We were invited to give a talk at Art Week Luxemburg November 22nd 2025,  by Kevin Muhlen, Director of Casino Luxembourg. On this occasion we presented research about the history of collecting art throught the epoches and articulated our perspective on the matter. 

In the following you can scroll through all slides and our notes as they were presented during our talk.

Slide 1 Welcome: 
• A warm welcome and hello to everyone.
• It’s wonderful to see you all here today, showing interest in our thoughts on art acquisition and selling.
• A big thank you to Casino Luxembourg and to Kevin Muhlen for inviting us.
• and to Artweek Luxemburg for giving us the opportunity to share our ideas and perspectives.
• We’re not entirely used to this level of attention — so if you notice a bit of nervous sweating, just consider it part of the performance.
• We’re very excited to dive into today’s topic with you.
• Before we get started, we’d like to begin with a short introduction.

Slide 2 Who we are: 
• My name is Nora Cristea.
• I studied Communication Design and Science of Art.
• My work focuses on helping artists develop their own ways of communicating their practice and positioning their work through various formats such as portfolios and websites.
• I teach post-graduate artists at the Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt, a non-profit orgaisation based in Berlin.
• Additionally, I design and conceptualize artist monographs and co-run our online art platform and shop together with Vincent Schneider.
• That's me :) 
• I also studied Communication Design — which is actually how Nora and I first met.
• I worked in the blue chip gallery business for multiple years
• Additionally I co-curated ≈ 5, a non-profit off-space in Cologne that supports artists in offering a first exhibition opportunity.
• I now work as a Concept Artist and Designer in the entertainment industry 
• and I also co-run the art platform CAT together with Nora.

Slide 3 Overview:
• Today we’d like to present you with a brief overview of our perspective on making and collecting art.
• Disclaimer: the first few minutes will be mostly Eurocentric.
We decided to keep it this way because it illustrates particularly well
how our consumerist societies developed, which is important for identifying better solutions.
• First, we will start by defining the different ways of collecting and creating — from paleoart to contemporary art.
• Then, we will look at what collecting and creating mean today in our western consumerist society.
• Finally, we will reflect on future solutions, especially how we can create fairer platforms for selling art that center the artist and invite collectors from all classes.

Slide 4 Manuport:
• To refine some solutions, let’s first have a look at the customer: the collector.
• A collector is someone who values objects not for their practical use, but for another kind of meaning 
— cultural, aesthetic, historical, personal, or even economic. 
— Sometimes it’s also about status and sometimes it can be a well hidden secret.
• Collecting can amplify and shift the meaning of an object.
• It can be supportive and preserving, or it can be harmful and exploitative.
• It can arise from personal obsession or from strategic economic calculation.
• Let’s start with the earliest form of collecting. 
And see if there is a solution for our art market hidden in here:
• Introduction to Manuports: 
• Manuports = natural objects carried by early humans ancestors, even though they had no practical use.
• They show first signs of symbolic thinking and collecting.
• The Makapansgat cobble is currently the oldest known manuport (about 2–3 million years old).
• It was found in a cave together with a hominid (Australopithecus africanus) skeleton.
• The stone’s material — Jasper — does not occur in the cave.
• The nearest source is 32 km away, meaning it had to be carried there.
• This makes the this cobble possibly the earliest known example of symbolic thinking in human evolution.
• It’s important to note that the creator here was not a hominin artist. The “face” was shaped by nature. 
• and the individual who picked it up simply recognized value in it. 
• Maybe the first  form of collecting the unnecessary but meaningful 

Slide 5 Shell Beads:
• Over time, early humans began to alter their manuports, adding meaning and value to what nature had created.
• These 82,000-year-old shell beads were found 40 km from the their place of origin: the Mediterranean Sea
• Later by 40,000 years ago, humans were transporting decorative shells over 500 km, possibly through early trade networks.
• Hunter-gatherers collected objects not only for survival, but also for aesthetic and emotional reasons.
• And importantly — as this find shows — they also collected and exchanged objects as early financial or symbolic markers.
• Now exchange adds a new layer of value to these objects, in addition to pre-economic symbolic meaning.
• The artist can slowly emerge, trading the objects they have created or modified for food, shelter, or social status.
— creating something that holds value as it is passed on.

