The protection of your personal data is very important to us. We treat this topic with a great deal of care and therefore inform you in the following about the handling of your personal data when visiting our website.

“Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. An identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person pursuant to Art. 4 para. 1 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

1. Controller

The responsible controller according to Art. 4 para. 7 GDPR is Stefan Riekeles, Clara-Zetkin-Straße 10, 14471 Potsdam, Germany.

If you have any questions regarding the protection of personal data, you can contact us any time via our contact form or via our contact details as stated in our imprint on the website.

2. Purpose and legal basis for the processing of personal data

a. When visiting our website

While visiting our website and if you do not order artworks from our online shop, subscribe to our newsletter or contact us via our contact form, we only collect the data that your browser automatically transmits to our server.

This is the following information required to display our website to you and to ensure stability and security: IP address, date and time of the request, content of the request (specific page), access status/HTTP status code, amount of data transferred in each case, website from which the request comes, browser, operating system and its interface, language and version of the browser software. Please note that we cannot draw any conclusions about individual persons on the basis of this data.

The data is stored by us for technical security reasons, e.g. to prevent attacks on our web server; however, the data is anonymized after seven days at the latest by shortening the IP address at domain level, so that it is no longer possible to establish any reference to the individual website user. The legal basis for the processing described above is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR (processing is necessary in relation with controller’s legitimate interests).

b. Buying products from our online shop

When you order products from our online shop, we require the following personal data from you in order to complete your order: first name/last name, postal address, email address as well as –depending on the payment option you chose during checkout- your bank details/credit card. The legal basis for the processing described above is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b GDPR (processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party).

If you have placed an order, your first and last name as well as your address will be sent to our shipping service providers for the purpose of shipping the ordered products. The legal basis for the transmission is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b) GDPR (processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party).

In order to offer you a large variety of different payment methods in our online shop, we use external payment service providers. Depending on which payment method you choose in the booking process, we pass on the data collected for processing payments, such as bank details or credit card data, to the credit institution commissioned with the payment or to the payment service provider commissioned by us. If the payment service providers involved collect some data themselves (e.g. with the payment method PayPal), the respective payment service provider himself is responsible for the data collected in the context of the payment and the data protection provisions of the respective payment service provider apply additionally. We will inform you about this when you select your desired payment method. The legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b) GDPR (processing is required to fulfill a contract).

c. Subscribing to our newsletter

With your consent, you can subscribe to our email newsletter, in which we inform you about new editions in our online shop and upcoming events.

The only information required to register for our newsletter is your e-mail address. After your confirmation we will save your e-mail address for the purpose of sending you the newsletter. The legal basis for the processing described above for the purpose of sending the newsletter is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR (processing on the basis of the data subject's consent).

In addition, we store your IP addresses and the time of registration and confirmation. The purpose of the aforementioned storage is to be able to prove your registration and, if necessary, to investigate a possible misuse of your personal data. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 f GDPR (processing is necessary in relation with controller’s legitimate interests).

You can revoke your consent to receive the newsletter at any time and unsubscribe from the newsletter. You can declare your revocation by clicking on the link provided in every newsletter or e.g. by contacting us via the contact details given in our imprint.

We store the data described above in connection with the subscription to our newsletter for as long as you are subscribed for the newsletter. We will delete the data as soon as the storage is no longer necessary, e.g. after you have unsubscribed from the newsletter or revoked your consent.

d. Use of our contact form

When you contact us by e-mail or via our contact form, the data you provide (your e-mail address and your name as well as the content of your request) will be stored by us in order to process and answer your questions or your request.

We will delete the data after storage is no longer necessary (usually after your request has been completely dealt with) or we will limit processing if there are legal obligations to store the respective data.

3. Obligation to provide personal data

If you would like to buy products from our online shop, subscribe to our newsletter or contact us via our contact form, you must provide the personal data required in order to process your order, to subscribe you to our newsletter or answer your queries via our contact form. If you do not provide us with this information, it is not possible for us to process your order, subscribe you to our newsletter or answer your queries.

4. Deletion of personal data

Even without a special request from our customers, we of course fulfill our obligations to delete personal data (e.g. in accordance with Art. 17 GDPR) and therefore only store data for as long as is necessary to provide the desired service or the respective purpose.

Please note, however, that the deletion is replaced by a restriction of processing, insofar as deletion is prevented by statutory retention obligations, which we must fulfill. For example, in accordance with the statutory provisions of § 257 German Commercial Code (HGB), we must keep invoices, order confirmations, order data and other contract-related communications with you (e.g. with regard to any warranty rights) sent to you for a period of up to ten years.

5. Protection of your personal data

Digital security systems ensure the encrypted transmission of your personal data. Furthermore, technical measures protect our website against damages, destruction or unauthorized access. The SSL connection (Secure Socket Layer) provides a safe transmission of your personal data, including credit and account information. The encrypted data is only deciphered when used by the payment system. This means that all credit card information (numbers, expiry dates etc) will be handled with an encrypted protocol automatically to ensure that neither we nor third parties have access to this information. This credit card information will only be used again after purchase transaction in the case of eventual refunds.

6. Use of cookies

In addition to the aforementioned data, cookies are stored on your computer when you use our website. Cookies are text files containing information on the use of our service (websites visited, number of visits, visiting times, length of stay on individual pages, browser used, operating system used, etc.), which are stored on your hard drive/device if you permit such storage via the setting of your browser. Cookies cannot run programs or transmit viruses to your computer. Cookies are used to make our website more user-friendly and effective.

We use session cookies on our website in order to understand how users interact with our website and their interest in the content offered on the website. Session cookies are automatically deleted when you close your web browser. Session cookies store a so-called session ID, with which different requests of your browser can be assigned to the common session. We use session cookies in particular to store your information provided in our order form during your purchase of artworks in our online shop so you don’t have to repeat your inputs during your session/purchase. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 f GDPR (processing is necessary in relation with controller’s legitimate interests).

For the cookies used in the context of Google Analytics, please see the information below in section 7.

Please note that the cookies we use do not store any personal data and therefore we cannot draw any conclusion about your identity.

You can deactivate the option to save these cookies at any time in the system settings of your browser and delete existing cookies. Every user can view our website without cookies. However, the proper functioning of our website could be impaired if you do not accept cookies.

7. Use of Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc. "("Google"). Google Analytics uses "cookies", text files, which are stored on your computer and allows us an analysis of your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. However, if IP anonymisation is activated on this website, Google will shorten your IP address within the Member States of the European Union or in other states of the European Economic Area before such transfer occurs. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide the website operator with further services associated with website and internet use. The IP address transmitted by your browser in relation with Google Analytics will not be combined with other Google data. This website uses Google Analytics with the extension "_anonymizeIp()". As a result, IP addresses are processed only in shortened form, in order to rule out a potential personal identification of our website users.

Further information on the purpose and scope of data collection and its processing by Google can be found in Google’s overview regarding data protection: http://www.google.com/intl/de/analytics/learn/privacy.html, and in Google’s privacy policy: http://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy. Google is certified pursuant to the EU-US Privacy Shield (https://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework).

We use Google Analytics to analyze and improve the use of our website. Using the insights gained from Google Analytics, we can improve our website and make it more interesting for you as a user. The legal basis for the use of Google Analytics is Art. 6 Par. 1 S. 1 lit. f GDPR (processing is necessary in relation with controller’s legitimate interests).

Opt-Out: You may refuse the storage of the cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser; however, please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and relating to your use of the website (including your IP address) and from such processing by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

8. Your rights

For the assertion of your rights you can contact us at any time via our contact details listed in our imprint.