Mr Surma, the Overstolzengesellschaft supports and promotes the MAKK – Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln in a variety of ways. Why does a museum need friends and fundraisers?
In Germany, unlike the USA for example, we have the benefit of our museums mostly being publicly funded. However, nowadays this funding usually only covers the basic amount needed to keep the museum operational. Any additional funding has to be acquired from different sources, which is where friends and friends’ associations enter the picture. We’re here to do what our respective museums need, such as supporting them in their work so that exhibits, new acquisitions, restorations, and – now more than ever – IT projects that would otherwise be impossible can be realised. A friends’ association’s financial support often serves as the springboard for acquiring additional funding from third parties. All that aside, having friends you can rely on is always good!
What are the goals of the Overstolzengesellschaft?
According to our bylaws, our goal is to support and promote the MAKK in every way, be it through supplementing collections with new acquisitions, supporting scientific work at the museum, or raising public interest in the museum. As we speak, the MAKK is facing a big challenge: The windows throughout the entire building are being renovated. This makes it impossible to view the historical public collection, only our Design Wing is open, and sizeable special exhibits are still being held despite the pandemic. Director Hesse has spiritedly used this renovation period as an opportunity to revamp the former permanent exhibit so that visitors will get to experience the MAKK from a whole new perspective once the work is complete. This is a monumental task that will require considerable funding and us at the Overstolzen in the coming years.
What motivates you personally?
The MAKK is one of the four major museums of applied arts in Germany. I always call it a treasure trove! Masterpieces from all disciplines, from ceramics and furniture to glass, silver, and jewellery from the early Middle Ages to modern design, are on display! Personally, I’m interested in Bauhaus-era metal and silver work, and it’s been thrilling to share this fascination with others in the Overstolzengesellschaft and to be able to dedicate myself for this treasure trove. It’s a major honour to represent a friends’ association with such a long history and social grounding in Cologne. This work is also so important to me because it’s becoming increasingly difficult for museums of applied arts to generate public interest. It’s easier for many people to examine Warhol or Picasso than Meissner porcelain, majolica, or royal furniture made by the renowned cabinetmaker David Roentgen. Although they are new to many people, the MAKK can make “old” lifestyles and living environments – things that are still familiar to us in our everyday lives in a more modest design and that enrich our day-to-day – accessible to a broader public.
Have there been any projects or activities that are particularly important to you? Which new acquisitions are you excited about?
During the renovation period in particular, I think that supporting the special exhibits that Dr Hesse and her team have very successfully used to maintain public awareness of the museum is quite important. I’m always excited about new acquisitions, and in fact we have many members who support the museum or the Overstolzengesellschaft with objects from the disciplines of fashion, jewellery, or porcelain. Our biggest goal for the future is, as I already mentioned, assisting the MAKK in revising the permanent exhibit. This also involves a great deal of digital work that we’re working hard to facilitate.
The coronavirus pandemic has posed unforeseen challenges for the MAKK, and for museums as a whole. How can friends’ associations help overcome these difficulties?
The most important way is for us and our members to stand firmly behind the museum and stay loyal to it! I’m grateful to our employees for not leaving in droves in spite of lockdowns and limited event schedules. For example, the aforementioned seed capital for third-party funds makes it very clear that proper support is possible even in difficult times so that the museum can remain at least virtually open in the future. These digital services will become ever more important even after the pandemic ends, partially in order to reach new target demographics. This is why the MAKK recently made a virtual tour through the world-renowned Design Wing available on its website. Now it’s possible to feel like you’re at the museum in person from the comfort of your home and to see many of the objects on display, including their descriptions, from a 360° perspective. I thought that was really impressive.
In light of the considerable financial cost of revising the permanent exhibit, we as a friends’ association want to provide substantial support in making the MAKK as beautiful and spectacular for the public as possible. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! This is definitely the greatest challenge our association has faced in a long time, and so we’re developing a special donation system because we have to generate large sums of funding to achieve this goal.
The Overstolzengesellschaft also promotes dialogue between the museum and its visitors. What role does the MAKK’s council play here?
The council is doing an outstanding job supplementing the museum’s event schedule. We’re lucky to have very dedicated members who truly enjoy helping as many people as possible explore the various disciplines and eras of applied arts in the form of tours. Overall, we’re trying to raise awareness of our programme and generate interest among non-members with additional services.
The theme of this issue is “curiosity”. Does the MAKK have an object or artwork that you’re particularly curious about?
There’s this beautiful silver jardiniere, or flower planter, designed by the architect Henry van de Velde. It comes from the art nouveau school, but its reduced, modern form also makes it a textbook example of later modernism! It exudes the zeitgeist of the avant-garde and represents the turn of the century into the 1900s. It’s an unbelievable work that can only be considered radical, given how precious the material was in Wilhelm II’s conservative Germany of the time. I’d really like to be able to hold this planter someday … The MAKK has all sorts of objects that arouse endless curiosity about their creation, origin, and arrival in our collection. One just can’t see enough when visiting the museum …