Slide 6 Egg Shells:
• And with that more and more variety in expression found it‘s way into our world
• In South Africa, humans scratched symbols onto ostrich eggshells about 60,000 years ago.
• These are some of the earliest known engraved designs that show
mark-making — one of the first creative processes.
• (These marked shells were likely part of water containers (ostrich eggshells were used as portable flasks).)
• The engravings may have functioned as ownership marks or symbolic decoration.
• What is striking is how these fragments resemble one another in design yet differ in color and execution. 
• Seen through modern eyes, they appear almost like components of a series 
— objects that become “collectibles”simply through the way they relate to and fit with each other.
• And this way of assigning value through categorization and series-thinking mirrors how Western collectors 
have long imposed their own value systems on historical and ethnological artworks.
• Often redefining the object by positioning themselves as the authors of a collection and diminishing the original creators’ authorship.

Slide 7 Greek Stealing:
• Talking about stealing…
• After Alexander the Great’s campaigns (334–323 BCE), enormous amounts of Persian treasure entered Greek territory.
• Mainly Gold, silver vessels, textiles, luxury objects, and ceremonial items 
taken from Persepolis, Susa, and other imperial centers.
• This period marks one of the earliest documented cases of cross-cultural “value transfer” through appropriation and redistribution of conquered treasures.
• This pattern carries on into our own time, and its impact still falls on marginalized artists — those whose cultural, social, or economic positions 
make their authorship especially vulnerable to appropriation and misattribution.

Solution One: Visibility
Ethical collecting begins with transparency 
— openly acknowledging the creators and the conditions under which artworks are made and acquired.

Slide 8 Tanagra figurines:
• As the economic status of Greek society began to grow in the Hellenistic era, 
collecting became widespread across different layers of Greek society.
• Artists of that time tried to play into the new taste by appropriating and reimagining the newly imported Persian luxuries, which deeply influenced Greek taste.
• Archaeology shows a mass distribution of previously rare objects after Alexander’s conquest, indicating a flourishing art market.
• This also generated the first famous artists and early collecting fashions, 
such as handwritten manuscripts and works signed by statesmen, philosophers, artists and poets.
• Something that feels surprisingly contemporary in terms of how they were acquired are these Tanagra figurines:
• Tanagra terracotta figurines were accessible to nearly all levels of Greek society.
• Sold on public markets, not only in elite settings, they were affordable enough for ordinary households.
• unlike earlier bronze or marble pieces.
• Their production involved molds, allowing for serial production with small variations → exactly the same logic behind modern multiples, figurines, and editions.

Solution two: Entry points
Provide affordable entry points: A practical approach to affordability lies in adjusting scale, material and in case of editions — production time. 
This model — which we also implement in our shop — reduces financial risk for artists. Collectors, in turn, benefit from greater affordability and easier access.

Slide 9 Intaglio:

• Another widely spread object of desire in the Hellenistic period till today world was the Intaglio.
• These engraved gemstones were regarded less as jewelry and more as miniature works of art — small, wearable sculptures that could even represent their owner as a personal sigil.
• Intaglios were primarily luxury items, since the materials were costly and required the expertise of highly skilled gem-engravers (glyptai).
• Intaglios did not democratize collecting in the way that Tanagra figurines did, but they reveal another aspect we find particularly interesting: they spread visibility of both art and the artist through being worn.
• Their value was amplified through social exchange — a kind of interpersonal transmission, almost like early “word-of-mouth propaganda.”

Solution three: Art as Everyday Culture
Artworks that circulate, live with people, and gain meaning through inclusivity rather than exclusivity.

Slide 10 Rome:
• After the Roman conquest of Greece (2nd–1st c. BCE), Greek sculpture, painting, and luxury goods entered Rome on a massive scale.
• Rome absorbed their culture, importing enormous quantities of Greek art — status symbol for Roman elites in late Republican and Imperial Rome.
• This demand led to large-scale production of replicas. These copies were still expensive, so they did not make art more accessible.
• The booming market encouraged fraud, already documented in ancient sources.
• Sellers offered fabricated “curiosities,” such as the supposed clothing of Odysseus.
• This early hype and collecting craze leads us to a brief look at the psychology of collecting.
• Collecting became entangled with corruption, exploitation, and violence.
• Sulla is one of the earliest documented Roman elites to systematically loot and collect Greek art on a massive scale.
• Villas, baths, and public buildings were filled with art as displays of power, taste, and cultural superiority.
• Authors like Cicero explicitly complained about decadent, obsessive collectors.
• So far that as competition over art intensified, some cases even turned violent.
• (The most notorious example is Gaius Verres, whose relentless looting of artworks shocked even his contemporaries.)
• Years later, during the political purges, Mark Antony had Verres executed — not out of justice, but to confiscate his famed art collection for himself.
• Art collecting still functions as a status performance in many ways. 
• The roman obsession with greek art created a centralization of taste which made the art market even more aggressive. 
• This canonization erased other creators, local artistic traditions or even development. 
• As of today a small set of powerful collectors, galleries, and institutions still shape taste, visibility, and market value.

