2022-03-07
The first 100 days of founding director Oliver Kornhoff
“Let’s become the international centre of excellence for abstract art and an effective example of a contemporary understanding of museums.” Oliver Kornhoff started at the Reinhard Ernst Museum (MRE) in Wiesbaden with this as his vision on 1 December 2021. This is of course a long-term goal but the new founding director has taken on his task with great enthusiasm and many ideas for smaller and larger steps at the MRE. Above all, however, are values that guide and motivate him and his entire team. Values that make the museum team a welcoming host and MRE a place of prestigious art, encounters and communication. Values that offer visitors a community experience and give them the feeling of being a home away from home. Values that represent quality and high standards.
In our interview, you can find out what keeps Oliver Kornhoff busy in his routine, what he is working on with his team and to what extent the first exhibitions are ready to go.
On 1 December 2021, they said: “The new director is here at last!” What were the first tasks you were bombarded with?
To be honest, the first thing I was concerned about was to get good coffee for everyone. Because it’s not just me who definitely starts the day better with it. But all joking aside: I was fortunate that Reinhard Ernst had already invested in our team with a safe pair of hands and hired skilled employees. Everyone was already active in their own area of responsibility, and several were aware of how MRE had developed even from the start. For me, this meant there were two building sites in December; a visible one at Wilhelmstrasse 1 and an invisible one, where it was important to support work structures, staff expansion, placement offers and our digital and analogue presence. Nonetheless, I’m glad to say a lot of my energy has been invested in art from the very beginning. More on that later.
How did you settle in Wiesbaden?
I really love the city. I appreciate its many parks and like to use the adjacent forests for jogging. I see the city as bicycle-friendly so I enjoy my quick commute to work. But occasionally I do need an e-bike. Overall, I’m aware of a high quality of life in all areas. I was particularly touched by the friendly welcome I received from other cultural institutions. They showed their appreciation for me personally and as the director of MRE by inviting me to make myself at home. I’m looking forward to everything we will explore together with our future partners.
What do you like especially about your new job?
The greatest privilege of my new position is that I can actively shape and decisively influence the construction of a completely new cultural centre. We’ll soon be doing this on site as well. Because we’re already looking forward to moving into our new museum offices, where we’ll all find space together. We’re likely to move much earlier than the art itself and will then be able to welcome our treasures from our offices on Wilhelmstrasse. My workplace is currently in an office centre. It has the appropriate aura. We’re surrounded by a whole lot of innovative companies and creative start-ups. They have the same spirit that we have. A new museum can and must think and act out of the box, so we cultivate an agile work ethic in terms of the space we’re in as well as in our minds.
How satisfied are you with your first hundred days?
Extremely satisfied. I say that from the bottom of my heart. The first hundred days were an intensive period, in which we managed to achieve a lot. You could wallpaper a whole room with our roadmap until the opening. The fact that we’re already a lot further along on this roadmap than I dared to hope fills me with pride and gratitude. This is also largely due to my staff. They don’t just talk about values. They live them of their own accord and base their work on them. A museum is a marathon. I’m very happy to have a team around me who are all going in the same direction and supporting each other. Whether it’s golf, yoga, racing bikes, basketball, jogging or no sport – they all have stamina, and never run out of breath, even during the intermediate sprints.
What do you enjoy most as the director?
As the museum director I’m primarily and happy to be a culture manager. It’s all the more important to me to find time to experience art directly. You have to make a collection as extensive as that of Reinhard Ernst your own. This is an ongoing process. The aim is to achieve familiarity with the art works we have so that at some point I feel as comfortable with them as I do wearing my favourite jacket. Along with the curator, I do this digitally and especially enjoy spending many hours where the collection is stored. Lea Schäfer and I develop, dream up, but also tear up the presentation of the collection for the opening. Listening to 860 works and connecting their countless stories with the one we wish to tell at the opening of the museum is a great privilege and a Herculean task. One unforgettable day was when we were at the museum construction site with our ideas and in our minds we were hanging the paintings on the walls that were still raw concrete.
