Bonk Business Takes an Interest in Sponsoring Art

The worlds of culture and business, long considered opposites, have recently sought each other's company in a more and more conscious and open manner. It is no longer shameful even for an art institution to be dependent on the sponsorship of the business world - rather, it has become commonplace. For ten years now, Bonk Business Inc. has operated in an unconventional manner in the fields of both art and business, employing tools from both.

Chairman of the board of Bonk Business Inc. Barry Bonk, what do you think of the relationship and co-operation between culture and business today?

By supporting culture, a company can create an image of a smart and trendy institution. Most of the time, the companies do not really know what they are sponsoring, which does not matter as such, because after all what we want primarily is to promote our company and products.

Does commercial financing set limits on the freedom of art?

The relationship between the sponsoring business and the artist or the art institution is a kind of a business-to-business relationship. Partners create rules respecting the interests of both parties. I do not see why art should be an exception.

In 1992, the company you represent acted as a sponsor in the area of motor sports. Was this a singular event in the history of the company, or have you been engaged in similar activities at other times?

We also sponsored a Finnish sailing team in the H class yachting world championships, but unfortunately their success was modest. Sponsoring sports is no longer part of our strategy.

Could you see yourselves sponsoring art instead of sports? Is there a difference between the two?

No matter who the recipient of sponsorship is, it is always a question of business. Keeping this in mind, we still have a sympathetic approach to supporting the arts, even though from a sales point of view it is an extremely marginal form of marketing. Naturally we expect the works of art we support to be representative, carefully executed and framed, and that the artist promotes our company name for the duration of the agreement. We also employ artistic people in our company. For example, our product development director Alvar Gullichsen is a very talented amateur painter.

Has Bonk Business itself received any sponsorship for production or for organising exhibitions (product presentations)?

Why would any company wish to sponsor another company?

What are the differences between art and business? Can one learn from the other?

Unfortunately, most contemporary art is hardly intelligible, but I suppose we can always learn a creative attitude by observing the artists' lifestyles. The artists could in turn learn from the business world to see themselves as servants of society, doing their own bit just like everybody else.

If I have understood correctly, there is lot of old industrial family money behind the financing of the Bonk Business. Such families have often traditionally acted as patrons to the arts. What is the difference between patronage and sponsorship?

As I said before, sponsorship is business, whereas patronage is more of an expensive hobby - even though they are both business relationships between the artist and the buyer.

Could you tell us the story behind the work Dr. Yes of the Raba Hiff® series, which will be displayed in Kiasma? What was the piece's status in the context of the time in which it was created, and how does the product present itself in today's world?

Raba Hiff ® Dr. Yes is a cosmic therapy treatment apparatus, launched in 1990. It was first presented at the Ole ja Elä (Be and Live) Fair at the Helsinki Fair Centre. The launch was a huge success. People queued up to try out cosmic therapy assisted by our expert product presenters. The cosmic radiation present in space can be transferred to the body of the person being treated by using the co-ordinates of a known black hole, and a parabolic antenna of the apparatus. This improves the patient's circulation and metabolism, relaxes the muscles and enhances the sex drive.

Raba Hiff® Dr. Yes has been truly an international success. At the Sao Paolo Biennial people queued up to try out the therapy, even though some made the mistake of thinking our stand was an arts installation. The apparatus represents the Raba Hiff design of the late '80s and early '90s, with characteristic aerodynamic design and high-tech details. Our product development director, Alvar Gullichsen, was in charge of the design of both the apparatus and the stand, with photography by our commercial photographer at the time, Magnus Weckström.

Kaija Kaitavuori