Julius Baer's Curator Barbara Staubli on How to Build a Corporate Collection

As Julius Baer solidifies its positioning in the regional art scene in the Middle East, with its ten year association with Art Dubai and announcement of its latest commission with Emirati artist, Mohammed Kazem, Julius Baer curator Barbara Staubli shares her insights into how one of the world’s foremost corporate collections was built and is evolving.

Installation view with the work of Richard Paul Lohse (1902−1988), ‘Progression von drei gleichen Gruppen von 1−6’ (1956/1966), oil on canvas, 60 x 60 cm, © 2025, ProLitteris, Zurich, courtesy the artist and Julius Baer Art Collection, photography by Véronique Hoegger

As Julius Baer celebrates ten years of its partnership with Art Dubai and prepares to open the doors to its 19th edition, Barbara Staubli, curator of the Julius Baer art collection talks to Art Dubai about her role, the art world and what she’s looking forward to at the fair this year.

What was your path to becoming curator of the Julius Baer art collection?
I studied history and art history, and then I worked in different galleries, among them Hauser and Wirth, which was a great experience. I got to a point when I became interested in either working in a museum or a corporate collection.

What inspires you about working in a corporate environment?
It’s very dynamic which suits me well. There is a lot of freedom to shape how you want to do things. Specifically in my role, as I can have influence on the art collection and how it’s embedded in the company structure.

How has the Julius Baer art collection changed since you’ve been there?
When the collection was started in the 1980s, there was a focus on young artists and supporting them at the beginning of their career. Around the time I started, my colleagues had come to a realisation that if we only focused on the beginning of an artist’s career then we will miss the rest. For instance, mid-career or late work can be very iconic. So, this is something that we have begun to address since I’ve been here. We still very much focus on younger artist –one of our guidelines is to collect an artist at a very early stage of their career – but we then follow that artist throughout their career and acquire additional works as they develop their artistic practice, so that we have a good representative body of work.

What makes the Julius Baer art collection unusual?
For me it is how it has grown organically – there was a passion for the arts in the organisation, which originated from the founding family who often supported artists. The corporate collection was started by a Baer family member in the 1980s, and there was always the idea that art should be part of the everyday environment, that it should be embedded, and that culture is important because it creates a dialogue in the workplace. The collection developed very naturally in that sense, and what’s key is the idea that it’s a philanthropic approach to support young artists, and not specifically an investment.

Is the collection packed with superstar artworks?
When you acquire works by very young artists, you’re naturally taking a risk, as you do not really know how their practice will develop over time and whether they will be successful. But sometimes courageous decisions get rewarded. We have a video work in the collection that we acquired in 1995 at a really affordable price, but the artist has grown in stature and that work is something that today significantly exceeds our budget. That’s a nice success story, but that’s not the intention. The intention is to represent interesting developments in art. This is one of the collection’s strengths, because within the more than 5,000 works we own, we really hold a mirror up to art history and you really see what was going on for decades and decades. It’s much easier to acquire very established artists – there is not much you can do wrong. It’s with the young ones you take a chance, and we carefully select them but there is always a risk involved.

How do you research a specific acquisition?
There are some brilliant artists that are already part of the collection, but they may not have gallery representation, or they don’t have a show coming up, so we often make studio visits. We are also in dialogue with lots of artists, so we’ll often know if somebody is working on something that we’re interested in. We also visit lots of art graduate shows, and we look out for which artists have residencies where, and who wins the big art prizes too.
And by keeping abreast of the art scene, seeing what’s on at galleries, non-profit spaces and museums, that helps us narrow down our choices. After all, it’s not only important that we think an artist or artwork is interesting, it’s important that these organisations do too.

How does the acquisition process work?
The acquisitions are all made in consultation with our Art Committee. We have one external expert, and the rest of the committee is made up of Julius Baer employees, which is also quite special, the idea being that art is for everyone. For every employee, there is a representative on the committee. And then, the seven committee members – who are based across Switzerland, in Lugano, Basel, Geneva and Zurich – go to a lot of galleries, exhibitions, new spaces, meet artists at their studios and we also go to many museums and art fairs. Then, we’ll meet four or five times a year, depending a bit on what’s going on.

So, how do you go about curating the Julius Baer offices?
The collection is displayed in Julius Baer’s meeting rooms around the globe.
Curating client meeting rooms is very different to helping colleagues choose work for their private office spaces, and then there’s all the hallways and corridors too. We hang art everywhere we can.

Do many employees ask for particular works for their office?
My colleagues here in Zurich have a great interest in our art, and anyone can choose anything they want – there is no hierarchy. So, depending on what they’re looking for, we would take them through the available works (as some will be lent to other offices around the world) and find something that is to their liking. We want to be able to answer every request we have from our employees, because this is such a lovely thing that you can have art in your office. It is a great privilege. We have a lot of demand, which I really like, because it shows that we really appreciate culture within the company.

Installation view with the works of Bob Gramsma (b. 1963), ’–, OI#20260’ (2020), aluminium sand cast, 120 x 55 x 47 cm and Giacomo Santiago Rogado (b. 1979), ‘Quelle’ (2020), mixed media on cotton, 240 x 180 cm, courtesy the artists and Julius Baer Art Collection, photography by Véronique Hoegger

Do you curate temporary exhibitions?
We have a space where we show our new acquisitions of the previous year, and we sometimes invite an artist to give a talk for employees. The other half of the year, we try to run a themed exhibition, finding common threads from the works we have in the collection.

You’ve also started running guided tours?
We have been offering guided tours to our clients and employees for many years, but they became especially popular after the pandemic. We – there are five of us in my team – take groups of up to 20 employees around the Headquarters premises once a month. We are happy we get to have this dialogue and exchange about the artworks we hold. I really appreciate giving guided tours, to employees and to clients. It’s always very interesting to hear a different perspective, or see something I hadn’t seen before that somebody points out.

What does art bring to the office environment?
I believe in the communicative power an artwork has, that it speaks to you and that you also grow with it. The more time I spend with an artwork, the more I start seeing it differently or I appreciate it in another way. Also, if we ever hang one of the more provocative works in a more communal space, like a corridor, we might receive some strong reactions. But then people get used to it, and then if you dare to take it away, you will receive a phone call requesting it back. I’m very confident that art is inspiring to have in the workplace – I really think it gives a fresh perspective. I also like to hear people talk about it. And actually, quite funnily, here at the headquarters, the corridors and passageways are like a labyrinth, so sometimes I also hear employees saying, ‘you go left after this big yellow one and down the stairs,’ or something like that, almost as if art can give directions.

What will you be looking for at Art Dubai this year?
What I’m really interested in is seeing the art trends from across the Middle East as well as the emerging digital art trends. I have always appreciated the art fair very much – there are so many discoveries you can make. I am particularly excited about Julius Baer’s commission this year with Emirati artist, Mohammed Kazem. It is a great way to celebrate our ten-year anniversary with Art Dubai and showcases our support of the local art scene. This is also the first year, we travel to Dubai with our Art Circle, which is Julius Baer’s community focussed on bringing like-minded clients from across locations who enjoy and appreciate art. Art Dubai and all activities around it provides us with a unique opportunity to highlight the vibrant art community in the Middle East.