What specific challenges do you and your team currently have to face?
The wonderful and special thing about the MRE is that it is far more than just a museum. It’s a cultural centre with a public forum, art in the construction, a creative space, event area, bistro, shop, etc. Our objective is to create a welcoming culture that gives everyone a reason to visit us. What is always important is that we do not treat the individual areas as separate from each other. Having to think about all these things is exceptionally demanding.
You were the director of a state museum for 12 years. Do your tasks in a private museum differ from your previous ones?
In fact, the short decision-making processes and the direct line to the benefactor are a new situation for me. The fact that we can discuss, argue and ultimately reach a decision in often only one meeting, enables me to push ahead with issues rapidly and work productively.
Why do you always refer to a programme museum in connection with the MRE?
Our programme is abstraction. This is the collector’s passion and the essence of the Reinhard Ernst Collection. Only very few museums in the world have this clear focus.
The MRE is sponsored by the Reinhard and Sonja Ernst Foundation, whose goal it is to introduce young people to abstract art. What do you mean when you talk about the “intermeshing of digital and analogue communication” in this regard?
A major concern for the MRE is to feature in the common experiences and perceptions of our time. Our works of art are no more than 70 years old. So they come from a time that is still very close to our present. This makes the art remarkably topical. The museum’s core brand is the aura of the original. You can only experience this on site, and it can never be reproduced digitally. It is enormously appealing to make the digital possibilities bear fruit based exactly on this awareness. In our creative space we connect the digital world with the originals from our museum. We don’t want to surprise only school students, children and young people with this somewhat different way of interpreting art. I’m certain we’ll hear a lot of laughter from the creative space. Adults can of course use and rent this space too – laughter is included.
The opening is about to happen – can you let us know some of your plans? What can your visitors look forward to?
Only a few works from the Reinhard Ernst Collection have been exhibited so far, so there’s some mystery surrounding them. When the curtain rises at the premiere, about 80 paintings and sculptures will be displayed. You’ll be able to enjoy so many treasures of this kind in context. And this is just a small part of the collection. There will still be a lot of curiosity for and anticipation of future revelations. There will also be superb art on site – works that are currently being created specifically for the museum. The perfect symbiosis of architecture and fine art also promises a unique experience. The architect Fumihiko Maki had certain paintings and sculptures from the collection in mind when planning the spaces, so the building will merge perfectly with the large-format works in future. Our guests at the MRE will be able to experience art in the building itself and the architecture alone or with our media guide – their amazement is guaranteed.
Incidentally there will be a little foretaste of our second premiere presentation in a few months. At the opening, the creations of Fumihiko Maki will be presented in the special exhibition areas – his first museum exhibition worldwide. In May 2022, the Aedes architecture forum in Berlin hosted a minor show of Fumihiko Maki’s works. The focus was on the Reinhard Ernst Museum and its architectural origins. Part of this presentation will also be on display in Wiesbaden at the museum opening.
Finally, may I ask a budget-related question? In addition to the construction costs, the benefactor Reinhard Ernst is also paying the annual running costs. It means taxpayers won’t have to pay a single euro. What does this mean for the MRE financially?
Specifically, it means that some areas of the museum have to support others. As a private museum, we do not receive subsidies. At the same time, the benefactor has stipulated that children and young people up to the age of 18 can visit the museum free of charge. The museum is open exclusively for schoolchildren every morning. Plus, the MRE forum, i.e. the entire ground floor area around the glazed atrium, is open to everyone at no entrance fee. In order to extend these exceptional offers, we need campaigners who share our commitment to making art and culture accessible. Along with the paying public, sponsors, those interested in artistic gifts or partners who rent our events space for business or private events, we want to achieve a balance. We act in a commercially exclusive way here, so we can be free-of-charge inclusively together elsewhere. It’s a great pleasure to be aware that great interest in this exists and our companions are joining the MRE. More to come.