The Digital Art Collector Summit on 9 – 10 June drew an online audience and a selected live audience in Milan, Italy totaling nearly 200 art collectors, art professionals and art lovers from around the globe. 16 speakers, from art collectors, digital artists to digital art advisors or curators were invited to engage in a series of conversations on Zoom. Each speaker presented their personal digital art stories as they engaged in discussions around the practice of collecting digital art, the roles and possibilities for art collectors in the digital space or the Metaverse, the recent developments in the digital art market, and exhibiting digital and NFT artworks.
Carrying on LARRY’S LIST’s tradition of hosting high-caliber conferences on art collecting and private art museums since 2017 from Basel to Hong Kong (highlights in 2017, 2018 and 2019), the Digital Art Collector Summit is our first virtual conference with a theme on digital art — digital art in a wider context with NFTs and beyond. We see this as a chance to instigate conversations and exchanges around digital art between “traditional” collectors and a new cohort of collectors. We want to share the excitement and possibilities that occur for collectors engaging in a “new” area, while also highlighting the fascination of digital art that is not necessarily linked to blockchain. Furthermore, we want to address the technology potential that plays a crucial part in the uniqueness and further development of digital art. While the focus is on art collectors, the discussions also included artists, curators, and intermediaries.
The Summit was moderated by Anna Maja Spiess and LARRY’S LIST co-founder Christoph Noe. A summary of the speakers’ key messages in bullet points is provided as follows:
Day 1: 9 June
Jenny Guo
Co-Founder of LumiereVR / Arts Patron, Boston
@LumiereVR
Jenny Guo, an award-winning creative producer, XR arts collector, and tech entrepreneur, highlighted:
– NFT collectors and traditional collectors often have different backgrounds interests;
– the collector’s role beyond just buying art to also become potentially a producer as in her case;
– the importance of making and focusing on good art rather than wasting energy chasing the hype;
– the digital art world is more accessible than the traditional art world; and
– the digital component can be combined with the physical experience, creating significant potential for “phygital” experiences.
Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile
Crypto Entrepreneur / Collector, Miami
@pablorfraile
Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile, a crypto entrepreneur who collects art with his wife, presented some highlights from his NFT art collection, and emphasized:
– his future role as an art patron through which he perceives himself to be bridging the digital art world with the traditional one;
– the two major challenges within the current NFT art scence being 1) complicated technical problems coupled with a lack of crypto-education; and 2) a lack of curation on digital art platforms;
– his new venture seeks to tackle these above-mentioned challenges;
Christian Mio Loclair
Artist / AI programmer, Berlin
@mio_loclair, christianmioloclair.com
An expert in computer science and vocal commentator on the relationship between humans and machines, Christian Mio Loclair explained:
– the evolving relationship between human and machine;
– his exploration of the possibilities of technology and reflections on the future of technology through dance, photography and technological advancements; and
– his belief that artists and scientists should all have a responsibility in shaping the future.
Michah Dowbak aka Mad Dog Jones
Artist, Thunder Bay
@mad.dog.jones
Michah Dowbak shared his journey of becoming an artist and his perspectives on the digital art scene:
– his interest in creating art comes from the ability to tell stories in his work, which he found he could translate into art that people liked when he first started his Mad Dog Jones Instagram account;
– he recalled having a physical exhibition in Japan in 2019, which brought him a large part of his initial collector base
– he believes that the NFT space allows his storytelling ability to expand as he launched his first NFT drop in November 2020; and
– that his creative motivation— “… to make the world more interesting and coherent for a larger group of people” — can be most easily realized through digital technology.
Fanny Lakoubay and Elsie
Digital Art Advisor with NFT Expertise and NFT Collector, New York
@fanny.lakoubay & edicurial.com
Fanny Lakoubay invited her collector client, Elsie, to join her in highlighting their experiences, both working together and as individuals, in the digital world. They presented a united front in support of the developing digital art market:
– according to Fanny Lakoubay, the dynamic and mutual support between art advisors and collectors is important in developing the digital art scene;
– Elsie has built The Edicurial Collection and expressed how much she enjoys living with digital art along with the challenges of presenting her collection at home;
– both shared the opinion that intellectual value and the story behind a digital artwork is important; and
– that NFT-based art is not going to replace the existing art or art market, but it has been co-existing for quite some time already.
Leonardo Menezes
Knowledge and Creation Director of the Museum of Tomorrow, Rio de Janeiro
Leonardo Menezes gave a presentation on the Museum of Tomorrow, detailing how:
– the museum explores the opportunities and challenges which humanity will be forced to address and overcome in the coming decades from the perspective of sustainability and conviviality;
– 50% of visitors at the museum are actually first-time museum visitors;
– the museum is also actively engaging with the local community through a range of community projects and regularly updated shows;
– the museum has received over three million visitors since opening;
– while he emphasized the importance of working on a global mission together with other institutions and collaborators.
