Owning and Sharing. Art Collecting as an Entrepreneurial and Social Responsibility
Collecting means more than just randomly gathering things. It is a deliberate, long-term endeavor in which the selected and combined items are accorded greater significance than those that were not chosen. For a hodgepodge to become a collection, research, evaluation, and selection are required. Above all, time and money must be invested.
Particularly in the field of contemporary art, companies and private individuals engage in strategic collecting. Why do they finance the acquisition, preservation, and presentation of their own art collections? How do the subjective criteria for collecting emerge in this context? What responsibilities does this entail toward the artists, the collected objects, and the public?
In this seminar, collecting is examined as a cultural practice. To this end, perspectives from cultural studies, art history, and psychology will be drawn upon. In doing so, collecting will be associated less with the motivation of the prestigious and exclusive "desire to possess" and more with the community-building intention of the "desire to share." Together with the seminar participants, a public series of talks with collectors from the region will be organized (03.12.26, 14.01.27 and 28.01.27).
Prof. Dr. Renate Buschmann
Ich bin Kunstwissenschaftlerin und seit 2020 im Studium fundamentale am WittenLab tätig. An meinem Lehrstuhl „Digitale Künste und Kulturvermittlung“ beschäftige ich mich mit Themen und Entwicklungen der technologie- und zeitbasierten Künste seit der Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts bis heute und mit Formaten der Kulturvermittlung, die daraus entstehen. Lassen Sie uns über die Potenziale von Kunst sprechen, um die Gegenwart kritisch zu reflektieren und positive Ansätze zu entwickeln.
Objectives & Competences
The seminar explores the cultural phenomenon of collecting. It examines the various origins, implications, and academic, cultural, and individual manifestations of this practice.
Building on this foundational knowledge, the seminar places a special focus on private art collections held by companies in the region. Students meet with these collectors and engage in direct dialogue to discuss the extent to which corporate and private engagement in the arts is linked to community-building aspirations and social participation. In doing so, they develop the ability to recognize complex interactions between corporate, artistic, and social thinking.
The seminar particularly fosters the ability to expand one's own range of observations and opinions with new perspectives and to prepare for discussions. On the practical level, the joint organization of the public discussion series with collectors — in which students are to assume the role of moderators — requires the ability to combine communicative and creative skills with reflection on artistic practice. Reflection on private engagement and the potential of art for an egalitarian society is deepened and given new impetus.