Collection Collective

Collection Collective is a contemporary art collection instituted, owned and managed collectively by its members. The project was initiated by Angel, Morariu and Voinea as a speculative curatorial proposal, which aimed to question critically private ownership as a necessary condition for the possibility of collecting art. They invited cultural workers with whom they had already collaborated and shared common values, to participate in a curated exhibition that took place at tranzit.sk/Bratislava in 2017. Its outcome was the foundation of Collection Collective as a contemporary art collection with shared ownership, positioning itself as a unique initiative of its kind currently functioning in the globalised art world. The research questions that guide this project are: Is a concept of collecting collectively possible? How could this endeavour be imagined? The collection functions according to a simple principle: each member offers work according to skills and expertise. The collection is also decentralised: instead of storing artworks in a central facility they remain in artists’ studios, with www.collectioncollective.art (launched in 2018 at tranzit.ro/Bucharest) as permanent site where the collection is displayed. Each time artworks from the collection are invited to participate in exhibitions, organisers are required to pay a nominal fee to participating artists, as well as a fee to the collection. During 2019 works from the collection were exhibited at the Arts Encounters Biennial in Timisoara, and in the Collective Brain, (Gnesta, Sweden). The project was reviewed in the specialised art press (eg., The Calvert Journal, The Art Newspaper, Konstnärernas Riksorganisation – The Swedish Artists’ Organization), and the concept of the collection was disseminated in academic contexts by Morariu within the Baudrillard International Studies Conference (Oxford Brookes University, 2018) and ‘Another Artworld: Manifestations and Conditions of Equity in the Visual Arts’ (University of Belgrade, 2020).

A multi-component output comprising:

(1) Collection Collective. Template for a Future Model of Representation (Exhibition at tranzit.sk, Bratislava, Slovakia) & Collection Collective. In the Future All Our Homes Will Be Museums (Public seminar at Kunsthalle Bratislava, Slovakia) [Curator]

(2) Collection Collective. Tools for self-representation. Documentary display with website launch and public seminar at tranzit.ro (Romania). [Show/Exhibition]

(3) Collection collective: collection of contemporary art

Members of Collection Collective:

Alena Kunicová, Alenka Gregorič, Alexandra Pirici, Alicja Rogalska, Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan, András Cséfalvay, Andrei Gavril, Anetta Mona Chișa & Lucia Tkáčová, Anna Dasović, Bureau of Melodramatic Research (Irina Gheorghe & Alina Popa), Chicks on Speed (Melissa E. Logan & A.L. Steiner), Ciprian Mureșan, Claudiu Cobilanschi, Dan Mihaltianu, Decebal Scriba,Dora García, Eliška Mazalanová, Ferenc Gróf, Fokus Grupa, Igor & Ivan Buharov, Ilona Németh, Inga Chuprova, Iuliana Dumitru, Ivan Moudov, Jana Kapelová, Jozef Mrva jr., Judit Angel, Lia Perjovschi, Lucia Nimcová, Magda Stanová, Martin Piaček, Martina Růžičková & Max Lysáček, Martinka Bobriková & Oscar de Carmen, Mira Keratová, Nika Autor, Nora Ružičková (with Marianna Mlynárčiková), Oto Hudec, Pavel Brăila, Peter Lényi, Péter Szabó, Petra Balíková, Raluca Popa, Raluca Voinea, Roland Schefferski, Roman Biček, Sándor Bartha, Szilárd Miklós, Valentina Vetturi, Vlad Basalici, Vlad Morariu, Zbyněk Baladrán