Ronnie K. Pirovino
Art Collector / Curator, Salt Lake City
@pirovino
Ronnie K. Pirovino closed the first day with a discussion centered on his contributions to the digital art collecting scene. He shared with the audience that:
– he has partnered with a major auction house for an ongoing series of auctions sales called Trespassing,
– three very divers in its creation digital artists whom he described as to watch closely Joshua Davis, Ash Thorp, and DotPigeon; and
– he finds enjoyment in both his roles as a collector and curator of digital art.
Day 2, 10 June
Haro Cumbusyan
Collector, Zurich
Haro Cumbusyan, took the audience on his collecting journey while also presenting some of the works in his collection. He also founded the now-no-longer-active collectorspace in Istanbul and he explained:
– at the beginning of his wife’s Bilges and his collector journey, they joined a young-collector club in New York and realised they would like to find a niche in the art scene to specialize in;
– which led them to collecting moving image art;
– living a nomadic lifestyle, digital art was the perfect fit;
– collectors have a responsibility to protect art and to support artists to create more, which requires more than simply collecting but also involves a commitment; and
– the art collector in his view is the least educated compared to artists, curators, museum directors, he therefore sees the responsibility of the collector in educating oneself and reading, learning, following the chosen field as much as one can
Sylvain Levy
dslcollection, Paris
Seasoned collector Sylvain Levy, inspired the audience with various insights he has developed over his long career:
– the turning point of dslcollection was when they decided to open the collection and make it accessible to the public through digital technology;
– it would be a mistake to try and recreate the offline world in the digital sphere;
– “to make a collection relevant is to put the collection in the context of our time”;
– while it is important to preserve the traditional way of experiencing art, he also believes in the combining digital and physical spheres and experiences (phygital);
– the traditional model of museums is failing, so it is imperative to find ways to create digital revenues to ensure their futures; and
– “collecting allows an ordinary person to have an extraordinary life.”
Qinwen Wang
Collector, Shanghai
@qwcinemaparadiso
As co-producer of the world’s first crypto art exhibition, “Virtual Niche,” with BCA in UCCA Lab in 2021, Qinwen Wang stated that:
– she only collects works that speak to her personally;
– her wish is to be a bridge between the East and the West in the art world;
– she strongly believes in the future of digital art collecting; and
– she is determined to bring the latest digital technology to the Chinese art scene.
Hampus Lindwall
Titular Organist in Saint-Esprit, Paris (FR) / Professor of Improvisation at the Institut Supérieur de Musique et Pédagogie Royal (IMEP) à Namur (BE) / Collector, Paris
@hampuslindwall
and
Joan Heemskerk
Artist, Netherlands
@JoanHeemskerk
Collector Hampus Lindwall and artist Joan Heemskerk, of the net art duo JODI, presented thought-provoking ideas about digital art:
– artist Joan Heemskerk presented some of the artworks by JODI which spans a career of over 2 decades;
– Lindwall explained how he owns a website by JODI as an artwork that may be accessed and enjoyed by any one in exactly the same way as he does, although he bears the financial burden of maintaining it, and how this artwork then challenges the traditional perception of ownership;
Jehan Chu
Crypto Entrepreneur / Collector, Hong Kong
@jehanchu
Jehan Chu provided an in-depth explanation of how he became involved in the digital art world and how investing in cryptocurrency fits into his story. He expressed his views on the scene, including:
– “the new chapter of the contemporary art history is digital art”;
– the digital art world runs in parallel to the traditional art world and is bringing outsider artists into prominence;
– the phenomenon is similar to how photography was not initially accepted as art;
– the new digital art scene is confronting our concepts of what art is and forcing us to ask the question all over again;
– NFTs reflect a historical moment and a shift in the modus operandi of the art world
– because NFTs allow artists, for the first time, to be directly involved in the art market and thereby are creating cultural inclusion.
Wiyu Wahono
Collector, Jakarta
Wiyu Wahono one of the most prominent (digital) art collectors in Indonesia began his session by introducing some of the digital artists in his collection, such as Oomleo, Ernesto Klar, Granular-Synthesis, and Ryoji Ikeda before moving on to illustrate:
– his experience of how his collection was initially dismissed by local galleries, but then he slowly gained recognition in Indonesia as European institutions exhibited of his collection — from his experience, one sees that there are not only under-recognised artists, but also under-recognised collectors;
– one of the problems with collecting digital art is that the appeal of the cutting-edge technology used to develop the artwork only lasts a few years before becoming outdated;
– the question to ask when collecting art is whether the new work one wants to acquire will be consistent with the collection; and
– his credo to free art from money, and blend out the market: Only then one can collect truly freely.
Olive Allen
Artist, New York
@olive_allen
With her background in both fine arts and technology, Olive Allen is a cryptocurrency early adopter and one of the pioneers of the NFT space. To close the summit, she discussed that:
– she sought to become a digital artist because she wanted to create art that was pushing boundaries;
– she uses token-based digital works to create social commentary, using an approach that gamifies digital art objects to engender performative, interactive relationships with her audience; and
– she holds an exceptionally positive outlook for digital art and NFTs in particular, and conveyed a sense of excitement for the possibility of great things to come in the digital art sphere.
