission statements look a little bit alike. The same words are used to describe different companies.

We have been asked to write about art and to think about selecting art on criteria based on these corporate ideas, mission statements and policy plans. Apart from that, there is also a number of functional criteria which are applied to buy art. For instance, they have to be used for exhibitions, for seminars and press activities, they must be suitable for calendars, and make beautiful books to give away to clients, the artist must be prepared to make corporate gifts or make an edition for a number of people.

If you base your criteria on a mission statement you get a collection which fits the character of the company like a glove. It is made to fit the supposed character of the company. On the other hand, if you have criteria which are also based on PR activities and sales supporting targets, you can integrate the collection in the communication strategy of a company. This also has advantages. In the past we have encountered many examples of badly matched art and companies. Sometimes you see a company who gives a statue or pen as a corporate gift, by an artist that would never be represented in its collection, to the great sorrow of the curator of the art department. The communication department however can be very happy with the result. If there is no communication at all between the communication department or the advertising agency and the curator of the art department these kinds of mistakes can occur. Also, a lack of integration can cause the isolation of a collection. And when a collection is totally isolated, a great danger emerges, because then a collection can get liquidated, in the most literal sense, without harming the companies policy. All this speaks in favour of using corporate criteria for art collecting. On the other hand none of these criteria are artistical or art historical criteria and none of them guarantee quality, which is of course the most important thing.

The question I would like to ask you today concerns this development. I am sure that you too are encountering this. Many curators are threatened by their communication departments. As art curators they want to be autonomous but they have to bow for questions from the company, on the other hand they want the input from the company to make a good collection. Is it a positive development to have an art collection which is subject to non artistical criteria? Maybe one can try to apply artistic criteria for quality within these corporate criteria and within these mission statements. But do we want to do this? Do we want to keep our collection autonomous or do we want to put it closer to the heart of the company? Is this development desired and where will it lead us to?

We asked todays speakers to divide their contributions in three parts. First of all I asked everyone to talk about their company and the collection itself. Secondly, they were asked to explain the activities which are being undertaken with the collection, because these activities have a reason. They are there to promote something or to do something for the corporate image; exhibitions are organised all over the country, books are being published and the collection is being exposed to a large audience. Finally they were asked to expose their ideas on the development sketched above.

Maake een keuze uit de volgende sprekers:

Erik Hermida, Onderneming & Kunst
Dirk Noordman, Organisatieadviseur
Sacha Tanja, ING Groep
Rosemary Harris, NatWest Group
Grazia Quaroni, Fondation Cartier
Maria de Corral, Fundación "La Caixa"
Paul Mertz, Communicatieadviseur