The “Collectors’ Forum” aims to provide the public with an opportunity to meet face to face with art collectors. Along with public funding, collecting is a major source of support for contemporary art today. Historically, private collections have laid the foundations of many of Europe’s greatest museums. It is often the private collector who spots a bright future talent and helps them on to a successful career. Each collection, whatever its size, is shaped by the preferences, interests, knowledge and personal motivation of its owner. At the same time, collections also tell a story about the period they span, about its spirit and mores.
The meetings organized by the Open Arts Foundation will acquaint the public with collectors of different tastes and interests, and a different public profile – private or corporate. The featured collections have a greater or smaller focus on Bulgarian art, as a token of our wish to encourage collecting of works by Bulgarian artists.
The conversations will reveal each collector’s motivation to collect art, as well as the ways in which artworks are publicized once they enter the collection. Last but not least, they will address the eternal question of what makes a collector collect: love for art, or an interest in long-term investment.
Vera Mlechevska
COLLECTORS` FORUM, 2014
part of Introduction to contemporary art, 2014
Guest Lecturer: GEORGI VOINOV
Sofia, Bulgaria
Georgi Voinov was born and lives in Bulgaria. He completed his secondary education in his home country before moving to Kluj and Bucarest, Romania, where he studied International Economics at the Academy of Economics. Voinov has collected artworks, primarily by Romanian and Bulgarian artists, since 1986. He has a passion for prints and drawings, collecting alongside his wife Dana Voinova. In the last eight years, their collection has expanded to include modern and contemporary art by mostly young artists. Acquisitions have included prints, painting and sculpture, as well as, more recently, multi-media works.
