STATEMENTS
FRiendship –
Passion –
Expertise
The ROOSEN-TRINKS COLLECTION is moving from Berlin to Schleswig-Holstein
Statements by companions
Ingrid Roosen-Trinks is a collector from the very beginning, and over the years the passion for collecting developed into a long-standing, wonderful friendship. She is one of those collectors who took it upon herself to make a long journey with someone who was the beginning of that journey in 2006. That’s when we met, in Berlin at one of the many art fairs there at the time.
A new chapter is now being opened. The ROOSEN-TRINKS COLLECTION is moving on. The Open House concept, which began years ago in Berlin and opened its doors to give many art enthusiasts an opportunity to explore the border between high and low art in an unbiased atmosphere, is getting a new home. From big-city Berlin to the quiet countryside, a huge and perhaps a daring leap. The countryside and its residents and visitors have good reason to rejoice. I think the ROOSEN-TRINKS COLLECTION is unique in its composition, and probably even more special in rural areas.
Thorsten Brinkmann, Artist
The characteristics of a good private collection are its uniqueness and the mark of the collector’s hand. It is neither generic nor does it follow ever-changing discourses. A good private collection is a living universe – dear-to-the-heart works collected over many decades, which in their entirety create a canon that not only corresponds to the collector’s personal viewpoint, but is also an invitation to visitors to enter into a dialogue with this view of the world.
During the ever-changing Berlin OPEN HOUSE exhibitions, I have repeatedly come to know and love the Roosen-Trinks collection as a very personal expression of sensuality, multi-layered humour and thoughtful joie de vivre. In this respect, the OPEN HOUSE also offered an opportunity for stimulating conversations and interesting encounters with many artists, curators and art lovers. Because art needs a reverberation space. The collection has now found a new home in the countryside and, of all places, in Anglia. That fits! In retrospect, the English term gone fishin’ also describes above all the act of contemplative focusing. We can look to the future with anticipation!
Bjørn Melhus, Artist
When I first met Ingrid and Helmut Roosen-Trinks in Berlin, I was immediately fascinated by the couple and their varied and amazing collection. I was struck by a deep sensitivity in the works, and a certain mysteriousness – a theme that preoccupies me a lot myself. The Berlin Open House concept is great to provide a platform for young artists, from which I have benefited myself. I have now heard that Ingrid and Helmut also plan to continue this idea in the countryside of Schleswig-Holstein, where they intend the collection to take on an even more interactive form.
Face, disguise, mask and play – i.e. constructions of forms and identities – these are themes to which I always attach great relevance in my work, and are also in particular the dominant motifs in the Roosen-Trinks Collection. I am curious to follow up on Ingrid and Helmut.
Maria Thurn und Taxis, Artist
Friends in Berlin invited me to accompany them to an Open House event at the Ingrid Roosen-Trinks venue in 2014. I was thrilled to hear how people in the neighborhood talked about the current exhibition. A short time later, I found myself there in a conversation about contemporary art. Whereas numerous events make great efforts to emulate the format of the 19th century salon, Ingrid’s Open House events manage to do just that, but without appearing to try too hard in the process. The idea of bringing art to the countryside at present pleases me greatly. The audience must now consciously embark on a journey. It leaves the urban context with its flood of sensory impressions, takes time for art on a visit to the country, and creates space for reflection
Kathrin Kampmann, Artist
It was a pleasure to assign the works to the respective artists right from my first visit to the Roosen-Trinks collection. This was successful with most of the works, and the hostess was happy to provide information on the rest. I immediately felt included in a family, because I met a surprising number of acquaintances there, collectors as well as fellow artists. After a voyage of discovery through the apartment, my gaze wandered outside, across Strausberger Platz, and I let myself relax on a sofa. There the time passed all too quickly, absorbed in good conversation. That’s how I got to know some new artistic positions as well as guests. The artistic circle congregates here.
I’m excited about the new location of the Roosen-Trinks Collection, and I’m quite sure that the masterful hostess will once again succeed, through art, in bringing together guests from the most diverse fields.
Lennart Grau, Artist
I got to know Ingrid Roosen-Trinks in 2010. I no longer remember exactly where. I only know that at this meeting I told her about my Windows stage play, und I know that I performed this solo evening in Venice a few months later on the eve of the Oscars in Los Angeles. As well as her love of big motorbikes, Ingrid Roosen-Trinks has a passion and an incredible ability: to bring people together and to realise ideas with all her passion, no matter how far-fetched those ideas are.
In their salons in Berlin, she and her husband Helmut Trinks, whom I address only as ‘Captain’, brought artists and interested parties together in a loft. At their home, we sat surrounded by art and surrounded by strangers and acquaintances who were united by one thing – the curiosity for new things and their friendship with Ingrid Roosen-Trinks and Helmut Trinks. With the two of them, you experience wonderful things, meet extraordinary people and always return home enriched. And now in Schleswig-Holstein. I can’t wait!
Clemens Schick, Actor
A very personal collection from Berlin goes to the countryside, where it wants to be seen and noticed. Common clichés and prejudices can clash in this process. Sometimes it’s the arrogance of city dwellers or the narrow-mindedness of villagers, or vice versa! Therefore, mediation, dialogue and reflection are essential factors. New structures and a meeting place emerge, which are often absent or broken away in rural communities. International contemporary art is exhibited, which is the basis for further innovative projects, workshops and a possible sculpture garden, as well as participatory projects. The social function of art comes into focus here.
Corinna Koch, Curator, CEO Curatorial
The theme of the first exhibition of the Roosen-Trinks Collection at Wittkielhof is as topical as it is timeless: Masks and People. How much Coronavirus has opened our eyes to the absence and importance of shared culture is only one aspect of this issue. A great dream is coming true for Ingrid Roosen-Trinks and for the region. A dream that lives the vitality of music, art and human encounters. Because Ingrid Roosen-Trinks wants to inspire and move: Her exhibitions and art events will become a new cultural rendezvous for the region – what a benefit for Schleswig-Holstein! Ingrid Roosen-Trinks will not miss the opportunity to be present in person as often as possible at Wittkielhof – with its romantic parkland, which has already developed into a sculpture park in her effervescent thoughts.
Stefanie Busold, art consultant and Sotheby’s representative in Hamburg for Northern Germany