This is part of a series of essays commissioned by Paris-based DSLcollection and published by Art Industry Insights With Reena Devi, exploring the collection within the context of larger digital developments and international art collections.
International art collections have often made headlines thanks to major donations and acquisitions arranged with museums and auction houses. However, this past year or so, key art collections across the world have come under scrutiny due to broader economic constraints, with works being sold off publicly and “disappointingly” or quietly amidst reports of business challenges.
The future does not look bright for contemporary art collections, given “the art market’s dirty secret,” that “art is very hard to resell,” according to Artnet’s veteran columnist Katya Kazakina.
Nonetheless, the art world’s current digital re-awakening-of-sorts may very well hold solutions for even the most beleaguered art collectors and their collections.
Art Basel Miami Beach 2024 saw a slew of digital art initiatives from LACMA’s digital art symposium to Samsung Art Store in partnership with the fair. At the end of the year, the Art Newspaper launched a list of artists, art, and awards pushing boundaries in art and tech. The infamous NFT whale Justin Sun also bought and ate the equally infamous Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (2019) and got himself renewed media attention and art world buzz.
This level of mainstream discourse related to the digital art and crypto sphere has not happened since the pandemic years but it is clearly happening now, glaring red flags of the tech industry notwithstanding.
Yet, the art collections likely to benefit from such a marked shift are those who were making a foray into the digital sphere long before it became trendy to do so.
DSLcollection, originating in 2005 and helmed by French collecting family Sylvain and Dominique Levy, as well as their daughter Karen Levy, has been consistently diving headfirst in an array of technological ventures.
The Paris-based couple, who sit on various boards in the Asian art scene such as Taipei Dangdai and Hong Kong’s Digital Art Fair, focus primarily on collecting art by contemporary Chinese artists such as Jia Aili, Zhang Huan, and Lu Yang. Comprising 365 works today, DSLcollection spans diverse media such as video installations, painting, sculpture, photography, and more.
The collection chose to be public by embracing a phygital approach, in a bid to make all their artworks accessible both physically – through loans and exhibitions – as well as digitally. According to Sylvain Levy, 320 works from their collection are currently accessible virtually, pushing the very definition of “private collection”.
“The collection aims to resonate with its time by addressing key contemporary themes, particularly the rise of Homo Numericus, the influence of Gen Z, and the evolving way art is consumed – which I shall say is no longer just about contemplation but also about immersive experiences,” added Levy.
To that end, DSLcollection launched its first museum on Second Life, the predecessor to the metaverse, in 2009; its first collection available via an iPad app in 2011; a virtual exhibition in a visually warped re-creation of Paris’ Grand Palais in 2012; and its first virtual reality private museum in 2016.
In 2019, Karen Levy, previously an Asian Art auction specialist at Phillips, co-founded AiKa – Strategy & Art Connection, an art and tech consulting platform with Aimie Ferry-Sauvaire, experienced in brand development at companies such as L’Oréal. AiKa produces VR art projects including pop-up exhibitions and online digital art content, with a focus on Asia, tapping on the younger Levy’s experience helping to adapt DSLcollection to the digital sphere.
Following the heightened interest in showcasing and engaging with art digitally during the pandemic, including the very rampant Animal Crossing craze in 2020, DSLcollection worked on its first art video game as well as its first art hub on the Metaverse in 2021.
In 2022, Sylvain and Dominique Levy led a collaborative project between V-Art and the DSL collection – the VR Ukrainian Pavillion. The interactive virtual space was launched during Art Basel Paris and showcased highlights of Ukrainian contemporary art, fashion, music, and culture.
Back in 2016, Ikonospace, a Berlin-based creative agency, built a digital space large enough to contain pieces from the DSLcollection such as a 15x6m masterpiece, We are from the Century (2008) by Jia Aili, a household name for most familiar with Chinese contemporary art. As a pioneering member of a new generation of Chinese artists, Aili is known for his expansive and immersive paintings showcasing a deep-rooted knowledge of art history while incisively reflecting on China’s milestones.
Unveiled at FIAC, the former veteran art fair in Paris, DSLcollection’s breakthrough virtual reality private museum invited users to discover 30 artworks and subsequently received the “Digital Collection of the Year” award on Larry’s List.
DSLcollection has clearly made a concerted effort to position itself on the digital frontier of integrating technology into the practice of collecting. Over the past decade, the Levys’ digital outlook drew the most traction from art and tech insiders, especially since they dared to experiment with new technology when most traditional art collectors were focusing solely on brick-and-mortar spaces.
However, longstanding issues of melding of art and technology, such as long-term feasibility, do persist. This is definitely the case across the art world.
Masterworks, a financial investment platform that purchased blue-chip paintings to securitise and sell as fractional investments to individual investors, launched in 2017 to much fanfare and financial backing. By 2023, ARTnews reported the company was dealing with “conflicting business strategies, rifts between management and key teams and non-existent human resources practices.”
Sotheby’s, one of the auction houses at the forefront of the NFT push, reportedly downsized its NFT operations since April 2023, reassigning its leading specialist last year to head Sotheby’s Sealed in New York, focusing on luxury items, a clear pivot in the auction house’s priorities.
Meanwhile, the Levys are still keenly experimenting with new technology. More recently, DSLcollection partnered with ANASAEA to create immersive virtual galleries, featuring their artworks in diverse and interactive 3D spaces.
Moreover, the younger Levy’s AiKa, envisioned as the future legacy of DSLcollection, participated in Europe’s biggest startup and tech event, VivaTech 2024, discussing the platform’s role in “developing unique immersive art experiences and fostering technological advancements with Chinese Ambassador in France, Ambassador Shaye Lu.”
It is worth noting that while they may have been ahead of the curve amongst collectors a decade ago, the Levys are not alone in such endeavours today.
Last November, even the beleaguered K11 Art Foundation held a K11 Salon in Hong Kong with speakers such as blockchain billionaire, Sun, and the Managing Editor of the Art Newspaper, to discuss the role of the Internet in ensuring artists’ work remain relevant in this age of disruption. K11 also launched its first generative art exhibition in Seoul last year.
The aforementioned LACMA Digital Art Symposium was hosted by investors and art collectors Jehan Chu and his wife Jeannie Vu, as Co-Chairs of LACMA’s Digital Leaders.
Perhaps art fairs, auction houses, and their art market ilk are no longer the benchmark for this specific phase of the art world’s digital awakening. Perhaps collections such as DSLcollection can embrace the unique opportunity to create new, equitable, and sustainable frontiers in the art and digital arena, by fully leaping into the future in a way that bureaucratic mega businesses or overhyped start-ups are unable to do so.
After all, we are living through the 21st century version of a gilded age, with wealth and technology defining every moment of daily discourse we imbue and daily pressures we endure. As such, and given the gravity of these times, it is not remotely hyperbolic to say that those who wield such potent forces are in a unique position to incite massive destruction or enlightenment.
This is also true in the art world where societal influence of collectors and patrons are taking on a whole new tenor, as do the collections they amass.
You can explore the other essay in this commissioned (paid) series here.
Art Industry Insights With Reena Devi 