Solution four: Cultivate and create space for living artists
• Roman history shows us that when art “appreciation” becomes merely a status performance rather than artist-centered cultivation, development in the artist community is stunted. 
• Sustainable cultural development requires room for new ideas. 
• Prioritizing living artists, fosters innovation and reduces the dominance of speculative, market-driven narratives.

Slide 11 Middle Ages:
• With the fall of the Roman Empire, the wealth that once supported many art forms collapsed.
• As a result, art and collecting narrowed almost entirely to religious purposes.
• shaping a one-dimensional cultural development centered on Christianity.
• Relics — bones, fragments, garments, or objects linked to saints — became the primary collectibles, valued for their supposed miraculous power.
• These relics served as spiritual capital, drawing pilgrims, prestige, and wealth to churches and monasteries.
• Meanwhile, European emperors and rulers built treasuries and vaults filled with gold coins, crowns, and jewelry.
→ But the appreciation was limited: many objects were later melted down when tastes changed or when funds were needed.
• In stark contrast, most peasants lived with minimal possessions.
• Even well-off European peasants owned mainly utilitarian items — tools, clothing, and perhaps a few pieces of simple furniture.

Solution five: Decentralize Cultural Demand and Access
• This period shows how the lack of cultural and class diversity in collecting can severely limit artistic expression.
• Extreme inequality in access to artworks and culture can create this kind of mono culture. 
• By diversifying access, we can create a healthier cultural ecosystem where multiple voices shape artistic value.

Slide 12 Renaissance:
• During the Renaissance Italy, especially in Florence, grew rich through banking, trade, and commerce.
• So collecting re-emerged, now tied to learning, taste, and cultural identity.
• The Medici family became the key example of early collectors.
• Artists decorated their palaces, chapels, and villas with works.
• Inventories were carefully maintained — the collection became part of their identity, prestige, and self-representation.
• In return, family members acted as patrons and intermediaries between artists, scholars, and political powers.
• Buying art or funding artists showed refinement, education, and civic pride. 
• Patronage culture became popular and was the new status performance.
• Collecting expanded beyond the nobility during this time.
• Merchants and the urban bourgeoisie began decorating their homes with paintings, silverware, books, and luxury objects.
• This marks one of the first historical shifts back toward broader (though still limited) cultural access.

Solution six: Patronage and fostered long-term collector-artist relationships
→ Stable support allowed artists to experiment, innovate, and build careers.
→ Patrons benefited from consistent artistic production and cultural prestige.
• Today Individuals, companies, foundations, or even communities can: 
• Buy art but also fund studio space, give a monthly financial support (through platforms like Patreon, Substack, or direct commissions).
• create platforms and network hubs at artist dinners

Slide 13 Commissions:
• Another important form of artistic support was the commissioned artwork. 
• Unlike collected pieces, commissions were individual works created for a specific individual or occasion. 
• Holbein’s The Ambassadors was not produced for a church or a monarch
—it was made for the private residence of Jean de Dinteville, a French ambassador.
• Interestingly, this commissioned painting displays many of the collectible objects of its time, functioning as symbols.
• This painting is a functioning interactive artwork, that invites the viewer to change ones position towards the painting to analyze and understand the symbolistic objects > a form of communication rather than expression.  
• Reflecting the Renaissance ideals of knowledge, exploration, wealth, and humanist learning. 
• Elements like the broken lute string and the skull introduce themes of religious tension and mortality, key concerns of the period.
• This leads directly into the next chapter, where we will discuss the display of art and objects in greater detail.

