Episode 11: Collecteurs

Collecteurs is an independent public-benefit corporation with a mission to give public access to the world's unseen private art collections. In their words, they "aim to bring these unseen works out of the dark, and back into culture, where they belong.”

“Collectors have been conditioned to believe that they should feel and not think and show up but not speak. We don't think that way. We think a collector can and should be more than that. We advocate for a collector who employs research, critical thinking, rigor, social accountability.”

Jessica and Evrim Oralkan (the co-founders of Collecteurs) started collecting more than a decade ago. While they were considering options to catalog their collection, none of the alternatives met their expectations. Long story short, they came up with a collection management system that also accommodates a built-in social network. To finance this work, they created a business model based on membership fees and revenue from services to users. Today Collecteurs host more than 1200 collectors within its database.

Episode Notes & Links

Founded by Evrim and Jessica Oralkan and developed at the New Museum’s cultural incubator, Collecteurs is an independent public-benefit corporation with a mission to give the public access to the world's unseen private art collections. https://www.collecteurs.com/about-us

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/14/arts/design/art-collection-digital-museum.html

https://observer.com/2019/05/collecteurs-jessica-evrim-oralkan-qa/

The International Council of Museums establishes professional and ethical standards for museum activities. https://icom.museum/en/about-us/missions-and-objectives/

Episode recorded on Zoom on October 8th 2020.

Interview by Can Altay. Produced by Aslı Altay & Sarp Renk Özer. Music by Grup Ses.