To much surprise, on 26 February 2009 Vivien and Horst Schmitter withdrew their participation in the >Carte Blanche< project. The exhibition space will therefore remain unused for the planned duration.

In 1985 Vivien and Horst Schmitter began collecting art more seriously. The focus of the collection was on works by Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Bernard Schultze, Ursula, Friedemann Hahn, Stefan Wewerka, Franz Gertsch, Stefan Balkenhol, Tomas Schmit, Donald Judd, amongst others. In 1993 the Schmitters bought Haus Rabe, a villa in Zwenkau designed by Adolf Rading in collaboration with Oskar Schlemmer. Vivien Schmitter is a freelance costume designer, who previously worked for the theatre and now mainly for television productions. Horst Schmitter has been working in media industry for over thirty years. In 1984 he founded the Schmitter Media Agency in Frankfurt am Main.
One of the preliminary ideas for the exhibition in the GfZK was to present objects by the American artist Donald Judd along with Cowboy boots that had also been collceted over many years. Later the idea occurred that Jean-Christophe Ammann could curate and exhibition with works by Stephan Balkenhol.