September 17th 2023
Lenin
The circumstances that have brought me to Zurich are the most strange. There was a man, a magician, who accompanied my burial, or, better to say, the deposition of my mummy in the mausoleum of the Red Square. The wizard, who perhaps really possessed the gift of magic, had also the obsession for Johanna Spyri‘s book, Heidi. He should have applied some hocus pocus on one of his copies, predicting that, if read aloud under the full moon, the text would have resurrected my body and brought me back to Switzerland. The legend of Heidi‘s edition was kept secret for decades within the most inner members of the Politbüro, a sort of not verified gossip for the most boring evenings. Those when Stalin drew his well renowned proscription lists and the others had to silently consent, hoping not to see their names on the paper. The search for the enchanted text went further for years, commandeering any copy of the novel that transited on the holy soil of the Soviet Union. The justification was trivial, since the text is extremely reactionary and even gives a good portrait of the Frankfurt upper class of the time. Their descendants, the contemporary bourgeoisie of the Banking capital, have widely adopted a light version of my ideology and would agree with the socialist bureaucrats. In the end someone should have been able to track the artifact and summoned me here, back in the middle of the Alps, by the power of the spell.
The art dealer
Sometimes it is difficult to set the right priorities, because so many opportunities are coming out, all at the same time, that it gets really difficult to make the correct choice. This week I was browsing what was going on at the Armory Show in New York, just to find out that Taschen has published, and is going to release soon, a new book focused on Tadao Ando‘s works. Sometimes I wonder whether Architecture sketches should come into my collection, or catalog. The risk is to get misunderstood for someone without clear ideas or who buys and sells everything that is available on the market. However art has always been linked with sculpture and architecture. There are wonderful examples from the Italian Renaissance, at least for those who do not believe that the Art Market was born with Kaws or the French Impressionists. A huge architecture is also the structure of the Mae West monument in Munich. Rita Mc Bride, who is the genius behind that, has developed a series of seven unique pieces representing in small size the mastodonic Meisterwerk. I wish to have the budget to acquire it in my collection as well, that would be a great shot since the artist has not already achieved the market potential that she could deserve. Her records are impressive, as well as her footprint in main museums and international fairs. She is also a woman, that could make her more attractive in the politically correct exchange.
The consultant
A new team, a new project. My life has changed along the perspectives linked to the missions I am involved with. Sometimes I see myself as a member of the board of a main organization, sometimes as a solitary business analyst secluded to an obsolescent unknown application. In that case, that kind of role can be covered until retirement because nobody else wants to take over and there is no expertise left on the market, not anymore. With my mind I look at the new hires. Among these, there is someone older, someone younger than me. All of them with their parallel stories that I can hardly imagine. There is the drummer of a rock band, the former priest, who is also a dangerous mate because so skilled at playing with others‘ souls, there is also the former teacher, who is usually the most difficult one to convince about a good business solution. It is a microcosm that magically disappears once the project is over and whose dynamics could develop in the most inexperienced way. Sometimes the team is made by a huge number of freelancers, who survive only for a short time and suddenly disappear, without even greeting. Some get internalized and feel like they are the owner of a company, others are counting the days till the end of the eproject. Forgetting that there is always another one, unless you do not definitely quit.
