How long have you been collecting art?

Margit Biedermann: Actually since I was 18. I swapped a watch and a packet of cigarettes for my first picture and rode home proudly with it, on my bike. Then later, towards the end of the 70s, I started to build up my own collection. At that time, I was living with my husband in Berlin and it was natural that I would be attracted to the figurative art style of the "Neuen Wilden", artists like Helmut Middendorf and Rainer Fetting. We came into a small amount of money and were able to by our first Middendorf.

What brought you to art? What interests you particularly?

Margit Biedermann: I am very inquisitive. Others go to restaurants. I look at art, visit galleries, exhibitions, art fairs and museums. I have always been fascinated by this. I find it exciting when something new is created and when the work has a sustainable depth and profoundness about it.

How quickly do you make your decision to purchase? What are your choice criteria?

Margit Biedermann: The work must have something special about it. There is a mechanism in me which tells me when a work appeals to me. Quality is important to me of course. It must be good technically and I must be able to identify with it over a long period of time. In the past, I had to have some pictures straight away. Today, I take more time. Sometimes I ask myself whether I would hang this work if I only had a single wall available. Would I like it over time? A picture has to remain exciting for me and must enrich the collection in a positive way, by introducing new aspects.

Who is responsible for the collection? Do you have an advisor?

Margit Biedermann: I decide myself and am solely responsible for the collection.

What concept or direction do you follow with your collection?

Margit Biedermann: I am particularly attracted to artists who are treading new paths. Initially I collected more figurative artworks but now the tendency is towards abstract works and material images. My collection consists principally of paintings and sculptures. I have too little technical understanding of media art and it has seldom impressed me.
For instance the sculpture that Sebastian Kuhn created from three concert grand pianos is an idiosyncratic work. He dismantled the pianos down to their individual components and then, using PVC, bolts, stainless steel and wool, rebuilt them as a large, room-filling black and white sculpture.
I always like to know the person behind the work. For that reason, I only collect living artists and make personal contact with all my artists. I am interested in how they develop. In some cases, it is true collaborative work, as with the Korean artist Jinmo Kang. We have known each other for over 20 years and he has created a sculpture for the museum. The branches of a tree have been sculpted with steel piping of different thicknesses, some of it hollowed out and next to it, there is a representation of the airy, silhouette of a huge stone. Both sculptures act as the boundaries to the entrance to the park. My choice criteria also include the fact that I collect important examples of the artists' work. Sometimes you have to wait. I had to wait fifteen years after he had painted it, before I could acquire Middendorf's "Rhinoceros". I don't want to own just any sketch, simply because it was done by a well-known artist. I don't want to be on any waiting lists. Art doesn't interest me as an investment.
Some of the artists I collect are not so well known, some of them are quite complicated. But it is always a question of trust. And their works reflect a high degree of aesthetics, quality and new impulses. Many collections are similar to each other. I allow myself the freedom to be individual in my choices.

Your collection includes a lot of work by Italian artists. How did this happen?

Margit Biedermann: I learnt about the Roman school of Pizzi Cannella, Nunzio or the artist Paola Serra through a gallery owner in Basel. There is a very interesting and young art scene in Italy, which produces high quality and aesthetic works. I like being there and I always find something.

You collect a lot of "black" pictures. There was even an exhibition catalogue with the title "Forms and Fields – Black artwork from the Biedermann Collection". What does the colour black mean to you?

Margit Biedermann: I find myself, time and again, being almost magnetically drawn in by Kasimir Malewitsch's black square. Simply, nothing comes close to it. Black has a strong presence. Think of the pictures of the Flemish painter Frans Hals, with the black velvet clothing, which raised the bar to new heights. The "black" artworks in my collection also include fire-blackened wood sculptures from David Nash and photographs from Martin d'Orgeval. In his series about the Easter Islands, he abstracted landscapes into fluorescent areas made up of different layers of black. I don't actually collect photography. This art form has other storage requirements. But the idiosyncratic work of d'Orgeval complements the collection perfectly. I happened upon them in a gallery in Rome. The artist was there and we got into conversation. The photos had almost the same effect on me as sculptures or other objects, that can change a room.

Why did you decide to open your own museum?

Margit Biedermann: I had been thinking for some ten years about presenting the Biedermann Collection at a permanent location. The collection has important pieces that should be shown and communicated. Some of the works can be seen regularly at temporary exhibitions and are also loaned out for special, themed exhibitions. But when you have your own premises, you can exhibit how you want to and move the collection into other dimensions.

What brought you to Donaueschingen and why didn't you want to have a new building?

Margit Biedermann: There is enough new building going on. The building has a long history. The classical construction, in the royal castle garden right next to the Brigach, offered the museum a home. Here, the educated middle classes held concerts and recitals, played billiards and debated. It was a public meeting place, which offered different art forms. The gorgeous location, with the river and the park, spoke volumes to me. There is also an exciting contrast between the old, two-story building, which has been extensively and sensitively converted and modernised by the firm of Swiss architects, Gäbele & Raufer and the contemporary artworks. The rooms are ideally suited for exhibitions. We haven't had to brick up the windows because we don't need so many partition walls, as alongside the pictures, we shall be showing many sculptures.

What are your goals for the museum?

Margit Biedermann: It should be a place that people want to come to, to find a place of peace and contemplation where they can engage with contemporary art. A visit to the museum can be an ideal part of a family day out. Attractive destinations like the source of the Danube are not far away from the museum. Footpaths start from just behind the large park and centrally located in the midst of this beautiful natural landscape, the Museum Biedermann offers art to challenge hearts and minds. I don't want to be measured against the Tate Modern or the Brandhorst Museum, but I also don't want it to be seen as provincial. We want to make a contribution to the way the art is viewed these days, by introducing new impulses.

The interview was conducted by the journalist Ute Bauermeister on 08.06.2009