Earlier this week, an art collective ‘hacked’ the QR codes for the Kunsthaus Zurich exhibition of works from the collection of Emil Bührle, a German-Swiss industrialist with Nazi ties.
The Kunsthaus Zurich received a permanent loan from the huge Emil Bührle collection in 2021, which was visible in the museumcontaining beloved works by Paul Cézanne boy in a red vest (1888-1890) with Claude Monet Poppy field near Vétheuil (1879). Other artists Bührle collected include Van Gogh, Renoir and Pissarro.
QR codes displayed next to the works linked to the documents provide source information on the Emil Bührle Collection website, but have been replaced by the Komitee Kunstraub Konfiskation Kommunikation, or KKKK, in recent days.
The new QR codes instead led visitors to the collective’s website, with text describing Bührle, the “generous patron” of the collection, as a “Nazi sympathizer”.
An Instagram account linked to the KKKK website shows members of the collective peeling off Georges Rouault’s QR code sticker Clown at the table from the wall. The hacker then swaps out a new sticker.
“Soon, the Bührle collection will close its doors for good. Come here. Scan the codes,” the group captioned the post. The group shared another post which showed the QR codes of works by Degas and Manet in plastic bags.
The KKKK on its website called Bührle’s collection a “Swiss version of a Holocaust memorial” and noted that the collector had sold weapons to the Nazis.
“Emil Georg Bührle was a Nazi sympathizer, an authoritarian militarist, a war profiteer at best, but probably a war criminal,” the website reads, translated from German.
The exhibition of the collection at the Kunsthaus in Zurich will end on September 5, but the collective of artists is demanding the “unconditional and immediate restitution of all the works that Emil Bührle stole directly or indirectly from Jewish collectors” and the sale of the remaining works to benefit Holocaust survivors.
However, this fall the Kunsthaus Zurich will host a new exhibition from the Emil Buhrle collection titled “Art, Context, War and Conflict” which will be on view for at least a year.
“The design of the new exhibition focuses not only on the historical context of the Emil Buhrle collection, but on a differentiated approach to it in the immediate present”, read a press release for the showtranslated from German.
The Kunsthaus Zurich said it will juxtapose “different interpretations and perspectives” of Buhrle’s collection and legacy.
“We are looking very specifically at our social role as a museum,” Ann Demeester, the museum’s director, said in a statement. She added that the museum wants to encourage discourse, not avoid controversial contexts.
“For this reason, we believe it is important to jointly develop a new approach to the Bührle collection, in which critical questioning arouses curiosity and history connects with today,” she said.
Artnet News has reached out to the KKKK and Kunsthaus Zurich for additional comment.
More trending stories:
Ornate Viking-era relic found by UK metal detector could fetch over $30,000 at auction
Art Industry News: More Museums Walk Away From David Adjaye After Allegations + Other Stories
Israeli first-grader stumbled across 3,500-year-old Egyptian amulet on school trip
Follow Artnet News on Facebook:
Want to stay one step ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to receive breaking news, revealing interviews and incisive reviews that move the conversation forward.