Slide 14 Age of Curiosity:
• We arrive in the Age of Curiosity. 
• An age were science and exploration became more prevalent. 
• Access to knowledge increased and means to display the world and it wonders were needed.
• Wunderkammern (cabinets of curiosities) functioned as early private museums and powerful status symbols. 
• They presented objects valued for their rarity, strangeness, global origin and narrative potential. 
• These collections encouraged viewers to make connections across art, science, nature, and culture.
• Still-lifes and trompe-l’œil paintings developed alongside these collections, reflecting the growing desire to display, frame, and elevate objects.
 
Solution seven: Platform without rigid hierarchies—every object, regardless of origin or medium, deserves attention and context
•  A Wunderkammer also provides a fitting allegory for fairly displaying contemporary art:
• It embraces the diversity of objects and perspectives, suggesting inclusive curatorial approaches.
• While it supports a model where contemporary artworks can be shown side by side, 
each with equal narrative weight.

Slide 15 Wunderkammer: 1655
• Wunderkammern were used to bring together different scientific practices such as biology, geology, art, and archaeology. 
• Even though the collections ofter grew through exploitative procedures, unfair trade and/or theft, they emphasized the marvel and wonder of things—as seen from the eurocentric collectors perspective. 
• Over time, these inventories contributed to the development of early scientific taxonomy.
• A Wunderkammer highlights the story behind each object just as much as the object itself.
• It encourages viewers to interpret, connect, and question, rather than passively observe.
• Ultimately, the collection becomes a work of art in its own.

Slide 16 Public Art Culture:
• From Wunderkammern to Public Art Culture
• Wunderkammern created early social spaces where people from diverse backgrounds gathered around art, objects, and knowledge.
• They encouraged discussion, exchange, and community—an early form of public cultural engagement.
• This spirit of curiosity and social interaction laid the groundwork for more open and accessible art environments.
• In Northern Europe, this culture of shared curiosity evolved into new, public-facing art practices.
• The Netherlands became the first society where ordinary citizens collected art on a large scale.
• During the Dutch Golden Age (1600–1670) a highly open, commercialized art market emerged.
• Broad economic prosperity allowed middle-class families—not just elites—to buy art for their homes.
• Calvinism, and the iconoclasm associated with it, stripped churches of images.
• Art production expanded through mass workshops.
• Dealers, auctions, and early art fairs made artworks widely available.
• This shift marks a key transition from private Wunderkammer collections to 
the beginnings of public exhibitions, auctions, and accessible art markets. 

Solution eight: Built community, Create events: 
• Drawing from the examples of both the Wunderkammer and the early Dutch art market, we see that strong artistic cultures grow, when people gather, talk, and share experiences around objects and ideas. 
• Forming social networks with people who share similar interests can create a larger hub for opportunities, connections, and future projects. 
• Open studios, talks, artist dinners, guided tours, and collaborative exhibitions 
all help to democratize art by welcoming diverse audiences and allowing 
each visitor to participate—not just observe.

Slide 17 Cataloguing:
• I also want to briefly talk about a practice that is especially important to us: cataloguing.
• This is an engraving by Salomon Kleiner.
• His works were highly valued in the 18th century for their exceptional accuracy, 
particularly in his depictions of the Benedictine Abbey of Göttweig in Lower Austria. 
• When catalogues of the abbey’s collections were believed to be lost, Kleiner’s engravings suddenly became crucial. 
• His images functioned as a kind of graphic catalogue, allowing scholars to reconstruct the Baroque collection and to identify objects.
• This example shows how cataloguing—whether written or visual—can also be a form of platforming. 
• As we have learned, diversity in art is essential. 
• The more different kinds of artworks are documented and preserved, the more future artists and researchers can understand history in all its variety.
• Collecting can be a form of cataloguing, because it organizes and preserves artworks.
• Platforming can also be cataloguing, as presenting art gives it visibility and context.
• And today, various practices of digital cataloguing makes this even easier, allowing art to be stored, shared, and accessed globally.
• It may not be a "solution" in itself, but it is a vital tool in contemporary art research, helping to keep collections artist-centered and accessible, if done right.



