“There are ways of sponsoring that show little respect to the artists, like product placement and we will avoid those. But good collaborations do not only mean financial support, but also make new groups of people—those working for the sponsor—interested in the museum. People tend to think co-operation between museums and commercial galleries is bad. But it is better to get finance from the gallery than produce works with tax money, which the gallery then sells. At Portikus in Frankfurt we had such experiences, both good and bad.”
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Birnbaum on sponsorship'