WHY DO YOU COLLECT ART, ANNKA KULTYS?

Collecting digital art was never a goal for me per se, in fact the very opposite; I came to collecting digital works by chance as part of something bigger. While the majority of my collection still comprises paintings, my interest in the medium was initially piqued when I acquired two digital installations, the first, a small video installation by Neïl Beloufa, purchased on the advice of François Ghebaly, the French gallerist based in Los Angeles, followed by a digital work by Korakrit Arunanondchai, which was part of a larger installation that included a large bean bag, sculpture and painting.

This nascent interest subsequently blossomed into creating a dedicated space that embraces new media and all the innovative forms of artistic expression that accompany new technology. Since opening my gallery in Hackney, East London in 2015, I have focused on promoting young artists and especially digital natives, such as Stine Deja, Signe Pierce, Rachel de Joode, Aaron Scheer and !Mediengruppe Bitnik. If Duchamp’s BOÎTE-EN-VALISE, which unfolds to reveal a mini-museum containing tiny replicas and reproductions of his most famous works, can be interpreted as the artist’s attempt to write his own epitaph, then I like to think of the gallery as my own boite en valise, a platform where I can curate seminal experiences around new media art for the viewing public, including my fellow collectors.