Slide 18 British Museum:
• The 18th century saw the rise of vast private collections, 
such as that of Sir Hans Sloane, whose 71,000 objects later formed the core of the British Museum.
• Sloane, a physician and influential figure, collected items from across the world
—often through imperial and colonial networks.
• As one of Jamaica’s major slave owners, Sloane’s legacy is inseparable from systems of exploitation.
• In 2020, the British Museum moved his bust from a place of honor to a display addressing colonial oppression.
• As European elites collected art, natural specimens, tools, and cultural artifacts 
not only from Europe but also from colonized regions, where objects were frequently taken under unequal power conditions.
• Works shown without credit, erase the identity and agency of the original creators
and objects treated as specimens, not art
reinforcing hierarchies and 
• transferring ownership fully to the collector

Slide 19  Industrialization:
• Democratizing Access to Art in times of Industrialization
• Combining out point of platforming and cataloguing before, let focus on
• Anna Brownell Jameson’s two-volume Handbook to the Galleries of Public Art (1842) 
• These made viewing, understanding, and acquiring art more accessible to broader audiences.
• They acted as early catalogues, sharing expertise for the public good and helping people navigate the art world —today we have similar means like art magazines or art-fluencers.
• The rise of such publications sparked a wave of guides on how to collect art, turning collecting into a mass cultural phenomenon.
• Industrialization transformed collecting as well:
• Mass production created entirely new categories of collectibles that we will reflect more about in the next slides.
• Collecting expanded from an elite pursuit into a global activity shaped by consumer culture, 
similar to how online marketplaces create access today.
• But as history teaches us, nothing can flourish freely without someone eventually spoiling the fun in the pursuit of value:
• Debates grew about what distinguished a connoisseur from a dilettante, reflecting tensions between expertise and mass participation.

Which leads to the ninth solution: If you want to start collecting, Keep an open mind.

Rigid taste-making can be limiting—and sometimes harmful—as artists once dismissed as mediocre can quickly become celebrated geniuses when they later rise to fame. 
Educate yourself, but trust your instincts, and keep an open mind. 
Somewhere out there is a work you never expected that will connect deeply with you.

Slide 20 20th century :
• The 20th century saw an explosion of new movements
—Fauvism, Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art— (to name only a few).
• each challenging what art should be. Innovation itself became a selling point, and collectors competed to be first to acquire the “new.”
• Many European artists gained major success by borrowing motifs and ideas from colonized cultures, 
which made their work appear innovative and “modern” to European audiences. 
• Because the original artists were not credited or compensated, Europeans could profit culturally and financially from traditions that were not their own.
• Addionally Galleries became power players. 
• Their support could turn unknown artists into global stars. 
• Taste-making became institutionalized as Museums expanded quickly in the 20th century. 
• Once a museum acquired an artwork, its value—and the artist’s reputation—often skyrocketed. 
• Art fairs globalized the market 
• Auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s turned artworks into investment assets.
• So from the mid-century onward, art quickly became a global commodity.
• Prices rose dramatically, especially for Modern and Contemporary artists and 
• And Speculation entered the art world
• Investors increasingly treated art as a financial instrument. 
• Artists like Warhol embraced this openly, turning the critique of commodification into the very product being sold.
• The century ended with a fully globalized, commercial art system.
• And so SOME few Artist became a brand…

Slide 21 From Fine Arts to Trading Cards:
• Now let’s have a look at contemporary collecting: 
• Just as 19th and 20th-century art markets were shaped by hype, fame, rarity, and institutional validation, 
• Today’s most visible global collectibles —such as Pokémon cards—follow the very same logic.
• Like museums, galleries, and expert connoisseurs once authenticated artworks, today different grading institutions play a crucial role in certifying legitimacy and determining market value.
• Their record-breaking values correlate directly with cultural visibility, nostalgia-driven fame or extreme rarity, mirroring how modern and contemporary artworks rise in value.
• More and more younger audiences value pop culture artifacts more then traditional art.
• The pandemic accelerated this shift, as people rediscovered nostalgia, sought alternative investments, and participated in online communities — creating a surge in demand.
• Talking about alternative investments…

Slide 22 NFTs:
• NFTs mark a recent peak of speculative collecting
• The most well-known example of the NFT hype from 2017 onward is 
"Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days"
• Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) had created one digital artwork every day since May 2007, compiling them into a single NFT.
• The work was purchased by Vignesh Sundaresan — also known as “Metakovan” — a  crypto investor and founder of the Metapurse NFT project.
• Sundaresan paid 42,329 Ether, and both buyer and seller had a strong interest in pushing the price upward, as they were simultaneously promoting a speculative asset
• In which Sundaresan held the majority, peaked in value during the media frenzy  around the Christie’s auction, then collapsed shortly afterward, leading critics to call the sale a publicity stunt or even a scam.
• Despite the record price, Sundaresan did not receive copyright — only the right to display the piece, which he now shows in a digital “metaverse” museum accessible via web browser.

Slide 23  public skepticism toward the art world: 
• This development lead to a new image of both the collector and the creator — they  became scammers in the public view. 
• In fiction, the collecting of extremely valuable art is frequently linked to organized crime, tax evasion, and arms dealing.
A trope that persists because scandals, secrecy and speculative markets often mirror these narratives in real life. 
• These movies reflect a broader public skepticism toward the art world, which is seen as exclusive, elitist, and driven by opaque financial systems.

Slide 24 Solutions revisited :
• Building on the insights we’ve gathered so far, we want to revisit and organize the proposals we’ve developed.
• in the hope of offering at least part of a solution.

• Solution One: Visibility
Ethical collecting begins with transparency — openly acknowledging the creators and the conditions under which artworks are made and acquired.

• Solution Two: Accessible Entry Points
Affordability can be created through thoughtful choices in scale, material, and production editions. This reduces financial risk for artists while giving collectors meaningful, achievable ways to start collecting.

• Solution Three: Art as Everyday Culture
Art gains value when it lives with people. Supporting pieces that circulate and integrate into daily life shifts focus away from exclusivity and toward shared cultural experience.

• Solution Four: Make Space for Living Artists
Sustainable cultural development requires room for new ideas. Focussing on living artists fosters innovation and reduces the dominance of speculative, market-driven narratives.

• Solution Five: Decentralize Cultural Demand
A broad, diverse ecosystem strengthens artistic expression. Expanding interest beyond major centers and dominant narratives creates more space for alternative voices and practices.

• Solution Six: Renewed Patronage
Long-term relationships between collectors and artists support experimentation, stability, and deeper artistic growth .

• Solution Seven: Platform Without Hierarchies
A fair platform recognizes all media and origins. Each object — from traditional craft to digital art — deserves context, visibility, and respect.

• Solution Eight: Build Community Through Events
Open studios, talks, dinners, tours, and collaborative exhibitions create shared experiences. Community-based engagement democratizes participation and strengthens cultural connection.

• Solution Nine: Stay Open-Minded
For new collectors, curiosity is essential. History shows that artists once dismissed as minor often become defining voices once given time, recognition, and visibility.

Slide 25 CAT:
Some of these proposals are ones we are already working to implement into our practice. 

This is CAT — our art platform, designed to make art accessible through a tool many people use daily — an easy-to-use online shop.

• Our platform offers a curated program of art editions, multiples, wearables, and many other formats.
• Because artists and their practices need support on many levels, we created our own kind of positive "Wunderkammer" — a space that listens to our own principles: cataloguing without hierarchies and offering obtainable artworks.
• By producing small-scale edition runs with relatively low production costs, we offer a way to engage with art at small financial risk for both artists and collectors.
• We also hope to amplify social reach and meaningful exchange, as these remain key accelerators for any artistic career.
• CAT is one platform among many, and we are happy to contribute to a diverse and growing landscape of art distribution and artist platforming.
• Please visit our website and give us a follow — we offer artist-centered projects, and maybe you’ll find something that feels almost like a modern manuport for you.
• We also include one additional element not on the list in our practice: Dialogue
• Starting early next year, artists will be able to schedule a free call with either one of us.
• These sessions will focus on portfolio feedback, visibility, and career guidance.
• We plan to expand the program by inviting colleagues and curators to participate in these advisory sessions.

Slide 26 Future:
And what does the future hold?

• Children of Men (2006) imagines a dystopian world where humanity faces extinction due to global infertility.
• Set in 2027, the UK collapses into chaos, and art becomes protected under military control.
• The Tate Modern is reimagined as the Ministry of Arts.
• Inside, it becomes a vast private apartment filled with the world’s most valuable artworks — now meaningless and disconnected in a world with no future.
• The movie suggests a future where art collecting becomes isolated, private, and emotionally empty, severed from society, community, and cultural purpose.
• We sure hope this doesn’t become a reality

Slide 27 Connect:
• We believe the work of communicators and curators is more important than ever.
• Together with other contemporary platforms, we act as the connective tissue between the artist’s drive to create and the collector’s desire to collect, providing art with space, context, and care.