HR criticizes the high costs of the takeover of Essl by Albertina «kleinezeitung.at

The Court of Auditors criticizes the costs badociated with the acquisition of the Essl collection by Albertina. As shown in the report published on Friday, the acquisition (considered as a permanent loan during the reporting period) is considered critically from an economic point of view. However, the recent donation of 40% of the collection by Karlheinz Essl should not change as much.

12:49 pm, November 16, 2018

"Albertina would only contract permanent loans that could be an economic and functional complement to its collections," says the 70-page report of the Court of Auditors for the 2013-2016 fiscal years. "In particular, only long-term loans that do not lead to dependence on third-party funds should be taken over." In this context, the HR complains of Albertina's request to increase the grant of 2.2 million euros on the occasion of the permanent loan of 2017, which the Federal Chancellery has not yet fulfilled and has promised on the contrary an amount of one million euros for 2017. For the year 2018, the federal government has paid 800 000 euros, and for 2019, 850,000 euros are budgeted.

The HR report compares the acquisition of the Essl collection directly with that of the Batliner collection in 2007 to highlight the lack of profitability. The value of the Batliner collection amounts to approximately 346.5 million euros, that of the Essl collection to approximately 203.55 million euros. While the Albertina for the Batliner collection has only received 200,000 additional grants and no custodial fees, the deposit for the Essl collection since 2017 costs 320,000 euros a year, and third-party funds have been requested for 2.2 million euros. The annual "direct costs" are twice as high (440,000 euros for Batliner, 800,000 euros for Essl).

Although Essl-Werke has not yet been presented to the public, HR is also a comparison of the "direct product of a long-term loan", which equates to around € 316,000 in the collection. Batliner for 2016. In his statement, Albertina states that, among the criteria for the acceptance of long-term loans, "it is not deliberately an economic efficiency, but of the museum meaning of objects ". It could not "even be subject to a conflict of interest between economic benefits arising from the acceptance of permanent loans, the historical significance of the art and the need to fill the real gaps in recovery".

Albertina said Friday about the APA: "There is a strategy to present the collection on Albertina's future second site." It offers considerable potential for securing permanent income and profits. continue to make the museum attractive to visitors. " The operating costs of the second site are borne by the real estate and operating company Künstlerhaus. "The acquisition of the Batliner collection has shown in the past that the Albertina can successfully achieve a historical presentation of art."

Among the critics of the Court of Auditors, more than 2,600 objects from the architectural collection are not listed. "From the point of view of the Court of Auditors, this represents a potential risk, because any loss of non-inventoried objects would not attract attention," the statement said. One should also ask about the free entry of the Friends of Albertina Association or about that of the Friends of Fine Arts Society, which brought the 2014 home to 2016, which represents a loss of income of 50,000 euros. The Court of Auditors recommended badyzing the free admission and "stop if necessary without compensation". To this end, Albertina has referred to financial support from the badociation, which would have accounted for around EUR 741 000 by the year 2016.

Final recommendations include the United States. In addition, the insurance of the permanent loan in the future – as required by the federal law on public procurement of 2006 at least every five years (which was previously omitted), the activities of marketing in a "holistic concept" and, with other federal museums, to appear less expensive To obtain conditions.

In the final recommendations, among others, the Federal Chancellery is invited to rapidly negotiate and finalize framework agreements of objectives, to monitor the achievement of agreed objectives and to pursue the project of a joint internal audit of federal museums. The Albertina and the Federal Chancellery should in the future "measure and badyze the degree of achievement of the objectives".