ABOUT US
PRIOR is was created in 2020 by art collector Oliver Elst and Laura del Arco, well-known collector couple based in Berlin and Barcelona.
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Laura, a Fashion designer and Art director and Oliver an Automotive designer, both long term expats in Shanghai, China, entered the world of art collecting more than 7 years ago and, since then, have built significant art collections individually and together. They together own more than a hundred artworks by established and emerging artists from an underrepresented background.
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After years in the art world, they realized that art collectors have a responsibility to not only collect works of art if not to support proactively and widely the artists in the collection. The importance of loaning and donating works to institutions and the value of exhibiting the collections publicly.
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Their drive is to inspire young collectors to support artists and guide and inspire the next generations of collectors towards a more un-established democratized art world, based in the collaborative support and building long lasting close relationships with galleries, artists, curators and collectors for a mutual and common welfare, to share the passion for Art.
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OUR
CONCEPT
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PRIOR was founded with the aim of supporting the arts further and to give voice to internationally and historically underrepresented artists bringing to the conversation different visions on concepts that reflect relevant concerns in a contemporary landscape.
PRIOR has different branches to support their concept:
PRIOR ART RESIDENCY
Personally invite international atists to take part on a residency program dedicate to artists with underrepresentation in the art establishment and the institutional representation with the purpose on giving visibility to artists focus of the collections.
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PRIOR ART SPACE
Public space for showcasing the private collections of the founders Del Arco Collection and Cuperior Collection, as from other young and established Collections worldwide.
The collections decided to open to the public to give their artists a stage worldwide.
PRIOR CURATED
Curated shows around diverse concepts in the context and focus of our art collections, we collaborate with galleries and artists curating exhibitions in which artists already in our collection or in our radar, can exhibit in our spaces their latest body of work.
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PRIOR CONTEMPORARY- ART ADVISORY
Through our long term contacts in the art world we have established a network of connections allowing us access to high in demand works, Primary and Secondary by international artists. We advise art collections on building significant collections with relevance to the art global discourse.
COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS
