Dalia Maini: How does Collecteurs operate, and how has your trajectory shifted since October 7th?
Evrim Oralkan: Collecteurs functions like a digitally crowd-sourced museum, where artworks can be viewed, discussed, curated, and archived by anyone online, free of charge. Collectors, artists, and galleries can add artworks to our platform. Our community extends beyond an artwork’s owner, to curators, art workers, and basically anyone with visitor accounts. We anchor ourselves as The Museum of Private Collections and through collaborative exhibitions with curators, artists, and collectors, Collecteurs invites dialogue and context online. Collecteurs also offers users an extensive library of courses. Many of them are free.
Our trajectory did not change after October 7th. We are a Public-Benefit Corporation and, therefore, our focus has always been on benefiting the public. We have connected with our community in a deeper way and formed a volunteer group to counter the effects of censorship and suppression in the art world. The group held its first meeting in December 2023 and has been meeting every week since then. The biggest priority, in terms of needs, from the group was new funding models. We will roll out two new features in August on the Collecteurs platform to help with this. One is a “Support” feature, where users can create one-time and/or ongoing support campaigns. Users will be able to share exclusive content and provide additional perks to their supporters while receiving financial support. We will also roll out 1-on-1 video calls with experts. The calls will be in 30-minute sessions for a desired fee by any user on the Collecteurs platform.
It is clear that museums and arts institutions have failed us miserably. But we believe in the future. The art world is forming a new community in response to the suppression and censorship we are experiencing. A community that will take control of cultural production, take care of its own, and will not allow art workers to be used by the ruling class. We are committed to preparing the infrastructure and supporting this new future.
DM: “Falastin” is the latest project by Collecteurs, described as a digital monument, it provides an exhaustive educational environment for those unfamiliar with Palestinian history and heritage. Why do you call this a “digital monument” and how does this encourage people to speak up for Palestinian rights?
Àngels Miralda: A monument in the traditional sense is usually a commemorative sculpture in a public space around which people can gather to remember a certain person or historical event. Falastin is a collective exhibition with contributions from over 300 volunteers who form part of our global online community, and it pays homage to the Palestinian people whether they advocate for their liberation through politics, culture, or popular resistance. It is a growing archive that combines artistic work with a historical timeline that contextualizes the ongoing genocide being perpetrated by the State of Israel and its allies today. Our hope is that this exhibition, and our online activity, encourage more people to share information, get informed, and to do whatever they can wherever they are in the world to work towards an end to the contemporary processes of colonization and to provide reparations, and justice for Palestinians.
DM: Why digital?
EO: Digital, meaning online, allows us to have a global reach. As the mainstream media keeps the history of Palestine inaccessible, our group decided to make the history of Palestine accessible to countless people around the world, allowing for art to make an impact not after the fact, but right now, when it can make a difference. The online format, combined with collaborative posts on Instagram allowed us to reach so many people while educating them about the history of the region.
DM: Platforming is contrary to censorship, and censorship is the weapon used to erase experiences from the present and undermine their projection into the future. What makes “Falastin” a living archive of these voices?
ÀM: Another advantage of something being digital is that it is not in a closed form. At the moment we are working chapter by chapter, but artists and events can be added, modified, and interlinked. This is important because of the highly censored nature of the content we are working with. Palestinian voices and history have been subjected to decades of colonial erasure under the Zionist imperative to justify a false idea of a “terra nullius”, as was implicated in other settler-colonial regimes before it, including the United States. The exhibition aims not only to identify this strategy but to amplify the message of Palestinians and their allies to our growing online community.
DM: What is the temporal and geographical span narrated within its chapters, and which threads do you weave?
ÀM: Chapter I began with Napoleon and the final decades of Ottoman rule in the Middle East. The 19th century was a transformative time in which the previous world order was quickly shifting into something more recognizable today. At this time, the idea of a nation-state was manipulated by colonial regimes to achieve their goals. The timeline is a history of Palestine starting from the origins of Zionism which is concurrent with the origins of many different European fascisms. Such ideologies became very convenient for British and US interests in destabilizing and colonizing the Middle East.
The geography so far has been tightly linked to Palestine itself but will spread to the surrounding region in Chapter III when we will address the sprawling Palestinian diaspora spread throughout the Arab world to as far away as Chile. We have already linked the suffering of dispossession and land theft to the ongoing pain of native communities of what is today known as the “United States” (which refers to the 50 states with colonial-drawn borders that cut across the territories of diverse tribal communities) through the inclusion of Indigenous artists such as Edgar Heap of Birds. This is a powerful thread that connects the British model of settler-colonialism, erasure, and the brutal military tactics used to achieve it against two very different indigenous populations.
DM: In exemplifying the condition of settler colonialism, Palestine’s occupation is at the epicenter of intersectional movements for liberation. How can art forms support the cause and the decolonial values it carries?
EO: What is essential at this moment is for art to act now and not after the genocide is over. In my opinion, art forms are able to invoke emotions and inspire people to take action, especially within the format of conceptually tight online exhibitions. “Falastin” is an online exhibition that is enhanced with historical information. I believe, in the future, there will be many more examples of this format.
DM: What, in your opinion, does the post-October 7th reaction of cultural institutions tell us about the internalization of prerogatives of power within and beyond the arts?
EO: As mentioned earlier, cultural institutions failed us. I do not believe they will receive the same level of attention and respect from the public in the future. The power structures and control mechanisms embedded in these institutions were always there for the ones who could see it. Now, the masks are off and everything is exposed. It seems like every institution out there has a mechanism to silence people. Are we going to try to change or reform them in the future? I don’t think there is any use in that. We need to build a new art world and direct our energy there.
DM: Your platform tries to unlock the doors of art collecting and institutional gatekeeping and offers a public space for these discussions. What other ways do you hope to achieve these aims?
EO: Our mission has been to bring to light unseen artworks in private collections and give the public access to them through contextual presentations. This is the core of the platform. We no longer rely only on collectors to source the works. We are offering artist accounts as well. At this moment, we are fully committed to creating an alternative art world. Long live the new art world! The one that will take care of its participants and not the ruling class.
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BIO
Collecteurs, also known as The Museum of Private Collections, is a Public Benefit Corporation dedicated to democratizing access to the world’s private art collections. Functioning as a digital museum, the platform extends its services beyond collectors to include artists and galleries, facilitating a collaborative ecosystem where art can be digitized, managed, and exhibited. This initiative empowers collectors, artists, and galleries alike, offering them the tools to showcase their artworks to the public without the financial burdens associated with establishing costly physical spaces.
Evrim Oralkan is one of the founders of Collecteurs, the world's first collective digital museum. He is personally involved with all aspects of the platform. Evrim is also a founding board member of Ethics of Collecting, where he contributed to creating the world's first Code of Conduct for Contemporary Art Collectors.
Àngels Miralda is editor-in-chief at Collecteurs and an independent writer and curator. She has collaborated in different ways with the platform since 2018. Miralda wrote for Artforum from 2019-2023 and is currently curating the upcoming Contemporary Biennial of TEA, Tenerife.
- IMAGE CREDITS
Cover: Emily Jacir \ Lydda Airport (film still), 2009. Installation with single channel film and sculpture. Courtesy of the artist. © Emily Jacir 2009.
fig. 1: Logo Design by Mouneer Al-Shaarani.
