"Consumo en lugar de recepción". Reflexión sobre la motivación del comprador de arte.

The epic charm that surrounds collectors must be considered in combination with the fact that the outlay of large amounts of money is seen as a sign of passion. Doesn't the collector belong to the group of persons who are capable of showing revealing or almost existential gestures? In a world in which we regret the arbitrariness we see around us, these gestures are awaited anxiously and are, consequently, granted the recognition they deserve. It is not strange to see that the stories about collectors also include frequent references to the "missionary fervour" of turning others into art enthusiasts. Some collectors, like Reiner Speck, from Cologne, frankly admit: "I am guided by a missionary objective." Nevertheless, the collector's mission often lies in the act of purchasing. Compared to philosophers or art curators, collectors do not need arguments or theories to bring the value of an artwork closer to others. The "amateur stories" about collectors are full of consumer experiences, whilst the issue of artistic reception does not seem all that popular. Apparently, the fact that collectors have paid, and have paid quite large amounts at that, for a work of art is enough to guarantee the importance of the work in question. Thus, mentioning the price justifies opinions on taste and value.

To establish how much the collectors' consumer commitment owes to the recognition of the material value of the works and not to the enjoyment of extraordinary reception experiences, we need only consider the fact that their reputation is not affected if their works simply pile up and they do nothing to present them in a certain rational or capricious order, as an art curator would do. Conversely, in the stories about their experiences, certain collectors state time and again, proudly, that not only do they not hang up their purchases, but they do not even remove them from the packaging. Collector and author Uta Grosenik said: "Some of my works of art are still in their wrapping in the guest room. I can't stop now just because the house is full." For Simon de Pury, New York art collector and auctioneer, the "important thing about collecting (is) to possess the object, and not necessarily have to contemplate it as well." Likewise, Armin Waehlert, a collector from Frankfurt acknowledges that once she has purchased the works they all end up in a warehouse: "The works are stored and never looked at again."

Hamburg artist Wolfgang Strack, whose conceptual work focuses on the phenomena that affect the artistic movement, describes this type of collecting ironically, and critically, by calling these collectors "art accumulators." The appropriateness of this expression becomes clear the moment we realise how the collectors of our times are photographed. They no longer stand proud before or beside their favourite piece; nowadays they stand surrounded by, or on top of, wooden boxes that contain all their artistic wealth. (Collectors like Julia Stoschek and the Waehlert Family have been portrayed in this manner.) They do not display what they own, their only desire is to show how much they own. (These are the type of collectors who expect to gain "access" through collecting instead of wanting to come into contact with the object.) If it were about clothes or shoes, not art, such a depiction would be almost unimaginable, since it would seem that the person brave enough to display what they had bought, after unpacking it, would be classed as excessive, as a consumer addict and, therefore, as a sick person. The fact that art is considered something refined seems to grant collectors a certain air of seriousness, it allows them to escape the suspicion that they might lose control at any given time.

For some collectors, their existence as such starts the moment when they can only display part of their purchases at home: "(...) when the walls are full they buy paintings regardless of whether or not they fit on the wall or adapt to the rest of the furniture, (...) that is when the collection begins," states Dresde-based collector Klaus Schmidt. The person who purchases art solely for personal use, to hang it up and to decorate four walls, cannot yet be considered a collector. Just as a person who only has a dozen bottles of wine in the basement cannot be considered a wine collector.

Yet the moment collectors feel the need to show what they possess, the demands they give in to change. From then on, it is no longer enough to dazzle with something superlative in consumer terms. That is when the collector starts to compete with the figure of the art curator who, a priori, can only demonstrate his or her worth through an art exhibition. Suddenly, the collector also has to produce something that can satisfy the requirements of an exhibition that has to be as original, motivating and stimulating as possible. They will let the audience down if they do not present a stunning combination of artists and if they are not able to transmit a leitmotiv -when they cannot prove they are sensitive art receptors. In this case, they might be branded, contemptuously, as gallery addicts, trend followers and even as fashion victims.

Therefore, collectors are exposed to a risk: to open their boxes and present their pieces publicly, even more so when they are not able to understand that, instead of being judged in consumer categories, first they have to explain why they have decided to organise their exhibition or, in general, why they have chosen a certain artist or work in particular. In this sense, collectors know that their weak points can easily be revealed, so they hire an art historian or curator to decide on the selection and location of the pieces in their collection. There are only a few collectors who dare to assume the role of the curator, or even explain in a text what moved them to select a specific concept for a collection or exhibition. The collector as a curator is, therefore, an exception that presumably will never become the norm. The exchange of roles would be too radical. Those who want to be collectors and curators of their collections need a double talent: capacity for consumption and productive reception.

Translation: Laura F. Farhall