Magazine Release: «Arterritory Conversations with Collectors Vol 7»
World 20.0 or 21.0. 12 conversations with 13 collectors
There was a time in a not too distant past when it was very fashionable to use the denomination 2.0 ‒ as in Web 2.0, Earth 2.0, Generation 2.0, etc. If we were to borrow this nomenclature for metaphoric use, we could say that the early spring of 2020 saw the world around us seemingly skip from its regular logical version, perhaps 3.0 or 4.0, straight to 20.0 literally over the course of a few weeks. Suddenly everything changed. The global world shrank to the boundaries of the city around you and the borders of the country where you were passing your self-isolation time. Museums and galleries located a mere hour and a half’s flight away suddenly turned into something ephemeral, albeit worthy of a virtual tour. At the same time, despite the closed borders, we felt – tragically and irreversibly ‒ what an interconnected world we were living in.
At the time when we were preparing for publication Issue 7 of Conversations with Collectors, we had no way of knowing how those months spent in the shadow of COVID-19 would change the art scene, art institutions, the art market, and the artist's role in society. However, we thought it was important to keep doing our thing in this situation, namely, writing about people who ‒ each in his or her own way, honestly, intuitively, perhaps without giving much thought to high objectives and greater causes ‒ help maintain civilisation. No less. Art and art patronage are a fragile matter, one that is clearly affected negatively by crises. In this respect, the role of a collector capable of supporting artists who are spiritually akin and interesting to him at an existentially challenging time becomes more important than ever. For the collectors represented in this issue, it is not the ownership of works by global star artists, valued at seven digit prices, that seems so important. What matters more is art that speaks to them, correlating with their own views on the world and people. It is this kind of art that finds permanent place in their collection, and it is artists capable of creating this kind of art whom they support.
The issue includes 12 conversations with 13 influential art collectors from eight different countries: Grażyna Kulczyk, Johanna and Friedrich Gräfling, Joop van Caldenborgh, Piotr Bazylko, Sandra Hegedüs, Jean-Louis Haguenauer, Hans Furer, Alexander Ramselaar, Petr Pudil, Stuart Evens, Enzo Enea, Madeleine Bessborough.
Support and solidarity proved incredibly important for us personally and the “Arterritory Conversations with Collectors Vol 7” publication. Like every organization, Arterritory has been affected by the COVID-19 emergency. Despite revenue losses, we are finding ways to continue providing our readers with the informative interviews and articles that are the hallmark of our web publication. In parallel, this spring we compiled content and designed the layout for a new issue of the magazine. Sadly, there were not enough resources at the disposal of the editorial board for the issue to start its life as a print publication. Then we sent out letters to the collectors who are the subjects and, as our interlocutors, also the co-authors of our publication, asking them to help cover the printing costs of the latest issue of Conversations with Collectors. And we are particularly grateful to those who responded and found ways of supporting us. They are: Al Shands, Agah Uğur, Dieter Bogner, Gil Bronner, Han Nefkens, Igor Tsukanov, Julien Robson, Jānis Zuzāns, Petr Pudil, Péter Küllői, Sandra Hegedüs.
For 7 years now we have been bringing informative and extended interviews with discerning contemporary art collectors to our international audience. Each year we have compiled these interviews into a distinctive, beautifully designed English language publication. Highlighting the varied interests and concerns of collectors, it is a publication that informs and educates audiences about art’s importance to the worldview of each individual collector. And we are happy in our knowledge that the support received by our publication demonstrates that it matters to our readers and it is needed.
We are living through this time with you and we are also transforming as we go through our own ‒ far from unique ‒ experience in which, we believe, solidarity will be of critical importance. Because collecting contemporary art is also about solidarity in a way ‒ about solidarity with its creators here and now, and about solidarity with the art world that makes it possible for the artists to realize themselves, with its galleries and art centres, its curators and critics.
If perhaps not in the same boat, we are definitely on the same canvas or inside the same installation. We are not just contemporaries; we are people honestly and genuinely interested in visualization of the human experience. Experience 20.0 or 21.0. Experience that never ever comes to a stop, just like life itself.
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“Arterritory Conversations with Collectors Vol 7” can be purchased in the “Arterritory Publications” section of Arterritory.com. By buying this publication, you are also supporting the continuation of the “Conversations with Collectors” series on Arterritory.com portal.
